CONSTITUTION Technical Committee chairperson, Annel Silungwe says deputy minister positions will be abolished if the proposal in the first draft Constitution is adopted.
The draft document has recommended the re-introduction of Parliamentary Secretaries system, which if adopted, would do away with deputy ministers in the governance of the country.
Mr Justice Silungwe was speaking on Thursday evening on a Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) special programme to discuss the draft Constitution.
Mr Justice Silungwe said the Parliamentary Secretaries system which Zambia had in the 1960s would be under the office of the Vice-President and would be responsible for government’s parliamentary business in the National Assembly.
The parliamentary secretaries would be over-seeing the implementation of government policies.
He said that the introduction of Parliamentary Secretaries would not mean doing away of permanent secretaries.
According to the recommendation, the President is supposed to appoint not more than 11 parliamentary secretaries from among the members of Parliament who are members of the party in government.
Mr Justice Silungwe pointed out that his team had come up with an all-embracing draft document and urged members of the public to take keen interest in the process.
He said the Technical Committee was on firm ground to come up with a document which would stand the test of time as evidenced by the rich content of the first draft.
He said the draft Constitution released to the public on Monday had captured most of the Zambian people’s submissions and expectations.
Mr Justice Silungwe said most contentious issues such as the 50 per cent plus one vote, dual citizenship, vice-president as running mate, proportional representation system (PRS) of electing members of Parliament (MPs) and the appointment of ministers outside Parliament had been included in the draft.
He said that his team had put in place a media outreach team that would carry out countrywide workshops to sensitise Zambians on the process.
Mr Justice Silungwe said the committee had prepared a popular version of the draft Constitution which would be much shorter and easy.
Mr Justice Silungwe noted that the Constitution would protect every Zambian including those in government positions from abuse by anybody.
He said the draft has also recommended for the establishment of a Constitutional court that would handle all human rights violations issues and presidential election petitions.
Mr Justice Silungwe said the constitutional court was working well in South Africa and the country was making great strides in the development of law and jurisprudence adding that the court had exclusive responsibility of dealing with human rights violations, Constitution-related cases and presidential election.
He said the Mvunga, Mwanakatwe, Mung’omba commissions, and the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) as well as the Zaloumis Technical Committee on the Electoral System were all useful.
Mr Justice Silungwe, however, said some of the challenges the committee had suffered included the missing of the first deadline as it had underestimated.
He said the committee had to also look at other countries’ constitutions such as South Africa, Ghana, Malawi, Kenya and Mauritius.
[Times of Zambia]
AMERICAN CONSTITUTION EH
We are wasting money for nothing thru these deputies. We’re just putting money in their pockets as a way of saying thank you for being a campaign cadre. Let us do away with them and use the money given to them for developmental purposes.
and who is going to oversee that development sir? you need people to implement these things.
HH has not spoken
Just woke up and Nick has left for the gym
Just switching on my I pad just curious to see the headlines and here are bigoted self centred opinionated, over people are making headlines
Zambia is terribly backwards and I am afraid unless you swallow your pride and base the government constitution and composition of the government on the ideology of the British system you will forever be lost
In as much as i agree you should only have a Minister and a permanent secretary but reflecting back and bring in Nostalgic approach during the Kaunda regime is a testament of how this government is lostÂ
What would make sense is to force a permanent seizure of anyone over the age of 70 and force them into retirement; these men have crippled your country. Pathetic
Thank
efyo caba ngawato**wa sana kula monafye ati fyonsefye nafilubana, kanofye ukucita……
Which iPad do you have ka Mushota?
So you do have some brains heh!!!!!!!! for the first time in your entire life you have said something sensible.
I have read the draft constitution. There are provisions in the draft which are good but I find the appointment of the Provincial Ministers by the President does not encourage democracy. I would like to have the Provincial Ministers and the Members of the Provincial Assemblies to be subjected to elections. To retain the power of the President to appoint Provincial Minister is to keep the status quo as provided by the existing constitution.
Parliamentary Secretaries to oversee implementation of government policies. The idea of having Parliamentary Secretaries is very strange indeed. Why not have a Prime Minister as head of the government and oversee the implementation of government policies and represent the government in Parliament.
