Maravi

Civil society must speak out on constitution - Chiluba

Civil society must speak out on constitution - Chiluba
By Brighton Phiri and Nomusa Michelo
Sunday September 16, 2007 [04:00]

THE civil society must speak out and vent their anger on the current constitution making process, former president Frederick Chiluba said yesterday. Commenting on the standoff between the government and civil society on the recently enacted National Constitution Conference (NCC) Act, Chiluba said the civil society should be allowed to voice out and vent their anger on the constitution making process. "Let them speak out. Let them voice out.

Let them vent their anger, after all it is not the anger that will be the end product, but an agreement that will benefit the people," Chiluba said. "As a student of political philosophy, I believe that any constitution amendment is not a one-off thing, but a continuous process. It is up to a country to have a rigid or flexible constitution.

" Chiluba said it was not possible for the country to bring together people for the purpose of debating constitutional issues without the involvement of Non- Governmental Organisations (NGOs).

He said global changes that had taken place called for the involvement of civil society organisations during consultative processes on issues of national interest.

"I have a lot of respect and fear for NGOs or interest groups...not that I fear them, but that they have a big role to play because with the coming of industrialisation and mass population, it is not possible for the people to meet together and reach a conclusion," Chiluba said.

However, Chiluba said it was important for the local NGOs to be led by Zambian nationals if they were to serve the interest of the country.

"Pressure groups or NGOs best serve when the nationals lead them. But when they are led by foreigners, they become mercenaries," he said. Chiluba said it was important for civil society to be free from any political interference for them to serve the country effectively.

Speaking during the Oasis Forum consultative meeting held on Thursday at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre, African Women Millennium Initiative on Poverty and Human Rights (AWOMI) president Joyce Nonde said civil society would legitimise the evil if they went to the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) in its current form.

Nonde, who is also Federation for Free Trade Unions in Zambia president, said presentations made during the conference were based on facts and made it clear how difficult it would be for anyone to participate in the National Constitutional Conference.

"Time and again we have personalised the constitution, we shouldn't...There are two things, either we go there and escort the government and come out in the way the government wants it to come out or we decline it," Nonde said.

"If we go in, we are legitimising evil." Nonde said Zambians have been suffering because the country has a bad constitution. "Now if we are going to legitimise evil, if I were God I would clear all of you because God has given us an opportunity to say no to bad things and yes to good things.

But we are always scared," Nonde said. "Scared of death and yet you call yourselves Christians. And yet you say heaven is beautiful, why can't you die quickly and go to heaven."

During the conference, only the Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC), Non-Governmental Organisation Coordinating Council (NGOCC), Transparency International Zambia (TIZ), Council of churches in Zambia (CCZ) National Council for Catholic Women (NCCW), Coalition 2008, Citizens Forum, AWOMI, (FFTUZ) and the Heritage Party announced that they would not participate in the NCC.

Meanwhile, the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ), Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) and Southern African Centre for the Resolution of Conflicts and Disputes (SACCORD), University of Zambia Students Union (UNZASU), Copperbelt University Students Union (COBUSU), Zambia National Students Union (ZANASU), Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and the Islamic council of Zambia, stated that they were still consulting.

Only the All People's Congress Party said they would not boycott the NCC.

Meanwhile, TIZ president Reuben Lifuka said looking at the way things are going, Zambians would still be talking about the constitution in 2010. "Our position is that we support the position of organisations that are named in the Act to pull out of the NCC," he said.

And ZEC representative Fr Joe Komakoma said the Catholic Bishops have resolved not to participate in the NCC.

"There are other ways to influence without participating in the process. ZEC is not participating," he said. And CCZ general secretary Reverend Suzanne Matale said the CCZ has consulted its membership and had so far received 70 per cent of the responses, which indicate that they will not participate in the NCC.

NGOCC chairperson Marian Munyinda in giving reasons for the NGOCC non participation in the NCC, quoted section 17 (7) of the NCC Act, which she said favoured the government. Section 17 (7) of the NCC Act states that "All questions before the Conference or any of its committees shall be determined by a consensus, but in the absence of consensus, decisions of the Conference shall be determined by a two-thirds majority vote of the members of the Conference:

Provided that voting shall be by secret ballot." "If we look at the composition of the NCC which was shown to us we see that the conference will overwhelmingly be populated by the government and government workers and political party players," she said.

And EFZ executive director Bishop Paul Mususu said his organisation would this afternoon be able to come up with a position on whether or not they will support the NCC.

"This is not a sign that we have withdrawn, we have taken on board all the concerns that have been raised here," he said. And ZCTU vice-president Sam Phiri said while ZCTU had not yet come up with a position, it did not feel pulling out of the NCC would be in the best interest of its members.

"We don't really have a clear position. But having consulted our membership in Lusaka our position as a congress as of yesterday is that we'll consult further, but we do not believe that to withdraw from the process for the reason cited here will be in the best interest of our members. We shall come back with our position," Phiri said.

FFTUZ vice-president Joe Kamatumwe said most of the issues raised were in line with their resolutions.

"The NCC establishment composition, code of conduct and adoption process on the draft constitution has fallen short of our expectations for Zambia to produce a people driven constitution with a foundation which is founded on democratic principles as recommended by the Mung'omba review commission," he said.

Kamatumwe said workers would never be relegated to opportunistic followers but would join with the church, progressive civil society organisations, the youths and other democratic forces. And Heritage Party president Brigadier General Godfrey Miyanda said this was not the time for bravery to go to a conference that would not benefit the people of Zambia.

And APC president Ken Ngondo was booed by participants at the meeting when he said president Mwanawasa should be given credit for taking the people of Zambia to where they are in the constitution making process. Ngondo also said the APC fully supported the NCC. And giving the way forward, veteran politician Simon Zukas said saying no to the NCC was not a solution in itself.

"If we are going to say no, we are going to resolve that there has to be continuation of our critic," Zukas said. "Let us all make a determined decision that the struggle does not end by saying no."

And senior citizen Betty Chilunge advised that the forum constitute a team comprising chiefs and other eminent persons to see President Mwanawasa over the unresolved issues on the constitution making process.

Labels: CHILUBA, NCC

posted by MrK @ 5:52 AM