Maravi

Rupiah and Kunda’s evil constitution

Rupiah and Kunda’s evil constitution
By The Post
Thu 10 Mar. 2011, 04:00 CAT

The government’s continued failure to listen to the wishes of Zambian people is a source of great concern.

Being a country that aspires to be a democracy, our government ought to be a government of the people, for the people and by the people. And if our government can be said to be truly a government of the people, by the people, for the people, then the people’s interests, wishes and aspirations should take precedence over anyone else’s interests, wishes or aspirations and ought to be respected. If this government is a government of the people, by the people and for the people, then they should listen to the people and proceed in all circumstances from the people’s interests, wishes and aspirations.

But this is not the case with Rupiah Banda’s government. Our people’s wishes seem to be the least of Rupiah’s government’s concerns or priorities. Serving the people whole-heartedly means never for a moment divorcing themselves from the masses, proceeding in all cases from the interests of the people and not from one’s self-interest or from the interests of a small group. And we are left to wonder as to whose interests, over the Constitution, are Rupiah and his minions really serving.

There are a number of issues on which this government has ignored the wishes of the people. And key among them is the issue of the new constitution. Our people have been crying for a constitution which will represent their aspirations, a constitution that will stand the test of time. This need for a good constitution has been evident from their submissions to the past constitution review commissions. However, Rupiah and his friends continue to ignore those wishes going by the way the final document has always been manipulated to suit their own power interests.

Our people have been very clear on the need for clauses such as the 50 per cent plus one threshold, which would enable the country to have a popular Republican president. They have been clear on the need to have the Bill of Rights in the constitution to ensure that the government is taken to task when their basic needs such as education, water and decent housing are not met. There are other very important submissions such as that of swearing in the president after 90 days to ensure that all electoral disputes are dealt with and the involvement of Parliament in debt contraction. However, all these submissions and many others have always been ignored.

The current constitution-making process has not been any different from the past processes. And it is very unfortunate that the constitution Bill is now before Parliament. Our people clearly wanted the constitution to be adopted through a constituent assembly to avoid the manipulation of the document to suit those in power. Our people opposed the usage of the National Constitutional Conference (NCC), which the government said was a cheaper mode. But clearly the cheaper mode has cost this country billions of kwacha and it will continue to cost us more. Billions of kwacha were spent on the NCC in allowances and other expenditure and the document they came up with will not stand the test of time, an indication that the country will have to spend money on another constitution-making process in the very near future.

But this could have been avoided if those entrusted with the power to govern had put the people’s interests first, if those in power had risen above their petty and narrow interests to give people a good constitution. We had an opportunity as a country to close the chapter of constitution making, at least for now, by coming up with a good document that would have served future generations for years. We have missed this chance and our people will continue to face the challenges that always come with a bad constitution.

Rupiah and his minions have clearly shown that they do not want Zambians to elect a popular president. They want our people to continue to be governed by people who have to spend their energy justifying that they are duly elected instead of developing the country. Rupiah and his minions want to continue to contract debt without being questioned by anyone. And it is no wonder that the country’s external debt keeps rising. The proposal to involve Parliament in debt contraction is key because it gives people, through their representatives, an opportunity to know what the government is borrowing for and why. However, this clause has been ignored and the senseless borrowing of money for things like mobile hospitals will continue. By the time we realise it, the country will be back in another debt trap. Right now there’s so much borrowing going on, which will have to be repaid at a cost not by Rupiah and his minions but the future generations.

This government has also shown the people that it is not interested in the Bill of Rights. These rights are essential and any government interested in lifting its people from the quagmire of poverty cannot decide to shelve such a key clause. You cannot claim to be committed to ensuring that you guarantee essential rights such as food, shelter, health, education and sanitation but throw away the Bill of Rights from the Constitution. Any caring government would want to ensure that these crucial economic, social and cultural rights are guaranteed for the people. The inclusion of these rights in the Constitution would have ensured that the government works towards meeting them but it appears this government is more concerned about self-preservation and enrichment. It is not enough to hop from country to country looking for the so-called foreign investment. What this country needs are good home-grown policies that will help to ensure that the economic growth trickles down to the poor. What this country needs are good policies and clauses in the constitution such as the Bill of Rights, which will ensure that the government works towards reducing further the poverty levels that stand at over 64 per cent. This country needs a government that will work towards increasing the number of people in formal employment from the current over 450,000 out of a population of 13 million, who are squeezed through tax, by creating decent employment opportunities. Our people need a government that will see the need to get more revenue from the mines and use that money to work on the roads, which are in a deplorable state countrywide. This country needs serious investment in the health sector to ensure that people access better and permanent services as opposed to mobile hospitals. Our people need quality education; our people need cheap farming inputs, enough extension services in the rural areas and good crop marketing systems. Our people need food on their table; our people want to drink clean water. Our people have so many needs that require urgent attention. And it is unfortunate that some of these things will not even be addressed in the constitution.

But all we see and hear are claims of having brought development to the country. This is a strange government with very strange leaders. The governments and leaders of Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, for example, are doing much more and much better in terms of development but they are not going around sloganeering, bragging or boasting about development.

Our people’s interests, wishes and aspirations have been clearly ignored in this constitution Bill of Rupiah and Kunda. And if the people’s interests, wishes and aspirations can be ignored in this way in an election year, when they are still seeking re-election, how are they going to behave if they are re-elected? Will they ever listen or be made to be accountable to anyone?

Labels: CONSTITUTION, GEORGE KUNDA, NCC, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 2:20 PM