Kind of agree with Mushota somewhat (I know it’s weird, isn’t it)… but she makes a valid point about these spent forces.
We should do away with the so called ‘Parliamentary Secretaries’ either. I mean it’s like replacing oranges with lemons – they are both citrus fruits. What’s the point of removing Deputies and replacing them with Secretaries?
What we needed was to abolish the Ministers altogether and just leave Permanent Secretaries (or vice versa).
The draft sounds like it’s close to the ‘real deal’ but I still insist that if it doesn’t curb any Presidential powers (if they will remain as they are today) then it’s still a toothless pipedream.
There is bound to be overlap in duties and friction between Paliamentary Secretaries and Permanent Secretaries. Just leave them out and remain with the current PS system. Ministers should earn their keep and do some real work! The Deputy Ministers job is totally irrelevant and is only there to give jobs to cadres.
@ Cassava Republic
I concur, the Deputy Ministers and Paliamentary Secretaries are a waste of time. Provincial Ministers and the provincial members should be elected by direct vote in the general elections, otherwise you are just creating jobs for cadres and giving the president too much power!
Deputy Ministers do nothing except to wait for a salary. They end up clashing with PS’s Why not merge the. Parliamentary Secretaries’ duties with PS’s?Â
Deputy Ministers are a waste of resources. There is no point in introducing the so called Parliamentary Secretaries. The ministers should oversee government policies in the National Assembly. Permanent Secretaries should oversee the day to day running of the ministries. Kwasila.Â
Mushota, going by your name guess your ancestry trails form the DRC – nothing wrong with that if that were the case. My concern is how negative you’ve always been about your former country zambia, black men.. etc
Now that you are a white lady you as can as well change your name, your skin colour and contribute towards re-aligning the european economy which is in double deep recession.
Somehow, your heart is still in Zed.. as well i.
They are a waste of time. Look at what happens when the minister is away, another minister acts on their behalf, so what do you need a deputy for if he cannot fit into the position of his/her boss? when I am on leave, I ask my deputy kamalasha to burn ifibili nokushitasha amalasha.
It is true that there is need to remove the Deputy Ministers because,overal it is the Permsec who do most of the jobs while the Cabinate Minister is a political figurehead.
The idea of Parliamentary secretaries is to stop getting Members of Parliament for ministrial positions so that their business will sorely be law making.Parliamentary secretaries will be a link between government and Parliament.
Good idea than these MPs being taken away by Ministrial priviledges and just doze in Parliament as if it is their second job..
The Proportional Representation system is nonsensical. We will definately have so many deaths perpetrated by the constituent number two so they can automatically assume the position of member of parliament. In any case,who said if you are number two then people aprove you to be there representative? The only solution to rampant by elections is to bar those MPs who want tro cross over to the other side with a thought of recontesting their seat on another party.
Please do away the position of deputy minister and we don’t want these stupid parliament secretaries we want to serve resources why abolish a position and create another look at the confusion of DCs u removed governors and brought in DCs it’s same rubbish it’s like someone serving you chicken or nkanga both are birds
Agree with all ur comments including mushota’s.Â
True that. Permanent secretary is enough. Deputy ministers dont do jack except deliver speeches on behalf of the minister
Mushota is MAD. I wish it was bown sana/coloured. ngatwalichula
we also need DCs out.
The headline is misleading. Simfukwe is not advocating for these posts to go. As chairman he can’t push for such. Its from proposals not from Silungwe
the point is about separation of power jst sort that one out please. Zambian presidents jst mess up the democratic system. let the police, electrol commission,judicial system be independent keep away the president away from them. even in the army the president is only comander of armed force but shouldn’t have powers to appoint any armed force personnels appointments, promotions or retirement should be done separately by by a relavant body. mushota is exposed to the real world.
were in the developed world i.e france, Germany, USA, Britian have u ever ready of the president or prime minister make district/provinces???? not only is it weird or primitive does ur system look its stupid constitution… reduce president’s powers, how clever is it to replace deputy minister with party cadre province secritaries, we r tired of party cadres running this country its 21st century.explore the world to widen ur things for the sake of Zambia.
