Opposition United Party for National Development, UPND, has disassociated itself from the Zambia Centre for Inter-Party Dialogue ZCID’s roadmap as published in the post newspaper of July 16, 2007.

UPND chairperson for information and publicity Charles Kakoma said the Zambia ZCID
committed the UPND to a programme and  roadmap without consulting the party
leadership.

Mr Kakoma said the UPND’s official position on the constitution reform process is
to support the adoption of the constitution through a Constitutional Conference
based on the understanding that the  Constitutional  Conference will function as
the Constituent Assembly.

He said the UPND does not  therefore agree with the ZCID’s position that the
Constitution Conference is different from the Constituent Assembly.

Mr Kakoma noted that there was no roadmap which was discussed and agreed  upon at
the summit of  political party presidents recently.

He said the only agreement reached during the party presidents summit was to the
effect that government presents a Constitutional Conference Bill to parliament .

The UPND spokesperson said the issues of the roadmap and contents of the draft
constitution were supposed to to be referred to various political parties for
scrutiny before the are  presented to  the second summit of party presidents.

Mr Kakoma further said UPND is opposed to piecemeal amendments of the constitution
as suggested in the ZCID roadmap.

This is contained in a statement  received by Zanis in Lusaka today

Mr Kakoma further said the UPND’s position is that the contents of the new
constitution should be agreed upon  and adopted by the Constitutional Conferenc, and
later be subjected to a National Referendum  before presentation to parliament for
enactment in total.

Mr Kakoma  said the party is opposed to the amendment of the constitution because
that is what has been done to the constitution reviews  since independence
resulting in the current constitution that is not acceptable to the majority of
Zambians in a  multi party democratic dispensation .

He  said the  Constitutional Conference Bill should be published  and distributed
to all stakeholders including ZCID, political parties  and Oasis Forum who should
agree on its content ,before it is presented to parliament.

Mr.Kakoma said the party does not agree with ZCID ‘s programmes of sensitising
people countrywide before the contents of the proposed Constitutional Conference
Bill are known and agreed upon.

He said his party is committed to an inclusive constitution making process that is
accepted to all stakeholders.

Mr Kakoma however assured that the UPND will continue to participate in the ZCID
activities current happenings nowithstanding.

The government will allow a farmers’ group and three other associations to export a total of 200,000 tonnes of white maize to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Namibia, an industry official said on Tuesday.

The Grain Traders of Zambia (GTA), the Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU), Millers Association of Zambia (Maz) and the state Food Reserve Agency (FRA) will be given permits to export 50,000 tonnes of surplus maize and ground maize each, Maz general secretary Allan Sakala said.

“Most of this maize will go to the Congo, although we have inquiries of maize requirements from Namibia as well. We are just making arrangements to start exports because the permission from the government is with immediate effect,” Sakala told Reuters.

The DRC continues to heavily on maize imports from Zambia as it rebuilds an agricultural sector that was devastated by decades of civil war. The need for maize is particularly dire in Lubumbashi, a city just across the DRC border with Zambia.

Sakala said the price of the exported maize would be determined by the market, though he noted that the Zambian government had slapped a $2 levy on each tonne of maize or ground maize meant for export.

Surplus from the 2005/06 maize crop will be used, he said.

The impending Zambian exports are less than what had been originally expected.

In June, Zambian Agriculture Minister Ben Kapita told Reuters that the government would allow farmers to export 350,000 tonnes of maize after the southern African nation recorded surpluses in the last three agricultural seasons.

But Zambia’s 2006/07 maize output declined 4.4 percent to 1.36 million tonnes from the previous growing season due to flooding that destroyed crops in a majority of the country’s 72 districts.

Kapita said Zambia would keep 250,000 tonnes of maize in strategic reserves compared with a surplus of 160,000 tonnes the previous year.

President Levy Mwanawasa has implored Djibouti  to share  her experiences  gained  from operating economic free Zones, which Zambia is in the process of establishing.

Mr. Mwanawasa said Djibouti has been pioneering the implementation  of economic
zones in Africa as a way of attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

He said Zambia is also in the process of setting up economic and commercial free
zones with the help of co-operating partners.

He added that Zambia is in the process of transforming her economy from that which
was heavily dependent on mining to one that will be anchored on agriculture, tourism
and manufacturing.

Mr Mwanawasa said the agricultural revolution is happening at a time when the mining
industry is also on the upswing, both in terms of new mines opening up and expansion
of existing ones.

The President added that Zambia’s political and economic environment is conducive
for investment by foreign nationals who enjoy  extra incentives .

He has since invited Djibouti investors to come and invest in all productive sectors
of the economy.

President Mwanawasa was speaking when he held Official talks at State House with
visiting Djibouti President Ismael OMAR Guelleh , who is in the country for a  four
day state visit.

Mr. Mwanawasa commended Djibouti for having achieved macro economic stability adding
that President Guelleh has managed to maintain a manageable external debt  profile,
a challenge that has hindered economic and social development of most developing
countries.

