Sie sind auf Seite 1von 3

A look at Constitutionals contentious issues | Zambia Daily Mail

http://www.daily-mail.co.zm/?p=12522

Contact Us

About Us

Search in site...

Home

Business

Local News

Entertainment

Sport

Features

Comment
Thursday, September 06, 2012

RSS for Entries

A look at Constitutionals contentious issues


August 30, 2012 | Filed under: Features | Posted by: web editor

By KELVIN KACHINGWE THE contentious issues are many. Dual citizenship Vice-President as a running mate, Cabinet outside Parliament, Parliamentary Secretaries, Constitutional Court, Proportional representation, Political party funding, The declaration of Zambia as a Christian nation, And the list goes-on. This will not be a straightforward case Indications so far point to the fact that the envisaged new constitution will not be easy to agree on. Of course, this is not what the majority want to hear, particularly that the country has undergone a number of constitution-making processes since it gained independence in 1964. But the fact is that the draft constitution released on April 30 this year by the technical committee, appointed by President Sata in November last year to draft a new constitution, has not wholly been agreed upon. And that is after the technical committee reviewed the Mvunga Constitution Review Commission Report and the 1991 Constitution of Zambia, the Mwanakatwe Constitution Review Commission, the Mungomba Constitution Review Commission Report and Draft Constitution, the Zaloumis Electoral Reform Technical Committee Report and the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) Report and Draft Constitution. Not only that, according to the technical committee, the first draft constitution is based on the wishes of the people of Zambia. Annel Silungwe, the technical committee chairperson and former Chief Justice, says the committee is mandated to consult widely including local and international experts on constitutional law and practice. In this way, they reckon that the objective of drafting a constitution that reflects the aspirations of the Zambians people will be met. At a recent media orientation workshop on the constitution-making process, Justice Silungwe said it is clear that issues like running mate and proportional representation pose a challenge to some stakeholders and other members of the public in understanding them. There are interesting issues that have emerged from the comments made by members of the public in the media. Some of these comments show that stakeholders and other members of the public understand the proposed clauses in the first draft constitution. However, in some cases, it is clear that some stakeholders and other members of the public are yet to meaningfully understand some of the provisions contained in the document, he said. Precisely because of that, they wanted the media, after their three-day orientation workshop held at Mika Lodge in Kabulonga, Lusaka, to come-up with programmes specially tailored for their audience. It is incumbent upon you, as media and publicity personnel that will get out to explain these provisions, to see this workshop as an opportunity to learn and deepen your understanding of issues in the first draft constitution. There is need for as many people as possible to have a better understanding of the first draft constitution so that they can make informed comments, he said. Well, that maybe so But taking it from what transpired at the Mika Hotel, it is clear that it will not be an easy walk into the park. The workshop was highly emotive, with the people that are supposed to educate the public strongly opposed to some of the provisions in the proposed draft constitution. Firstly, the declaration of Zambia as a Christian nation in the constitution. This is a highly divisive matter. Some people feel that because the majority of Zambians profess to be

1 of 3

9/6/2012 1:43 PM

A look at Constitutionals contentious issues | Zambia Daily Mail

http://www.daily-mail.co.zm/?p=12522

Christians, it is only right to enshrine it in the constitution that Zambia is a Christian nation although every other person has the right to belong to any other religion he or she wants to. But there-in lies the problem. The fact that the Christian nation provision is included in the constitution is in itself discriminatory against other religions although proponents of this provision say it is non-discriminatory as it upholds the right of every person to enjoy his or her freedom of conscience. Baptist Minister Conrad Mbewe, in his Letter from Kabwata, says it seems the greatest problem with the declaration of Zambia as a Christian nation and its documentation in the Zambian constitution is that, in fact, the whole thing is a doctrinal error. According to the Bible, there is only one Christian nation. It is the church, he says. But one can even go further than that. Like Steve Biko did. Writing on Christianity, he saw it as being primarily foreign. Whereas Christianity had gone through rigorous cultural adaptation from ancient Judea through Rome, through London, through Brussels and Lisbon, somehow when it landed in the Cape, it was made to look fairly rigid. The people amongst whom Christianity was spread had to cast away their indigenous clothing, their customs, their beliefs, which were all described as being pagan and barbaric. Usage of the spear became a hall-mark of savagery. All too soon the people were divided into two camps the converted and the pagans. Stripped of the core of their being and estranged from each other because of their differences, the African people became a playground for colonialists, he wrote. But in all fairness, this is a topic that needs its own large space. That said, there are other issues like the death penalty, the electoral system, proportional representation, provincial assemblies, and Parliamentary Secretaries that are likely to divide the public. Taking the tone from the participants at Mika Hotel, there is a general feeling that the draft constitution is over-obsessed with the United States of America constitution and that of South African, which is often hailed as being among the most progressive in the world. For most people, proportional representation will only lead to the mushrooming of small family parties as the chances of getting seats in Parliament will be highly enhanced as parties obtain seats based on the proportion of the total votes cast in an election. And with the constitution making provisions for funding of political parties with representation in parliament, they do not need to be overly encouraged to form their own party. The South African case is typical, where there are about 13 parties represented with some of them having only one seat in the National Assembly. But of course those in favour of this arrangement say it forms a basis for the achievement of fair representation of all political players in an election. This system also uses multi-member constituencies in which several people are elected to represent a constituency. Under this system, a constituency will have more than one seat. Put differently, in contesting for seats, each political party will nominate more than one candidate, perhaps equal to the number of seats. After voting has taken place, the number of seats won by a political party or group of independent candidates will be proportionate to the number of votes received. For instance, if 30 percent of voters voted for Party A candidates, then roughly 30 seats will be given to that particular party. And if 10 percent of voters voted for independent candidates, then 10 percent of the seats will be shared by the independent candidates. At the end of it all, all parties that contested for seats in a multi-member constituency will have seats in Parliament and in the event that a particular party loses a Member of Parliament, then they will simply replace him with another who appears on their list. That may be so But in terms of enacting a new constitution, it looks like it will be a long protracted process! Share this:
Tweet 0
Share

One Response to A look at Constitutionals contentious issues


lumbwe kaluba
September 4, 2012 - 5:27 pm

would it not be for the better if the constitution making process took a long time because then more of the peoples views woulkd be collected and the constitution would be durable.

Leave a Reply
Your email address will not be published.
Name

2 of 3

9/6/2012 1:43 PM

A look at Constitutionals contentious issues | Zambia Daily Mail

http://www.daily-mail.co.zm/?p=12522

Email

Website

Comment

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b>
<blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

Post Comment

Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email.

Connect With Us On....

"Without Fear or Favour"

About Zambia Daily Mail


The Zambia Daily Mail is a Limited Company whose equity is wholly subscribed by the Government of the Republic of Zambia. The Company is incorporated under the Companies Act, Cap 388 of the Laws of Zambia.

Zambia Daily Mail

2012. All Rights Reserved. Designed by ZAMNET

3 of 3

9/6/2012 1:43 PM

Das könnte Ihnen auch gefallen