In my opinion, let the president appoint cabinet Ministers. However, as regards Judges, irrespective of the hierarchy, electoral commission members and perm Secs(being technocrats) should be selected by non-partisan qualified committees . Provincial Ministers/districts heads, should be elected at local levels. Deputy Ministers should be done away with while parliamentary secretaries are unnecessary. This will curtail prejudice, curb the excesses of the presidency (no poly-tricks but just politics), and will make office bearers accountable to the electorates (true democracy). Additionally, I implore Zambians to research and seek precedence from other progressive countries in this defining moment as they engage in the discourse over this monumental matter.
@ Jigga (5); Please read the draft constitution. Mushota ( who is actually male but masquarades as female) is wrong again. He doesn’t even know that the British dont have a constitution.Â
@anyarwa, you make sense, it shows because you read the document. Let us for once have an informed discussion; lll those wanting to comment, please READ before you hit the keyboard.
Inge, the British do have a constitution but it’s not ‘codified’!Â
So which provinces would the “outside ministers” or secretaries come from…
in my view because of tribalism tendences in the country if we have elected provincial ministers will solidify tribalism and the president will find hard to work with such people if that tribal does not like him
If they don’t work with president or national organs, they will have a hell of a time explaining to their electorate why develop flows to other parts of the country and not theirus!
Many MPs currently serving are mostly elected on tribal grounds anyway, and we don’t seem to have the kind of problems you speak of.
No parliamentary secretaries please, please, please! Just changing titles for the same sort of status quo is NO PROGRESS at all! Ministerial permanent secretaries through the office of the VP should be the ones responsible for policy coordination/implementation in the people’s house (parliament). If further clarifications on a policy matter are needed, a relevant minister should be called in to testify or clarify. This curbs too much presidential appointing powers and cadre-ism.
Subject provincial ministers to a direct vote! This again reduces the powers of the presidency and makes these local officials directly answerable and accountable to the people and not dance to the tune of the president. Of course the powers of provincial organs should not supersede that of National organs.
@23.Opness. People react on tribal lines for various reasons such as, the leader being insensitive to their plight, inadequate representation, feeling of marginalization/alienation/non-partaker of the national cake etc. Giving them leverage to elect their local leaders offers them a sense of responsibility, inclusiveness, relevance, honor and recognition and makes the elected leader accountable and serve the community other than  playing poly-tricks and sucking up to the appointing authority for his political survival at the expense of local development. The people should also be able to de- elect(recall) the person if they believe that he or she is feckless. By the way we should not paint tribes in provinces with a broad brush because they are not monolithic.Â
This is the problem when advisors are picked from the recycle bin. Parliamentary secretaries are not even in the current Civics syllubus for the current generation to understand. We need to improve on what is currently known and understood…
It’s over bafikwesa.
Annel silungwe should not explain anything about the constitution, because he might influence pipo’s minds. The cosntitution is self explanatory, read and comment. The justice has done a good job up to now and the only advice he needs to give is to encourge zambians to read and participate, if some one needs an explaination on the meaning of any clause then justice or his committee should be available to explain. I like mushota’s comments, she will start by bragging on any topic she doesn’t understand
Fellow Bloggers, does anyone know if the first draft of the constitution is available online? Anyway I have not read this article in full so if that has already been mentioned I am not aware of it. Thanks.
For meaningful development, let each province elect its own governor (provincial minister) and members of of the provincial assembly. These people will be in charge of their regional development plans. There is need to give power to local administrations.
The president must appoint these so called provincial ministers otherwise they will think they are equal to the President especially with the Tribal remarks being experienced from the people of Southern and Western provinces who hate President Sata so much.
@ 33 Dollar, you sound insular. This is about drafting a constitution which will stand the test of time, irrespective of the president`s origin. Presidents are expendable.
By the way, how the heck does a provincial minister who presides over a province equate himself/herself to the president who reigns over the entire nation?
Let the Ministers sit in Parliament for questioning, but should have no right to vote as they would be appointed outside Parliament. Further let Parliament ratify the appointment of Ministers individually. The President should not have the power to appoint MPs to Executive positions. Doing so would defeat the whole purpose of appointing Ministers from outside Parliament. The idea is to strengthen the separation of powers of the three arms of government.
Permanent Secretaries as heads of the civil service in Ministries should continue.