Maravi

Madyenkuku urges Kunda to withdraw his K5bn request

Madyenkuku urges Kunda to withdraw his K5bn request
By George Chellah
Mon 08 Feb. 2010, 04:00 CAT

SYACHEYE Madyenkuku yesterday dismissed Vice-President George Kunda's justification and urged him to immediately withdraw his recommendation to Cabinet to pay about K5 billion to ministers and other Lusaka-based parliamentarians attending the National Constitutional Conference (NCC).

Reacting to Vice-President Kunda's statement that the government is following financial regulations as they pay delegates to the NCC, Madyenkuku, who is former Sinazongwe member of parliament and sports minister said the NCC was already taking a very high toll on the treasury.

“It will not be surprising if before the end of this year the Minister of Finance goes to Parliament to ask for supplementary expenditure. And this will be an unnecessary expenditure because this government doesn't seem to know where to spend the money on,” he said.

He said allowances for some delegates and ministers who were already sufficiently subsisted by government represented irresponsible placement of priorities.
Madyenkuku wondered how Vice-President Kunda was going to lobby for funding for disaster management in the country amidst such lavish spending.

“We are now facing an unpredictable weather pattern where although we had a dry spell in some parts of the country, right now we have continuous rains and we cannot rule out the damage to some bridges. We wonder really what really the plight of ordinary Zambians is going to be in the country,” Madyenkuku said. “How is Kunda going to lobby the NGOs, how is he going to lobby the outside world? When at the time when he is supposed to prepare all the necessary funds... we know that there are no funds readily available in the time of disasters, we always have to stampede for assistance.

“These floods are expected anyway, they are about to come. If there will be no floods in some areas there will be droughts so every penny must be pushed aside now in preparation for that eventuality. It is not too late; we call upon this man, the Vice-President, to withdraw this move in the national interest. He must withdraw this thing immediately or else the MMD will meet the wrath of the Zambian people at the next election.”

He insisted that there was no justification for such spending on the NCC.
“To begin with, this constitution making process should have been concluded. It should have been concluded last year. They asked for an extension of three months, the three months is now turning into another year and it’s still open-ended. The nation has no idea on earth whatsoever when this NCC business is going to conclude. It seems that the NCC is becoming a parallel legislative body running concurrently with Parliament. It's a complete circus, I think the whole notion of constitution making is being abused," Madyenkuku said. “And matters are not being helped by the attitude that the Vice-President is now taking. Parliament closes on Friday, by Tuesday following week NCC convenes. Talks about ministers, ministers are provided for sufficiently in terms of fuel, they are sufficiently catered for in terms of housing, what justification? When are we going to see a government that leads by example? When are we going to see government making sacrifices before they can ask Zambians to make sacrifices? Is it a question of do what I say not what I do?”

He said it had become very clear that the NCC did not have a limited mandate.
“By now the NCC should have concluded business so that administrative work such as the compilation of their findings could have commenced. It appears this is a deliberate ploy to avoid holding the next elections on a new constitution,” said Madyenkuku. “Clearly this seems to be a ploy. When is the matter going to be debated by the public? We have an open ended constitution making process, which does not make sense. It is dragging on and whenever time is due for it to conclude they ask for more time and government extends it.”

On Friday, Vice-President Kunda said the government was following financial regulations as they pay delegates to the NCC.
Speaking upon arrival at Livingstone International Airport, Vice-President Kunda said the NCC had credible men and women who could not be matched with Patriotic Front (PF) leader Michael Sata and the money they were being paid was budgeted for.

Vice-President Kunda's comments came in the wake of condemnation from various stakeholders in the country over his recent recommendation to Cabinet to pay about K5 billion to ministers and other Lusaka-based parliamentarians attending the NCC.

Labels: GEORGE KUNDA, SYACHEYE MADYENKUKU

posted by MrK @ 5:00 AM