Mr. Mwanawasa called for the strengthening of bilateral relations through exploring
advantages that the two countries accrue from their membership in regional groupings
such as the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)

He said Djibouti can use its membership to export products to the market in the
region via the TAZARA railway link from the Dar-es- Salaam sea port in Tanzania to
inland port Mpulungu on Lake Tanganyika which offers a cheaper and shorter route to
markets in Rwanda, Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

He said Zambia could also benefit from the facilities of Djibouti port to transport
goods to markets of countries in the horn of Africa such as Ethiopia, Eritrea and
Sudan.

He has also implored Djibouti to ratify the protocol on policy and regulatory
framework for the New Partnership for Africa Development (NEPAD) Information
Communication Technology (ICT) broad based infrastructure for Eastern and Southern
Africa (ESA0 which Zambia has ratified.

He said as members of Comesa and AU, ratifying of the protocol by the two countries
would ensure harmonisation of policies, legal and regulatory disparities and improve
ICT and other communication capacities between two countries.

And Mr. Guelleh commended Zambia for  having achieved economic growth, prosperity
and  promoting good governance.

He said his country was keen to foster development cooperation economically which
would benefit  the private sector that would want to invest in Zambia’s wealth in
mining and other sectors.

Mr Guelleh revealed that his country is willing to render various facilities to
Zambia and set up a railway that would Link Djibouti to Zambia up to Cape Town.

He however urged the African countries to work together so that they become self
sufficient   to enable them rely on their resources.

He observed that it was through co-operation that the continent’s economy would
improve that will lead to improved conditions of its people.

Meanwhile President Mwanawasa has expressed happiness at Sudan’s willingness
co-operate in resolving the conflict in that country.

He said Sudan  has agreed  to allow the Africa Union and United Nations  to
reinforce  the peace efforts of the  AU force that has on the ground  trying to
monitor the situation in the Darfur region .

He said Zambia has a military presence under the AU peace keeping mission in the
Sudan through  which she  has encountered some difficulties similar to those   faced
by peace keeping force in Darfur.

Earlier the two heads of state  held one to one talks before holding official talks.

Copperbelt Province Chairperson for United National Independence Party (UNIP) Mrs. Jermima Banda has disassociated the party from the statement issued by provincial secretary Isaac Zyambo on the resignation of Colonel Panji Kaunda from the party.

Speaking to Zambia News and Information Services (ZANIS) in Chingola, Mrs. Banda
said the UNIP provincial executive has not made any comment on colonel Panji
Kaunda’s reported resignation from the party.

Mrs. Banda said UNIP on the Copperbelt is not shaken by Panji’s resignation.

Mrs. Banda said UNIP on the Copperbelt had more serious issues to discuss with its
members such as the ongoing constitution making process and other matters pertaining
to the organisation of the party.

She said as a party, they are in support of government’s stand on the adoption of
the new republican constitution as they would also like to see a constitution that
will stand the test of time and not one that will please certain individuals.

Mrs. Banda has since strongly warned party leaders in the province to desist from
issuing press statement without the party’s knowledge as this would breed  anarchy
in the party.

MINISTER of Justice, George Kunda, has assured the nation that the proposed constitutional conference will not depart from the Mung’omba Constitution Review Commission (CRC) recommendations.And Mr Kunda said the CRC erred when it recommended that a constituent assembly (CA) should have final and binding decisions above Parliament.

Speaking on a Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation, Fifth National Development Plan radio programme on the subject: “The constitution and its impact on national development,” Mr Kunda was concerned that some people had not read through the CRC report.

He said the CRC was alive to the fact that legislative powers should not be given to the CA.

Mr Kunda explained that although the CA could be vested with legislative powers by amending Article 62 of the constitution which vested legislative powers in Parliament, there was no need to give a new body such powers for the sole purpose of coming up with a new constitution.

“The constitutional conference which we are going to create will have the characteristics of enabling people to debate the constitution thoroughly with the purpose of reaching consensus. The constitutional conference cannot make law,” Mr Kunda said.

He said the CRC made a mistake when it recommended that the CA would make the final and binding decision on the contents of the constitution.

The minister said two constitutional lawyers; professors Muna Ndulo and Patrick Mvunga also made this observation.

He said the supremacy of Parliament must be preserved.

“Indeed Parliament is supreme because it is vested with that supremacy by the constitution in Article 62. The people of Zambia created the constitution and (with) this clause, we can’t go anywhere else,” Mr Kunda said.

He explained that a national referendum was mandatory if article 79 of the constitution was to be changed.

“Professor Mvunga has said if the constitutional conference will do the same thing that the constituent assembly will do then well and good.

The constitutional conference is consistent with the CRC recommendations,” Mr Kunda said.

He said the Oasis Forum must convince politicians that their position on the constitution review process was the right one.

But Oasis Forum spokesperson, Musa Mwenye, argued that the CA provided the necessary safeguards against possible manipulation of the content of the constitution by politicians.

He argued that the difference between a constitutional conference and the CA in the manner the Zambia Centre for Inter-Party Dialogue (ZCID) had proposed it was that members of Parliament could change what the people recommended.

Southern African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes executive director, Lee Habasonda, was concerned that the constitution review process seemed to be driven by political parties.
Mr Habasonda said this had been done in the past and the results were bad.

ZCID spokesperson, Newton Ng’uni, said there was need to avoid a situation where Parliament was challenged because members of Parliament would not be comfortable if their powers were taken away.