UPND official opposes NCC on war declaration powers

UPND official opposes NCC on war declaration powers
Written by Allan Mulenga
Sunday, February 01, 2009 4:31:03 AM

UPND chairman for defence and security Captain Cosmas Moono has said it is foolish for National Constitutional Conference (NCC) members to adopt a proposal that the Republican president should be given powers to declare war without Parliament’s approval.

In an interview, Capt Moono, who is also former Chilanga MP, observed that since a war involved all the people, there was need for the Republican president to seek approval from the representatives of the people.

“When a war is declared, the majority of the people who die are the civilians and if people are going to sacrifice their lives, they need an explanation from their representatives in Parliament,” he said.

Capt Moono advised NCC members not to formulate a constitution which would suit President Rupiah Banda’s interests.

“The constitution should stand the taste of time. They should bear in mind that with the emerging democracy in the country, we will have different presidents. We should make a constitution which will make even war mongers to govern properly,” he said.

Capt Moono claimed that most of the wars in Africa were fought without any concrete reasons and therefore would have been avoided.

“We should not allow the Republican president to declare war without Parliament’s approval to avoid some of the wars that have been fought,” he said.

Capt Moono urged NCC members not to trivialize a war whenever they were debating on war-related issues.

“Daniel Munkombwe [Southern Province minister] is suffering from old age and ignorance of warfare. There is no way bombs can be dropping when debating the war in Parliament. Our security personnel guard the sovereignty of the country for 24 hours, including water and other creatures,” he said.

Capt Moono claimed that declaration of war could not bypass National Assembly on the basis that there was a long procedure to be followed before debating a Bill, saying Parliament could be called at short notice if there was an interesting issue.

“You cannot bypass Parliament by hiding in foolish words like ‘sensitive issue’ and ‘long procedure’. Parliament can be confined at anytime by the speaker and debate on any issue like they did when removing [former president Frederick] Chiluba’s immunity,” he said.

Capt Moono said in an event that there were military threats from another country, the defence personnel were already covered under the defence Act, where they could apply at an appropriate stage of alert.

“Going for war is not like arranging a boxing tournament for Esther Phiri. When we go for war, it means that we are ready to commit resources that we did not budget for. Essential commodities such as drugs and other social services are greatly affected by war and the quality of life deteriorates for all citizens,” said Capt Moono.