Rupiah approves 10 month extension of NCC mandate

Rupiah approves 10 month extension of NCC mandate
Written by Ernest Chanda
Tuesday, September 01, 2009 10:33:48 PM

PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda has approved the extension of the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) mandate by 10 months. This is according to the announcement by NCC chairperson Chifumu Banda during the opening of the NCC sitting in Lusaka today.

Banda said he was happy that President Banda had approved the NCC’s proposal to have its mandate extended.

“I’m pleased to inform you all that on 14th August 2009, the President of the Republic of Zambia, his Excellency Rupiah Banda in accordance with Section 22 of the NCC Act extended the duration of the NCC by 10 months,” he said.

Banda has also appealed to the critics of the NCC to understand the new extension.

“….Parliament will be sitting from the 18th of September 2009 to December 2009 for its budget session. Therefore, the NCC can only sit up to Thursday 17th September 2009, this translates into 11 days of actual sitting. As can be seen from the foregoing, the apparent long intervals between the sittings of NCC are beyond our control,” he said.

“In the spirit of transparency, the NCC secretariat will soon release to the public an account of how the initial period of 12 months granted by the NCC Act was utilised.”

Banda said NCC would try its best to painstakingly speed up the whole process.