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NCC constitution-making process is a lost cause - Mulafulafu

NCC constitution-making process is a lost cause - Mulafulafu
By Patson Chilemba
Thu 19 Aug. 2010, 04:01 CAT

THE current constitution-making process is a lost cause, Caritas Zambia executive director Samuel Mulafulafu observed. Commenting on the constitution-making process undertaken by the National Constitutional Conference (NCC), Mulafulafu said there was no hope that the constitution made by the NCC would meet the people’s aspirations.

“They have got whatever they wanted using their numbers, either as representatives of MMD or government officials. It has come to the usual end where the ruling party and government had overwhelming majority and their views have prevailed over anyone else in terms of what has been the outcome of the NCC.”

Mulafulafu said claims by those in the government that the NCC was representing the views of the public were out of question. He said the clauses, which the MMD did not want had been thrown out, while those they wanted had been included in their draft constitution.

“One of the major questions that we had was ‘will the constitution review process go the usual route of the inquiries Act where it will be presented to the minister of justice or the report will go to the referendum’,” Mulafulafu said.

“And clearly we have been told that the report will go to the minister of justice, which will be the usual way where government will produce the white paper which will further be manipulated and be taken to Parliament for enactment into law. Parliament also will still have the power to debate it and remove the things that they don’t like.”

Mulafulafu said those who sat on the NCC did not represent the views of the people as contained in the Mung’omba report.

“They NCC delegates were just representing themselves and the economic interests that the NCC was bringing to them. The fact that they were discarding major positions that were subscribed to by the majority of the people was clearly the fact that they are not interested in what the views of the people are,” he said.

Mulafulafu said even the NCC’s u-turn on the degree clause and right to food, water and education was just a symbolic action meant to hoodwink the public that they had taken people’s concerns into account.

“And the fact that it just came from Mr Vice-President George Kunda to make that declaration and everybody followed, it shows really that the Executive had control of what was going on in the NCC,” Mulafulafu said.

“For us I don’t think we can be convinced by those trivial changes that they did in terms of changing positions.”

Mulafulafu observed that those in the NCC did not speak from principled positions because no reasons were advanced when Vice-President Kunda said the degree clause was a bad law.

“We expected to see those who were seriously committed to the fact that there should be a degree clause putting up an argument to sustain it, but there was none, which showed clearly they were just following what the Executive was saying,” Mulafulafu said.

“That has been the character of the NCC from the time that it started, that the key people from the government, from the ruling party have been driving the process.”

Mulafulafu said the people condemned justice deputy minister Todd Chilembo for describing economic rights as utopian.

He said the NCC u-turned over the matter because they were ashamed that the United Nations had recognized those rights.

“And when the draft came back for discussion, it is like they never fought that provision. Even Mr Chilembo himself didn’t pass any comment when it was proposed that it goes through,” Mulafulafu said.

“This NCC is wasted time, wasted resources. We will have to come back to this issue of the constitution once again. I think the way forward is just to abandon this whole process. I know that money has been wasted already, but we do not want to have another CRC.”

Mulafulafu said there should be a technical committee that would consolidate the information from the past constitutional review commissions and come up with a draft report.

Labels: CONSTITUTION, CORRUPTION, NCC, SAMUEL MULAFULAFU

posted by MrK @ 4:41 PM