NCC rejects suggestion for medical board to ascertain president’s health

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

NCC rejects suggestion for medical board to ascertain president’s health

NCC rejects suggestion for medical board to ascertain president’s health
Written by Allan Mulenga and Mwala Kalaluka
Wednesday, January 21, 2009 11:18:54 AM

THE Executive Committee of the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) yesterday overwhelmingly rejected suggestions that an ad hoc medical board should be the final authority to decide whether a serving president should vacate office in case of incapacitation.

And former secretary to the Cabinet, Sketchley Sacika warned that constitutional making is not about scoring points against one's political opponents.

During debate on clause 129 of the draft constitution, which stipulates the process leading to the removal of a sitting president in case of any incapacitation, some members said the report by the medical board should be taken as gospel truth on the matter.

Lusaka lawyer, Ngenda Sipalo said the medical board and not Parliament should be the final authority in the matter, since they were the experts.

"If the medical board says that the president is unwell, that should be taken as gospel truth by Parliament and Parliament should act on that," he said.

Sipalo said there was no need for the report of the medical board to be submitted before Parliament for onward debate and decision on the matter.

"If it is subjected to discussion, then naturally some members of parliament are going to reject it," Sipalo said.

Another commissioner agreed with Sipalo's suggestion and described the report as one that was professionally crafted.

Councillor David Musesa said if a sitting president has undergone rigorous medical examination in the process of determining his capacity to continue in office or not, it would be improper for anyone to dispute the findings of such a professional investigation.

The clause in contention stipulates in part that when the medical board reports that the president is incapable of performing his functions, the Chief Justice shall furnish a copy of the report to the Speaker for the approval of Parliament.

But Chipangali MMD member of parliament Vincent Mwale, among others, felt that the authority to decide whether a president should vacate office due to illness must not be left to the medical board.

"There is also room for the medical board not to do a good job and room for Parliament to reconstitute another board," Mwale said.

Southern Province minister Daniel Munkombwe said the process of instituting a medical board to probe the president's health status should be a preserve of Parliament and not Cabinet Office.

Most of the members agreed with the above suggestion.

But on the issue of the medical board being the final authority in the case of a presidential incapacitation, Munkombwe said Parliament, being the instigator of the process, should have a final say in the matter.

He said the two-thirds voting majority in Parliament should be the one to write and sign that the president is not well and should therefore leave office.

"When we are referring back to Parliament, we have been failing here to find people who have courage to institute the investigations," Munkombwe said. "We have found that it is only Parliament, which is difficult to fire."

And Sacika stated in a press release that the NCC, in its present form, does not add value to the work of the Mung'omba Constitution Review Commission because the commission had already dealt with everything the people wanted included in the constitution.

"In its present form, the National Constitutional Conference is a very poor substitute for an elected Constituent Assembly," he stated. "Political, social and church organisations, which have boycotted the conference because they are unhappy with certain aspects of its operations, represent a very important political constituency. It is therefore, a big mistake to treat their absence as a non-issue."

Sacika noted that the composition of the NCC was flawed, because government appointees and people who are serving their own interests dominate it.

"Secondly, its objective seems to be to give the government leverage to influence the final outcome," he stated. "As things stand, the conference cannot produce a constitution, which will be acceptable to the people."

He observed that allocating K300 billion to the NCC just to clean up the Mung'omba draft constitution is not a prudent way of utilising the country's scarce resources.

"The government should, therefore, abandon the NCC and settle on less expensive methods of dealing with the constitution," Sacika stated.

He proposed that instead a working party, which will be chaired by the Attorney General and include the chairpersons of the previous review commissions, assisted by Parliamentary draughts men, should be constituted.

"The ongoing constitution-making exercise has been the most expensive, the most protracted and the most divisive in the history of our country because of politics of self-interest," stated Sacika.

Labels: CONSTITUTION, DR. SKETCHLEY SACIKA, NCC