The Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ) has described as unreasonable an order by Justice Minister Wynter Kabimba for the Technical Committee of the Constitution Review process to submit an incomplete draft constitution as a way of sticking to the earlier timeline of completion by June month end.

This is contained in a statement released to the media and signed by the General Secretary Rev Suzanne Matale.

A resolution passed at the end of CCZ Board meeting held in Lusaka’s Makeni Ecumenical Centre on 28th June, 2013, described the development as unfortunate and sad.

“This raises questions as to the sincerity of the Patriotic Front government to deliver a people driven constitution. The action is to say the least malevolent and intended to derail the effort of Zambians to give unto themselves a good constitution, ” read the statement

“The church believes that the constitution review process which is currently underway is a justice issue and the Zambian people demand, justice, honesty, righteousness, fairness and integrity.

CCZ demanded that government allows for the extension of the Technical Committee’s mandate to allow for the completion of the draft constitution before it is handed over to the minister of justice at least up to end of July, 2013.

CCZ said that he constitution making process in Zambia has been on going for 17 long years, and extending the period of this particular process for another one month was not too much to ask.

“Allowing for an incomplete draft to be submitted will not only be unfair and unreasonable but also a waste of both time and resources, ” read the statement.

“The church is therefore calling on government to release required additional financial resources towards the completion of the constitution review process and extend their mandate for the required one month up to 31st July, to allow them deliver a complete and satisfactory draft constitution according to the will of the people, ” concluded the release.

ZAMBIA should come up with a Republican Constitution which will have strong public support to enable it last a test of time, United States of America (USA) ambassador to Zambia Mark Storella has advised.

Mr Storella said although he did not want to have a clear position on whether or not there should be a referendum for the constitution, it is very important that the final constitution had very strong public support.

He was speaking during a press conference in Livingstone on Monday shortly after former USA President George W Bush and his wife left Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula International Airport for the African First Ladies Conference in Tanzania.

“I don’t have a clear position on the question of whether or not there should be a referendum on the constitution but let me say that Zambia should follow Zambian law.

“It is very important to have very strong public support when launching an important document like a constitution,” he said.

Mr Storella said Republican constitutions were written for future generations hence their drafting should take a long term view.

“My main pieces of advice are that Zambia is not USA and therefore you have your own country and your own history.

“Your constitution should grow out of your own historical experience although you can learn from mistakes of the past,” he said.

Mr Storella said his forefathers in America met about 224 years ago in Philadelphia to write a new constitution after learning from mistakes of the past.

He said he met the Technical Committee on drafting the Zambian constitution and observed that the Committee had been extremely serious with the exercise.

“The Committee has done a lot of work to build on what the predecessors did and did not want to reinvent the will.

“The process of consultation in all provinces and districts has been active and important to create public support,” he said.

The Technical Committee on Drafting the Zambian Constitution is soon expected to submit a final document to Government.

Mr Storella also said USA President Barrack Obama was placing a lot of value on Africa as witnessed in his recent visit to three African countries namely Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania.

He said Mr Obama recently met a number of African justices including Zambia’s Supreme Court Chief Justice Lombe Chibesakunda in Senegal during his visit to the continent.

The repeated pattern of illegal interventions by the Patriotic Front (PF) government with regard to the passport of former Zambian President Rupiah Banda speaks volumes about the political persecution driving the state’s case against him, says his international lawyer Robert Amsterdam.

“These are willful actions of a criminal government, which believes it has the impunity to ignore court orders in order to attack and disparage one of the nation’s most distinguished statesmen, whom they see as a threat to their plans to return Zambia to a one-party state,” said Amsterdam. “There can be no plausible excuse for this continued manipulation of the former President Banda’s right to travel. It is a blatant and flagrant abuse of the law, and we intend to hold these PF officials accountable.”

Most recently, the PF government reportedly revoked the former president’s diplomatic passport, representing a violation of an act of parliament, the former presidents Benefits Act. On two previous occasions, the government ignored specific orders from the Lusaka High Court allowing former President Banda to travel abroad to attend several distinguished invitations. This past week, the Court ruled that the Government Joint Investigative Team must release Banda’s passport, while lawyers representing the former president have been repeatedly obstructed from obtaining his travel documents.

“These actions confirm that the PF government have moved toward a bona fide show trial state – one cannot take any claim they make at face value,” said Amsterdam.

The PF government, under the direction of President Michael Sata, Justice Minister Wynter Kabimba, and Director of Public Prosecutions Mutembo Nchito, have embarked on a determined campaign to attack democratic opposition, including two separate politically motivated trials against former President Banda, says Amsterdam. These bogus cases and arrests are occurring in the context of repeated and unnecessary by-elections triggered by bribed defections to the ruling party, and numerous incidents of state-sponsored violence that has threatened the country’s political stability.

“The fact that the PF have to break the law in order to persecute former President Banda explains a lot about the lack of substantive grounds to their allegations,” said Amsterdam. “When a government acts like a criminal to attack its opponents, when it ignores court orders and sends its cadres out into the streets to wield violence over citizens, we are increasingly approaching something that can be described as a dictatorship. We intend to contribute a robust international effort to put an end to these abuses immediately, before it is too late.”

Director of the Catholic run Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection Fr Leonard Chiti says US President Barack Obama’s call on African countries to decriminalize homosexuality will not in Zambia.

Fr Chiti said Zambians have out rightly rejected demands to include laws that allow same sex relationships in the constitution.

“When you look at the draft constitution, you will see that Zambians have been categorical about their rejection of clauses that seem to allow rights for people of such orientations and I don’t see any change in that regard,” Fr Chiti said.

He added, “Moreover if Africans or Zambians in particular were to embrace same sex relationships, I believe it would be Africans themselves to make a choice and not anybody else telling them what to do.”

Fr Chiti said pushing for decriminalisation of homosexuality is a non-starter in Zambia.

“This is one thing I don’t see happening in Zambia because the people themselves have made it clear that they don’t want such lifestyles,” Fr Chiti said.

During his trip to Senegal as part of his three leg tour of Africa, US President Barack Obama hit out at discrimination against gays in Africa.