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NCC is a defective process, says Emily

NCC is a defective process, says Emily
By Masuzyo Chakwe
Mon 19 Apr. 2010, 03:00 CAT

WOMEN for Change (WfC) executive director Emily Sikazwe has said her organisation has been vindicated on its refusal to participate in the NCC because it is a defective process which cannot produce a good constitution for every Zambian.

Commenting on the National Constitutional Conference (NCC)’s rejection of food, water and shelter as basic human rights that should be enshrined in the constitution, Sikazwe said it was disappointing that the NCC delegates could laugh at and reject Article 74 (1) of the Mung’omba draft constitution that stated that every person had a right to be free from hunger and to have access to food in adequate quantities.

She said food and water were basic rights that could not be taken away from any individual.

“What the NCC delegates are forgetting is that socio-economic rights are important to the development of any country and as such, it is important that they are included in the constitution, which is the foundation for the development of the country,” she said.

Sikazwe said it was sad that the NCC delegates perceive civil and political rights to be more important than socio-economic rights.

She said the delegates had failed to realise that it was impossible to enjoy civil and political rights without enjoying socio-economic rights.

She said WfC was disappointed at the calibre of some of the ministers that Zambia had.

“Ministers who think they are more equal than other Zambians, and the ones who deserve access to water, adequate food, decent shelter and access to good education and health facilities. These are ministers like justice deputy minister Todd Chilembo, who can describe the inclusion of basic rights in the constitution as utopian,” she said.

Sikazwe said the inclusion of basic rights in the constitution could never be utopian and it had never affected any country that had them negatively.

She urged Chilembo and his fellow NCC delegates to learn from South Africa, which had these rights in the constitution.

Sikazwe said having such a clause in the constitution did not mean that the states always had to give everyone food but that the state must prioritise and enable people to get food and clean water.

She said this may be done by making sure that the majority poor, especially in rural areas, had access to subsidised fertiliser, employment, land and other programmes that could help them have adequate food and water, unlike the present situation.

“The Zambia we want is a Zambia where every Zambian is able to enjoy the rights to adequate food, clean water, decent shelter and access to good health and education facilities,” said Sikazwe.

Labels: CONSTITUTION, EMILY SIKAZWE, NCC, WFC

posted by MrK @ 3:55 PM