Maravi

NCC is a fraud, deception

NCC is a fraud, deception
By Editor
Friday September 28, 2007 [04:00]

The way Levy Mwanawasa’s government is trying to review the Constitution is not very different from what Frederick Chiluba’s government did in 1996. The only difference is that Chiluba was very crude about the way he did it. It may even be correct to say Chiluba was more honest about what he was doing. He cheated no one into believing he was coming up with a people driven constitution. Chiluba in 1996 put up a constitution of his own. But this government is not doing things with the same brazenness of the Chiluba regime.

Mwanawasa’s government is trying to come up with a semblance of participation by the people in the constitution review process. But we know that this participation is not real; it is only participation in form, not in substance. First, like Chiluba, Mwanawasa appointed the Constitution Review Commission whose recommendations he is not paying much attention to. This is despite the fact that billions of taxpayers’ kwacha were spent on the Constitution Review Commission’s work.

The National Constitutional Conference (NCC) Levy’s government has come up with is not for consensus building or a negotiated approach to constitution review. It is simply a mechanism for the deception of our people, an attempt to make them believe they are really participating in the constitution review process.

There is no real people’s participation in this constitution review process. What is there is the MMD’s participation, its dominance or hegemony over the whole process. With its majority in Parliament, the MMD was in a position to push through the NCC Bill in Parliament without any meaningful opposition or resistance.

And similarly, with its in-built majority in the NCC, it will be able to write a constitution for this country unfettered by the input of others. In this way, the next constitution of this country will be an MMD constitution, not a Zambian constitution. If anyone wants to deceive himself that Levy will come up with a constitution that will endure the test of time they are cheating themselves.

What is being set is a precedent that those with the parliamentary majority and are in control of government will in future also be able to do the same; to come up with a constitution of their own in a similar way.

It is not malice to say that the MMD has an in-built majority in NCC. This is something that can easily be proved arithmetically or mathematically.

It is very clear from the very beginning that Levy wanted to leave Zambians a constitution designed and written by him. He said it several times that he wanted to give Zambians a constitution that will stand the test of time; that he wanted to leave a legacy. This is what all this amounts to. But was it necessary for him to do it in such an expensive way? Why didn’t he do it the Chiluba way, which was direct and relatively far much cheaper?

We hope members of the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) will see through Levy’s skin and reject to be part of it or to rubber stamp it. Levy should be left alone to do what he wants to do. Let those fools who want to be used be used but not intelligent people like lawyers who represent the best brains of our people.

Of course there are lawyers who can play Judas Iscariot, who can sell the dignity of their people for the sake of being near to those in power. But we have no doubt the great majority of our lawyers are men and women with a very high sense of dignity and patriotism. They have a record of staunchly defending the interests of the people.

And they will not fail to do so this time by opposing vigorously the deceitful NCC scheme; by refusing to be part of it or rubber-stamp it. It’s better to isolate the crooks and let them have their own constitution by themselves for themselves. We say this because this is going to be nothing but a constitution of the MMD by the MMD for the MMD, imposed on the whole nation by crooked means.

As we have stated before unless the process is correct, unless there is consensus around the process, a constitution that is owned by the people will continue to be elusive. It is not possible to have a constitution that is really owned by the people and contains all the rights of the people in this manner.

A constitution should not be made a preserve of those with the majority in Parliament or those who occupy State House; it must be a product of negotiation and consensus among all our people. This is so because the constitution must be a medium that regulates human conduct in necessary matters concerning the common good.

And central to good governance, to a government of the people by the people for the people is a good constitution, that is truly driven and owned by themselves. One that is imposed on them by all sorts of crooked schemes will simply not do. We have no doubt this whole NCC Act is a fraud, a deception, a lie that should be exposed, denounced and isolated for what it is.

Yes, they are trying to clothe it in sheep’s skin but we can see that its naked head is that of a wolf.
We urge the MMD government to reconsider its position on NCC and get back to the drawing board and listen to the views of others and reach consensus before moving forward again. What they are trying to come up with is not an MMD constitution but a national constitution in which all our people should have their aspirations reflected.

It is not a constitution for those who narrowly won the presidential elections last year or for those who narrowly scooped some parliamentary seats. What Zambia needs is a constitution of the people, by the people, for the people.

For these reasons, we make a clarion call to all the members of LAZ to refuse to be part of this NCC fraud. We also call upon other players in the constitution making process who have been misled into be part of the NCC to seriously consider withdrawing from this criminal scheme and let the MMD come up with their own constitution which will be easy for all of us to see it for what it is – an MMD-imposed constitution.

Labels: EDITORIAL, NCC

posted by MrK @ 4:37 PM