Maravi

Catholic church takes a stand on referendum

Catholic church takes a stand on referendum
By Brighton Phiri and Noel Sichalwe
Tuesday June 05, 2007 [04:00]

VICTORY is certain on the proposed referendum on the constituent assembly, the Catholic Church has declared. The Oasis Forum has also vowed to defeat President Mwanawasa during the referendum on the constituent assembly. And Press Freedom Committee of The Post secretary general Sheikh Chifuwe yesterday said they were ready to go round the country to explain to the people what is at stake and undo all the lies about the constitution-review process.

Reacting to President Mwanawasa's letter to Oasis Forum spokesperson Musa Mwenye, in which he asked him to advise his organisation to be ready for a referendum, Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC) spokesperson Fr Paul Samasumo said the Catholic Church was ready for President Mwanawasa during the referendum.

"Victory can be assured. We have done it before and we shall do it this time around," Fr Samasumo said. "President Mwanawasa should know that, as the Catholic Church, we have been there before in the previous governments and we shall continue to exist even under the incoming governments."

He said the Catholic Church would guide the people to stand on the right side of the referendum question.

"We are ready for the referendum, we have always been ready to assist our people to stand on the right side. We have always done it," he said.

Fr Samasumo said the Catholic Church would provide the people with all the necessary information on the constitution making process. He said the Church would allow the people to vote during the referendum with their conscience. And Mwenye said the Oasis Forum would take up President Mwanawasa's challenge and ensure that he was defeated during the referendum. "We will definitely defeat the President during the referendum," Mwenye said.

Mwenye, however, said there was need to agree on the question that would be posed to the Zambian people so that they could give proper response. "This question has to be agreed by all parties as any misleading question could lead to a misleading conclusion," he said.

Mwenye said the Oasis Forum would continue to apply pressure on the need for a new constitution. He said the Oasis Forum had noted that President Mwanawasa had rejected the constituent assembly for personal reasons and the preservation of the MMD.

"We will be holding the MMD responsible for the wastage of national resources," he said. "From the President's letter, we have noted that the decision over the constitution review referred to was made by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the MMD and its Liaison Parliamentary Committee. This is unacceptable in constitution making that the MMD should hold the whole country at ransom over a process to be agreed upon by all parties."

Mwenye said the constitution review process needed to be broadly canvassed by all stakeholders.

President Mwanawasa also said in the letter that the MMD had earlier agreed to the idea of adopting a new constitution through a constituent assembly because of the fear of violence and tension that was created over the constituent assembly.
He said the MMD NEC and Parliamentary Liaison Committee had voted for a referendum to decide on the constituent assembly.

Chifuwe said their committee had been to virtually all districts in the country and they are very much in contact with the people.

"We helped politicians and other civic leaders to communicate with the people in the run-up to last year's elections," Chifuwe said. "We will not hesitate to use the same structures and methods to communicate with the people on the constitution review process when the time for a referendum on the constituent assembly comes.

Those opposed to the constituent assembly should be ready to meet us on the ground. We know the terrain of our country very well and we have been everywhere. We will work very closely with the Catholic Church who we have always considered to be a strategic partner of not only ourselves but of all the decent people, of all the honest people, of all the progressive people of this country."
Non-Government Organisations Co-ordinating Council (NGOCC) chairperson Marian Munyinda said no matter how many times President Mwanawasa would vote against the constituent assembly, Zambians would defeat him.

"It does not matter how many times he may wish to vote or how many people he may wish to sponsor to vote against the constituent assembly, the women will defeat President Mwanawasa's motion," Munyinda said. "President Mwanawasa is showing us that he cannot be trusted; we can't trust him to sit and write us a good constitution."

She reminded President Mwanawasa that Zambians would hold him accountable for the resources he would abuse during the census.

Munyinda said there was no justification for President Mwanawasa to call for a referendum when he had offered to respect the views of Zambians who would speak through his appointed Constitution Review Commission (CRC).

"As NGOCC, we are very disappointed with him because this shows that President Mwanawasa does not respect the views of the people," she said.

Munyinda said NGOCC member organisations were calling for the shortest process of enacting the new constitution.

"Hence, their support for Oasis Forum roadmap, which is shorter than that of President Mwanawasa and his government," she said.

In a letter dated June 1, 2007, President Mwanawasa told Mwenye to brief his organisation to be ready to provide their particulars and sensitise people about the process.

President Mwanawasa last Thursday phoned Mwenye around 12:00 hours and started interrogating him on the statements he had been issuing in the media saying that the Oasis Forum would continue fighting for the will and aspirations of the people until a new constitution was enacted.

On Saturday, President Mwanawasa denounced Mwenye for disclosing their private conversation to the press.

He accused Mwenye of behaving like a lying witness in court during the conversation.
Mwenye challenged President Mwanawasa to publish transcripts of the discussion in order for Zambians to know the truth.

Several people from various organisations have condemned President Mwanawasa's intimidating behaviour over the constitution review process.

Labels: CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY, MWANAWASA, OASIS FORUM

posted by MrK @ 4:09 AM