Don't get excited over NNC bill, Sata advises Levy

Don't get excited over NNC bill, Sata advises Levy
By Mwala Kalaluka and Patson Chilemba
Monday August 27, 2007 [04:00]

OPPOSITION Patriotic Front (PF) leader Michael Sata has advised President Levy Mwanawasa not to get too excited over the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) Bill which was passed in Parliament last week. And opposition UPND president Hakainde Hichilema has urged the Oasis Forum not to isolate itself but to strategise by fighting to ensure that the composition of the NCC was balanced and not tilted towards the ruling MMD.

Commenting on the passing of the NCC Bill in Parliament last Wednesday, Sata said his party would within the next three weeks engage several civil society players and all stakeholders in consultations to find ways of stopping the Bill from getting into the statute books.

"The point is that President Mwanawasa is excited for something which has not even started working. He has not achieved anything; this is just the beginning of the fight and his excitement is short-lived," Sata said. "This Bill is so obnoxious and so unrealistic, typical of President Mwanawasa's thinking to derail and delay such an important issue."

He said Zambians had not lost out completely following the passing of the NCC Bill by Parliament as planned by President Mwanawasa and justice minister George Kunda. Sata said there was still chance to block the Bill using the courts.

"We (PF) are going to consult the Oasis Forum, the Church and all stakeholders and if they are of the opinion that we stall this Bill, then we are going to block it through the courts," Sata said.

"We still have a chance to kill this Bill even after he (President Mwanawasa) has assented it."

He recalled that during the Chiluba administration and when he was still in government, then education minister Brigadier General Godfrey Miyanda wanted to push a piece of legislation for the University of Zambia (UNZA) but academicians who even went to the extent of taking the issue to the courts fervently opposed the idea.

"Frederick Chiluba never assented that Bill into law," Sata recalled.
"Our grounds of blocking the Bill will be as follows: the Bill in the present form will not achieve its intended purpose."

He wondered how the composition of the NCC would attain wider national representation when it states that one eminent person will represent each province.

He said each province had diverse tribal and cultural distinctions, which needed to be taken into account in the debate around the constitution-making process.

Sata vowed that PF was ready for a fight with President Mwanawasa over what they thought was the right approach to handle the constitution review process.

"That is why I support those who are calling for Kunda's dismissal. Kunda cannot see, he is paranoid, myopic and trunculated," Sata charged. "What we mean is that the entire government led by Kunda and Mwanawasa do not believe in teamwork because they are so self-centred.

"We have to wait for the NCC Bill to be assented. Once it is, then trouble begins. But for now pressure continues. We have constituted a team of constitutional lawyers and after 21 days we will move to kill this Bill because it is a mockery and an insult to the people."

And Hichilema urged the government to remedy the failed challenges of the past and deliver to the expectations of the people who he said had fought so hard to get the constitution process to where it was.

Hichilema said the people of Zambia should fight to get the government enact the constitution within the stipulated time frame.

"We must ensure we implement what we have agreed on. What we need is commitment to deliver and deliver within the right frame. Now there will be the conference, the issue is management to ensure it's done in the time frame," he said.

Hichilema said what was needed was to fight and ensure that the provisions in the NCC that favoured the MMD such as the composition of the conference were done away with.

"The fight will continue that a good constitution is put in place. We are one with the Oasis Forum and we are working together," he said.
He urged the Oasis Forum not to separate itself from the process but strategise to undo the tricks of the MMD.

"My word to the Oasis Forum is that let's strategise. We have been strategising with them underground. In fact it's not underground because this is something that is in the interest of the public. Let's not separate ourselves. We know where the hurdle is; it's the MMD that is giving us a headache," Hichilema said.

"Whereas some of the things we pushed have come through, we have to fight for those that have not come through."
Hichilema said the major challenge was the 'inbuilt composition' of the MMD in the conference.

"That's the biggest risk to us. The next issue is to push for that. I can understand the concerns of the civil society and I agree with them but we have to find a way of breaking out of this issue," he said.
Hichilema said the NCC Bill was where it was because of the pressure from the Zambian people to have a new constitution.

"Zambians fought, they wanted a constitutional conference that carried the mandate of the constituent assembly. They wanted the President not to appoint the chairperson and vice-chairperson and they wanted the Bill to go to Parliament without some amendments or going to the Minister of Justice. The major issue now is the issue of the composition," said Hichilema.

Parliament on Wednesday last week adopted the NCC Bill, which passed for third reading.