Maravi

Disciplining MPs would be a waste of time, says Sata

Disciplining MPs would be a waste of time, says Sata
By Bivan Saluseki
Monday October 08, 2007 [04:00]

PATRIOTIC Front president Michael Sata yesterday said it would be a waste of time disciplining members of parliament that would opt to participate in the National Constitution Conference (NCC). And information minister Mike Mulongoti yesterday said the government had not closed the door to dialogue.

The PF central committee resolved that its members of parliament and councillors would not be part of the National Constitutional Conference (NCC).
The decision was arrived at after 11 hours of deliberation on Saturday.
Sata said PF would be flexible.

"At the moment, PF is supposed to be very flexible whether they go against or not. It goes to their CV. Will they be trusted next time if they can't follow their party decision?" he wondered.

"It's a waste of time even trying to discipline them. It's not all the time we are going to discipline them." Sata claimed MMD was on the rampage luring PF members with allowances that would be paid during sitting of the NCC. During the meeting, the members decided to subject the NCC issue to a vote.

There were 32 members of the central committee with eight who are members of parliament. The eight include Guy Scott, Elizabeth Molobeka, Peter Machungwa, Jean Kapata, Davis Mwila, Ernest Mwansa (who did not attend) and Willie Nsanda.
Mwila said he was happy with the decision.

According to sources, some of the members of parliament and central committee who wanted to participate in the NCC opted to keep quiet except for a few like Roan PF member of parliament Chishimba Kambwili who said he wanted to defend the Constitution.

Chairman for local government Wynter Kabimba said he was in support of participation in the NCC.
And Sata said the issue was subjected to a vote, with 21 voting against participation in NCC, six were for participation, two (Barnabas Chenda and Fidelis Kapoka) left early before voting while two; himself (Sata) and Kabimba abstained.

Sources and Sata said Kabimba abstained because his position was already known.
Sata said there were hardliners who never wanted PF to participate in the NCC and they took the day.
According to sources, the members could not express themselves during the meeting.

PF spokesperson Given Lubinda said the central committee overwhelmingly ratified the decision of the party to boycott the NCC.
"Before the resolution we took today, there was no action that we could take against any member of parliament who spoke contrary to what we had said. Today the central committee has met and members of parliament were also involved therefore the stand of the central committee cannot be defied and we don't expect any member of the party to defy the position that has been arrived at by a joint meeting of the central committee and members of parliament," said Lubinda.

"When PF says it is not going to participate in the NCC under the current Constitution it therefore goes without question, that all our councillors, all our members of parliament, all members of central committee will not take part in the constitution-making process. We are doing this to demand to the government to come back to the discussion table so that we can re-look at the contentious issues."

Lubinda said the decision had been arrived at by PF's strong and well-informed stand that the Zambian people deserved a constitution that would inspire them.
"A constitution that shall stand the test of time. A constitution that the Zambian people shall respect. A constitution that the Zambian people shall derive trust and confidence as a people. Nonetheless, we believe that under the current NCC Act, that desired constitution can not be attained," he said.

"We are of the strong position that unless the contentious issues are resolved, participating in the NCC will be to legitimise a fraudulent process. It shall be to rubberstamp a constitution that shall be written by the ruling MMD and given to the people using the NCC purely as a washing basin. PF refuses to be part of the washing basin."
Lubinda said in the spirit of dialogue, PF secretary general Edward Mumbi had been directed to write a letter in which the party should indicate issues of contention in the NCC Act.

"We are hopeful that President Mwanawasa shall hear our issues and bring all contending factions to a discussion table so that we can resolve the outstanding issues before the NCC is assembled," he said.

Lubinda said President Mwanawasa should make the necessary amendments to the Act so that all parties take part knowing that their voices would be heard.
During the meeting, the members looked at the reasons advanced by the civil society for boycotting of the NCC, such as the composition.
And Mulongoti said PF had not yet made an indication on what it was they wanted to dialogue over with President Mwanawasa.
He said whatever dialogue must be within the confines of the law.

"Government has never closed the door for dialogue," said Mulongoti.
The PF meeting later dealt with Nchanga by-elections and ways of defeating Charles Chimumbwa since MMD and their candidate had a lot of resources.
During the meeting, Luapula PF member of parliament Peter Machungwa suggested to Sata that they discuss the Chingola by-election in the presence of all members of parliament.

"Mr President, I suggest that we discuss the Chingola by-election with the MPs present. This is because it is important to get their commitment for fundraising," read a note from Machungwa to Sata.

Later, all members of parliament who are not part of the central committee were called in and informed of the adopted candidate.
The committee urged all members of parliament to put in enough resources and help in the campaigns since the MMD would also move in Nchanga with a lot of resources.
The meeting resolved to adopt former Maamba Collieries managing director Wilber Simuusa as its candidate.
Simuusa is currently a mining consultant and a mining engineer.

Lubinda said Simuusa was PF's winning candidate in Nchanga.
"It also came to the central committee that our candidate happened to be one of the financiers of our good old friend Chimumbwa. He actually assisted Chimumbwa in 2006 elections. We had many candidates all of them credible. Those not selected should not lose heart. We could only field one candidate. We have the confidence of retaining the seat," said Lubinda.

Labels: MPs, NCC, PF, SATA

posted by MrK @ 3:28 AM