The constitution making process has reached its dead end with the technical committee being ordered to deliver the draft constitution, the Constitution Bill and the constitution report to Ministry of Justice Permanent Secretary administration Joseph Akafumba instead of President Michael Sata as was stipulated in the terms of reference, NGOCC board chairperson Beatrice Grillo has observed.
Grillo has challenged the government to explain why it had allowed the technical committee drafting the constitution to hand over the draft constitution, constitution bill and the constitution report to the Permanent secretary at the Ministry of Justice instead of delivering it to President Michael as stipulated in the terms of reference.
Grillo said that the constitution making process was from the beginning a failed project because there was no political will from President Sata and his government to deliver a people driven constitution to Zambians.
Grillo said that it was unacceptable that the document had finally found itself at the Ministry of Justice when Justice Minister Wynter Kabimba informed the nation that the committee was going to hand over the document to the President.
She said government had completely discredited the constitution making process by taking it to a permanent secretary who was not the appointing authority of the technical committee stating that Zambians have yet again been taken for a ride on the constitution making process.
She said President Sata and his government would have to be ready to face the wrath of Zambians for recklessly wasting money on a programme they knew was nothing but a public relations campaign to win the votes of the people.
“We want the document to be handed to the appointing authority and not to the ministry of Justice. We do not know what they will do to the document and we want to make sure we have the right document that will be read by the executive and the general public simultaneously,” Grillo said.
Grillo said that the PF was a “stubborn” government and that if they continued showing arrogance and impunity towards the people that voted for them, they risked leaving government in the most humiliating manner ever suffered by a ruling party.
She said President Sata should stop fishing for excuses for failing to fulfill his promises and should change his attitude in the handling of national affairs because he was not the beginning and the end in Zambia’s democratization process.
“We want full development that will benefit our people and if the government is just hiding in the name of constructing roads, we going to show them that even in the midst of massive infrastructure development, Zambians are still annoyed over their failure to deliver the constitution. That is why we want the constitution to be released now so that everyone is protected by the document, because not everyone is benefiting from the road construction,” Grillo said.
She said that politicians wanted to manipulate the document in a bid to safeguard their interest, adding that now that the technical committee had handed over the document, the Zambians expected nothing less than transparency and accountability.
Grillo said that the Zambians would not stop demanding for the release of the draft constitution because the document was not for the ruling party alone.
[Zambia Daily Nation]
There can never be a more stern statement than this! Well done Grillo! Let us be Grlling them!!!!
Wipe your tears the constitution is frivolous and not equivically important
Championing the outcry for this is both misplaced and desperate.
The scandal itself is the in the county of something so unimportant
The PF will get it right give them time with the constitution, it is not like we do not have one
Pathetic
Thanks
but why allocate scarce funds to a project we now know they didnt intend to finish? maybe we do not a new constitution, but we most definitely that need money spent on useless tribunals and all sorts
uhoa! am just from the watchdag…sivintu!!, Sata has wants to be the president of Malawi and Al bashir his vice (from sudan),,, am shocked…. genocide is coming,,, just before i settle down on lusaka times… i learn that kabimba has also stolen and ran away with the draft constitution… imwe bantu whats happening?
i blame the one who brought ARVs,, you see now…. these people are now strong and stealling important documents they were supposed to laying sick in bed or dead
The expert committee was only established to pay money to an expert in the name of a chief from Mupika district, chitulika village. Otherwise, PF has never wanted this document, it is too complex for useless ministers to understand.
Malawi’s democracy is maturing faster than Zambia’s. The presidential candidates have been challenged to a televised debate to weed out the useless ones being supported by Sata and Al bashir.
Ukwa can’t debate issues with any one. He is dead scared of exposing his ignorance and stupidity.
Someone is scared of a mental assessment to ascertain his fitness for office
How many times have I told the nation that this PF govt is full of clowns, it is really a circus if you are looking from my stand point. The chief clown and his seconds are all running around with no clue which way is right or left. The country is in free fall and no one is bothered. Yet every one is talking about 2016, there will be no 2016 the way these circus clowns are managing the country. Slowly but surely, the opposition circus wants to take over center stage, what a bunch of losers!
Very right!
We need to kick these clowns out NOW, not wait until 2016 so that they can borrow millions and steal it, and then run away! Leaving the country in a huge mess, and us to pay back the money they have stolen!
We should IMPEACH the Chief clown now. He has already ignored the current Constitution so many times!
These people will cry in 2016 when most of them will head to prison for corruption. My advice to them is that they should upgrade Chimbokaila and other prisons so that they dont suffer too much when they are there for many years to come.
Do you honestly think UU (useless Ukwa) will allow free and fair elections to take place in 2016? Open your eyes, the useless politicians currently running the country will find an excuse not to hold the elections in 2016. Ukwa will only hand over to dog breeder Mulenga or fat breast exposing Kasebanya.
@ mushota
Grow up like your president if you are not old already don’t be childish, why spend money when you knew we had one already when people are starving, i hope it is not Sata calling himself Mushota.
For sure even Mushotas silly comments cannot come from the illiterate clown Sata!
His intelligence is way below that!
Unless PF deliver on the Constitution, things will backfire as the electorate will eject them out of Office.
PF must remember KK/UNIP and MMD/RB. Simple!
Zambians are not stupid, and don’t forget when it has to do with the life of the nation.
If i was king Sata,
We won election with current consitution when HH was busy preaching the impossible.
Just work hard.Besides you are predicted victory for yourself already.You will come and give us the constitution.We have just realised that its not a priority sorry.
Another MH 370 Zambian constitution has gone missing in Kafue river. This Wynter season man is a problem. People easly forget.
I don’t know how Wynter thinks. How will they feel if the opposition wins with a minority vote like they did.
They may be avoiding the 50+1 but the same old constitution they are holding on may work against them.
Anyway, I do not know what lies they will tell Zambians in 2016 going by what they are doing.
just rule them cobra nifi mbuli
Its sad for Zambia our leaders waste money on constitution and then later say its it a priority. they should account for 115 billion used on this useless activity which has no output and outcome. PF is Bufi some one sang and it is true they are known by the fruit of what they say. It pains me so much that they cannot account for this money and they have just decided to file the draft constitution document. God hears prayers and judges harshly those who take his people for granted. May the Good Lord deliver judgment on our behalf, punish the PF govt for the lies they have done Amen
Constitution constitution. wait for guidance from the government, keep waiting. the excitement grows as we near the end of the drafting process and eventual handover to the appointing authority
Iwe ka grill, what do you mean not everyone is benefiting from the roads,
Zambians will fight any govt or group of people that will defraud, delay to gain political millage or stand/block the path of new constitution making.
As matters stand now PF govt has abrogated its promise to deliver new constitution to Zambia and even if PF Sata delivers a new constitution eventually, it will be on account of Zambians being annoyed and fed up of deception from Mr Sata. Zambians will have compelled ailing Sata to do what he does not want to do.
The problem is NGOCC under Bana Adewale Grillo has been turn into a political tool. They have completely digressed from the core values which they were formed under and have been turned into an organisation for hire by desperate politicians. We will patiently wait for the constitution as promised and ensure that all genuine progressive Zambians aspirations are met. That’s PF ‘s double edged sword. In the mean time Ms Grillo you would do well to ensure your website actually is working. Or have you run out of money?
There is a constitution in Zambia and l wonder why the rush to put in a new one. Zambia had been deteriorating in the past 25 yrs and anyone who cannot appreciate the PF’s intention to revitalize the country Mwana wandoshi. If people have issues with the current constitution, let them ask their drunken MPs to amend it or just hang.