NCC releases draft constitution for public comments

NCC releases draft constitution for public comments
By Ernest Chanda
Tue 22 June 2010, 16:00 CAT

NATIONAL Constitutional Conference (NCC) chairperson Chifumu Banda has called on the public to read and comment on the new draft constitution produced by the Conference.

Releasing the document to the public at Lusaka's Mulungushi International Conference Centre yesterday, Banda said the governance of this country could only improve if people made meaningful contributions to the constitution making process.

He said the public had been given 40 days effective June 22, 2010 in which to comment on the draft constitution.

"The conference has produced three documents, and these are: the Initial Report of the Conference, the Draft Constitution; and the Summary of the Resolutions of the Conference. Given that the Draft constitution adopted by the Conference has been published, the members of the public should take keen interest in reading the documents and provide useful comments to enhance the quality of our Constitution," Banda said.

"The governance of this nation will not improve by how much we quarrel among ourselves but how relevant and effective our institutions are; and this can only be done through the Constitution we give ourselves and the laws made there-under. In order to facilitate access by members of the general public, the documents will soon be available: through the office of the District Commissioner in each district; the NCC secretariat at Mulungushi International Conference Centre; and through three websites of the Governance Secretariat under the ministry of Justice whose website is www.governance.gov.zm; the National Assembly on www.parliament.gov.zm; and the National Constitutional Conference whose website is www.ncczambia.org."

Asked if the document will also be translated into the seven major local languages, Banda said that would be determined by the availability of funds.

"Printing of this document is still going on at Government Printers and we have put measures to ensure that it is completed quickly for the public to comment. As for the cost of this document, the price will be determined by Government Printers. In terms of the law we are under mandate to translate this document into local languages. But for now we are unable to do that because we don't have funds for that exercise. Should we receive funding for that purpose we will have it translated. However, I will state that this draft constitution has also been translated into braille," he said.

Asked if the NCC will deliver the final document by August 31 as earlier promised, Banda expressed confidence.

"The 40 days we have given the public to comment on this document is as prescribed by an Act of parliament. As to whether the period is sufficient or not, it is up to the law makers to determine that. If they feel that the period is too short they will do that, but for us we will deliver as we have always stated. And as sure as today's launch testifies I'm very, very sure and supremely confident that we will present the draft constitution to the minister of Justice by August 31st 2010. I can assure you we have the zeal, the desire, the will and the direction to deliver as the people of Zambia mandated us to do. And should finances be available we will send some teams from the Conference to all the districts to get people's comments," said Banda.

The NCC completed deliberations on all the 11 committee reports as compiled from the Mung'omba draft constitution and adjourned sine die on April 29, 2010.

And prior to the adjournment, several articles of considerable public interest were not adopted by the NCC according public will.

These include, among others, the rejection of an elected Vice-President, the introduction of a first degree as one of the qualifications for Presidential candidates and the refusal to agree on the fifty per cent plus one voting system for a President; a clause that was referred to a referendum.

Since then, the NCC secretariat has been preparing a draft constitution that should be circulated to the public for them to make comments on what has been adopted.
And at the end of the 40 day period, the NCC plenary will sit again in Lusaka to consider people's comments on the draft constitution.

Thereafter, the NCC secretariat will make a final draft constitution that will be presented to the minister of Justice on August 31, 2010.

Then the minister of Justice will later present the draft constitution to parliament for debate and subsequent adoption of respective articles as the House will determine.