Maravi

Don’t expect anything good from NCC - Bishop Mambo

Don’t expect anything good from NCC - Bishop Mambo
Written by Ernest Chanda
Friday, April 17, 2009 2:32:26 PM

ZAMBIANS should not expect anything good from the National Constitutional Conference (NCC), former commissioner in the Mung'omba Constitutional Review Commission Bishop John Mambo has observed.

Commenting on Wednesday's recommendation by the Executive Committee of the NCC that when a president dies, the Vice-President should automatically take over, Bishop Mambo said the recommendation was contrary to people's wishes.

"Out of the way they have directed themselves there is nothing good to expect. What they came up with yesterday [Wednesday], bena [Michael] Mabenga behaving like a star, is not helping us in any way. I don't mind them getting allowances, it's their entitlement. But they should do a good job. But as things stand, they seem to be more obsessed with their pockets than the needs of Zambians. And they seem to have people they are fighting through a new constitution. This is very retrogressive," Bishop Mambo said. "And I have said I'm not a prophet. Whoever wins the next election, whether MMD, PF or UPND, this constitution will be subjected to another review. And that will be another cost for this country, which the NCC should have avoided. But they are busy treating the Mung'omba recommendations like scrambled eggs."

He said because of greed, the NCC delegates had totally drifted away from late president Levy Mwanawasa's vision on the constitution.

"These people have totally drifted away from what Levy Mwanawasa would have loved to see in the new constitution. That learned lawyer and State Counsel had a better vision for a new constitution than what we've been put through so far. They have completely ignored everything the people of Zambia recommended. I was a commissioner and we travelled around the country as Mwanawasa directed us. And people wanted the 50 [per cent] plus one threshold and an elected vice-president. So far all these have been thrown away," Bishop Mambo said.

"They [NCC delegates] are treating the constitution as if it's a personal document or an MMD document. I'm grieved as a former commissioner and I wish there could be someone with moral principles in that NCC who could reverse the situation and uphold people's wishes."

When reminded that former presidential affairs minister Gabriel Namulambe did not want an elected vice-president because he could bewitch the president so that he takes over, Bishop Mambo dismissed the argument as nonsense.

"What we are saying here is that we must think ahead. This witchcraft argument is nonsense it's neither here nor there. If you are a performer who has been elected then you will carry on with the vision in the event that something bad happens to the President. The talk of witchcraft is some thing we cannot entertain," he said. "That language should not have come from a minister. He shouldn't be a minister, he should be a villager somewhere. Nothing like witchcraft should be entertained where the constitution is concerned. Yes, it's good the President has to be covered because he has so many friends and so forth. But you cannot sink so low as a Cabinet minister and discuss witchcraft. It doesn't make sense."

Bishop Mambo wondered whether the people sitting at the NCC had really read the Mung'omba constitution draft report.

"The whole process of NCC as we are heading towards the end is being hijacked. And I'm afraid we are merely playing lip service if we are saying we are continuing with the legacy of Mwanawasa. Very soon I'm going to do a write up which I'm going to circulate to the press. This is so because I expected our chairperson Willa Mung'omba to regroup all former commissioners so that we give direction to the NCC," said Bishop Mambo.

"We are not opposed to the men and women who are in the NCC, no, but we are opposed to the way they are directing themselves. They are totally disregarding the Mung'omba report. And one cannot be a member of the NCC and fail to read through this report. This is the report that the people of Zambia brought from all the nine provinces. And when I hear recommendations from the NCC, I'm wondering whether our men and women there have read the Mung'omba report."

Labels: JOHN MAMBO, NCC

posted by MrK @ 1:33 PM