Maravi

Ideas, standards of crooks dominate

Ideas, standards of crooks dominate
By Editor
Fri 29 Jan. 2010, 04:00 CAT

CENTRAL to good governance in our country is a good constitution, one that is really owned by the people and contains all the rights of the people. What the Zambian people are seeking is a good constitution which truly makes leaders servants of the people and not their masters.

Unless the attitude of those leading the constitution review process is right and the process they have adopted is correct, a constitution that is owned by the people will continue to be elusive. The constitution is the instrument by which people cooperate together to achieve the common good.

A good constitution is needed to guide the energies of all towards the common good. There is therefore need for a conversion of heart and for the transformation of the social structures in order to build our country. It is important to maintain and strengthen democratic structures if we are to enjoy a peaceful and developing future.

And we shouldn’t forget that poverty is impoverishment caused by the unjust political, economic and social structures. And we need to respond sensibly to these root causes of impoverishment through enacting a good constitution. It is the poor and the powerless who directly bear the burden of a bad constitution.

A good constitution is a prerequisite to their wellbeing. Every structure needs to be transformed so that it is in tune with the best interest of all our people, especially the poor. And accordingly, those participating in our constitution review process must ensure that their participation is guided by values of respect for human dignity, human rights, common good, social justice, solidarity, integral development and special concern for the poor.

They should see to it that politics is cleansed of its “dirty game” image and is made to be seen for what it should be – a genuine way of being at the service of others for the integral development of the country. Their work in this area should be directed towards ensuring honest politics in our country; towards ensuring that citizens are empowered to hold their representatives accountable.

Respect and promotion of all human rights is essential for human development. And the efforts of all those engaged in the process of reviewing our constitution should be directed towards the promotion of the fullness of human rights and duties. We say this because the roots of human rights are to be found in the dignity that belongs to each human being.

What our people are looking for is a constitution that gives every citizen of this country the chance to enjoy the wellbeing necessary for their full human development.

What our people are looking for is a constitution that seeks the right ordering of things with which the divine founder has invested our nation and which must be actualised by us thirsting after an ever more perfect reign of justice. We are all created in the image and likeness of God.

The dignity of each one of us is sacred, inalienable and must be respected in whatever constitution we come up with. The pursuit of justice must be a fundamental norm of all those participating in the exercise of writing a new constitution for our country.

Let us not forget that the foundation of good government must be established on the sound basis of laws, of constitution.

The constitution of a country is a national document of the highest importance. As the supreme law of the land, it must be recognised and respected as embodying the sovereign will of the majority of the people and not of a small group arbitrarily handpicked by those in power so as to enable them achieve their personal political agendas.

What we are seeing with this constitution review process is the reign of the arbitrary will of individuals, of those in power.

We value a constitution inasmuch as it ensures the participation of citizens in making political choices, guarantees to the governed the possibility of electing and holding accountable those who govern them, and of replacing them through peaceful means when appropriate.

Today what we are seeing at the National Constitutional Conference is frightening. We are seeing an emphasis on what those in power desire, want. But all those involved in this process should be aware of the fact that an overemphasis on one side of the equation threatens the whole undertaking.

If the National Constitutional Conference is perceived as nothing more than a forum in which those involved can express their demands, they will not come up with a constitution that addresses or serves, heart and soul, the interests of the great majority of our people.

What they will come up with is a constitution that proceeds in all cases from the interests of those in power, from self-interest, from the interests of a small group and not from the interests of the people and the sufferings of the great majority of the citizens of this country. What our people are seeking is a constitution which in every word, clause or article conforms to the people’s interest and has the people’s interests and the sufferings of the great majority at heart. All those at the National Constitutional Conference should realise that the mark of great people is the ability to understand the context in which they are operating and act accordingly. They should be able every night after their sittings to go to bed feeling that they have done some service to the community.

This is very important, far more important than the allowances they are receiving, than being near to the reservation seat of those in power. Let them do a noble job and do everything they are doing there in pursuit of a better life for all of us. At the end of the day, no one should feel cheated by them. If this happens their whole work there will amount to nothing but daylight robbery, banditry. We know our country is today full of political mercenaries – they are found everywhere one goes, be it the Church, NGOs, political parties, universities, government institutions of all sorts and so on and so forth.

But it shouldn’t be forgotten that peace, prosperity, tranquillity and security are only possible if these are enjoyed by all without manipulation or discrimination. The work of the National Constitutional Conference should be underpinned by the desire to lift the most downtrodden sections of our population and all round transformation of society.

The great lesson of our time is that no regime can survive for long if it acts above the heads of the ordinary citizens of the country.

It is easy to manipulate a few hundreds of National Constitutional Conference delegates and get the clauses one wants in the constitution adopted and celebrate that they have gotten a constitution they wanted. And they would even praise themselves in sorts of ways for having worked hard, for being clever or smart. But they shouldn’t forget that this form of manipulating citizens to give them a constitution that suits their political designs of the moment will not do.

We say this because manipulators have never deserved anybody’s respect or been successful anywhere. As we have stated before, manipulators are like little sailboats that go with the wind and the waves. Manipulation is synonymous with opportunism. Manipulation doesn’t have substance; it doesn’t have roots. Sooner or later all that we have achieved will be reduced to nothing and the nation will be back to the drawing board trying to write another constitution. Frederick Chiluba did it in 1996. He senselessly and insensitively manipulated everything to give himself a constitution he wanted. He got it at a very high cost to the Zambian taxpayer. And today we are back to square one, at another gigantic cost to the Zambian taxpayer, trying to write another constitution. But again, Chiluba’s friends are making the same mistakes he made by trying to manipulate everything to suit their political desires of the moment.

But a constitution that is intended to last for a long time cannot be constructed in the manner the National Constitutional Conference is proceeding. The whole exercise is just a waste of taxpayers’ money, a fraud, a manipulation. Although costly to the Zambian taxpayer, this whole exercise is nothing but an exercise in futility. We think that a good constitution review process is only possible among people who are honest with themselves and with others; it is not possible under this deception that is going on at the National Constitutional Conference.

Those involved in this process are not much concerned about the future; they are more concerned with the present. All their efforts are directed towards addressing expediencies of the moment. The future doesn’t seem to owe them anything; they are doing everything to suit their present circumstances. They don’t even seem to realise that what they are doing today has effects on the future of our country because the future is not built in the future; it is built on the threshold of today.

They don’t even seem to be embarrassed or ashamed of substituting their own wishes for those of the people. They are discarding recommendations of the Mung’omba Constitution Review Commission – a Commission that went round the country listening to the people, collecting their views and synthesising them – and substituting them with their own.

They are ignoring the wishes of the Zambian people on many very issues. And instead of broadening democracy and accountability, they are in many respects attempting to narrow it, to reduce it. They are more concerned with the protection of criminal politicians and not with the protection of the people from the crimes of such elements.

This is a constitution review process to protect criminals and not to protect the people from such political criminals. They are more concerned about immunities for criminals than about justice for the people. It’s very easy to discern what forces, ideas and standards are propelling this constitution review process. It is the ideas and standards of crooks, corrupt elements, tyrannical politicians that are propelling what is going on at the National Constitutional Conference. This being the case, we shouldn’t expect anything good to come out of that process. Zambians should start preparing for another constitution review process.

Labels: CONSTITUTION, NCC

posted by MrK @ 2:00 PM