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Cabinet should dissolve before campaigns hot up - Masebo

Cabinet should dissolve before campaigns hot up - Masebo
By By Florence Bupe
Fri 28 Jan. 2011, 04:01 CAT

SYLVIA Masebo says Cabinet should be dissolved before election campaigns intensify to curb the abuse of state resources by the ruling party.

And the Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ) has said the date or period of elections should be included in the national Constitution as opposed to the current scenario where the power to set and announce the date of elections lies in the Republican President.

Masebo, who is Chongwe MMD member of parliament, made the suggestion during a sitting of the parliamentary committee for legal affairs, human rights and gender matters.

This was after concerns were raised by the witness, the CCZ, over the non-adherence to the electoral code of conduct regulation which prohibits the use of state resources by the party in power during the election period.

“When you complain on the ineffectiveness of the code of conduct and give your recommendations as witnesses, you should come up with specific recommendations. I feel the dissolution of Cabinet and Parliament would make it easier to curb the misuse of resources by the party in power,” Masebo said.

During the same sitting, Kabwata PF parliamentarian Given Lubinda proposed that the dissolution of Cabinet should be inclusive of the Vice-President since he is also a member of parliament.

“The Vice-President, being a member of parliament, should also be ‘dissolved’ and should no longer serve as the Republican vice-president,” he said.

Lubinda said the current provision in the electoral code of conduct which allowed the President and his Vice-President to utilise state resources, including vehicles, during campaigns should be amended to exclude the privilege given to the Vice-President.

Lubinda said the code should qualify the extent to which the President could use state resources.

In response, the Non-Governmental Organisations Coordinating Council (NGOCC) echoed the parliamentarians’ suggestions, saying there was need to make the code more effective by implementing the prohibitions stated.

Zambia National Women’s Lobby national publicity secretary Christine Sikombe said the code should be backed by legislation and strengthened punitive measures should be implemented against culprits.

And CCZ head of programmes Abraham Chikasa submitted that calls for the inclusion of the election date in the national Constitution should be taken seriously.
He said the current system where the President holds the power to set and announce the election date was detrimental to the development of democracy.

Chikasa also reiterated the need for various stakeholders to work towards the realisation of free, fair and credible elections by flushing out components of violence.

Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS, CABINET, CCZ, SYLVIA MASEBO

posted by MrK @ 6:00 PM