Maravi

Oasis pulls out of NCC

Oasis pulls out of NCC
By Brighton Phiri
Wednesday September 12, 2007 [04:00]

THE Oasis Forum has adopted the Non-Governmental Organisations Co-ordinating Council's (NGOCC) position to stay away from the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) which is being spearheaded by the government. And Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) president Reuben Lifuka said the option of staying away from the constitution-making process was on theOasis Forum's table.

According to some senior members of the Oasis Forum, the three church mother bodies; Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC), Christian Council of Zambia (CCZ) and Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia had resolved to stay away from the constitution-making process because they felt deceived by the enactment of the NCC Bill.

"We are waiting to hear from our colleagues in Law Association of Zambia and some of the consultative group members. As for the Church it is clear that they will stay away to avoid legitimising the process," said one of the sources.

"It is very clear from the NCC Act that the process has been hijacked by the politicians. We stand the risk of being used by politicians to legitimise the process if we attend the NCC."
According to one source, some key Oasis Forum members were expected to announce their adoption of NGOCC's position of staying away from the constitution making process during the stakeholders' conference scheduled for Lusaka's Mulungushi International Conference Centre tomorrow.

"The numbers as outlined in the NCC Bill does not instill confidence in the minds of serious stakeholders...the composition has abrogated the demand that no interest group should have built in majority...in this case MMD has a built in majority under the NCC bill," said the source.

According to the source, the concerned Oasis Forum members felt that it was risky for them to attend the government sponsored NCC because they could easily be defeated by the majority MMD sympathisers.

"It is better to lobby this constitutional conference from outside so that the people's interest is safeguarded. People have the democratic right to participate or not in any process. And it is our democratic right to participate from outside," said the source.
The Oasis Forum has called for a stakeholders' consultative meeting, where they would review their participation in the constitution making process.

And Lifuka said all Oasis Forum member organisations were consulting amongst their membership and were expected to announce their resolutions during the stakeholders' conference tomorrow.
"As TIZ, we are having our consultative meeting today (yesterday) to decide on the matter," Lifuka said.

"Otherwise the option of pulling out of the constitution-making process is still lying on the Oasis Forum's table."
He explained that the Oasis Forum members would discuss the NCC Act and assess whether it would deliver a people-driven constitution.

"We will discuss the issue of the composition. We are worried that with MMD enjoying built in majority, we will not discuss the content of the constitution in a free and fair manner because of the arrogance of numbers," he said.

Lifuka said one of the questions to be addressed would be whether the Oasis Forum should go into the NCC to legitimise the process. He said the Oasis Forum had invited some students' unions, labour leaders and political parties to attend its organised consultative conference in order to reach a consensus on the matter.

Labels: NCC, NGOCC, OASIS FORUM

posted by MrK @ 3:25 AM