Maravi

The constitution and this year’s elections

The constitution and this year’s elections
By The Post
Mon 11 July 2011, 12:00 CAT

The constitution is at the heart of the nation-building process. And this year, our efforts as a country to come up with a new constitution - one that truly reflects the wishes and aspirations of the people – failed miserably.

Rupiah Banda’s government failed to enact a new constitution because they had taken a process that was not correct. Unless the process is correct, a constitution that is owned by the people will continue to be elusive. For many reasons, the issue of the constitution needs to be placed firmly on the agenda of this year’s elections.

This is so because central to good governance in our country is a good constitution, one that is really owned by the people and contains all the wishes of the people, all the rights of the people.

The constitution must be a medium that regulates human conduct in necessary matters concerning the common good. We say this because the common good is the reason for the existence of political, social and economic institutions.

It enables people to express commitment and concern for each other as well as attain the fullness of love. Common good calls upon all persons to contribute and commit themselves responsibly to building a peaceful and just society for all. This happens when civil society and government encourages citizens to participate with all their talents and abilities.

Political power must have as its aim the achievement of the common good. We say this because the whole reason for the existence of civil authorities is the realisation of the common good. People shall be truly free when their constitution is people-driven and reflects their wishes and aspirations.

The rock upon which a democratic government rests is its constitution – the formal statement of its fundamental obligations, limitations, procedures and institutions.

The constitution of the country is the supreme law of the land, and all citizens, presidents to peasants alike, are subject to its provisions. At a minimum, the constitution establishes the authority of the government, provides guarantees for fundamental human rights and sets forth the government’s basic operating procedures.

For 20 years, the MMD and its successive governments have failed to come up with a constitution that is acceptable to the great majority of our people as truly reflecting their wishes and aspirations. Why? It is simply because successive MMD governments have tried to impose a constitution that is tailored to meet their own political desires on the Zambian people.

In 1996, the MMD leadership of Frederick Chiluba imposed on the Zambian people a constitution whose provisions were decided upon by Chiluba and the men and women he had handpicked as his cabinet ministers. The wishes of the people, as reflected in the report of the Mwanakatwe Constitution Review Commission, were ignored or rejected.

A gigantic sum of money was spent on this commission to gather the people’s views as to what type of constitution they wanted for their country. But when the exercise was completed at a huge cost to the taxpayer, the Chiluba-led MMD government rejected or ignored the findings of the Mwanakatwe Constitution Review Commission, and instead put in the constitution what they wanted to see in it.

They even went further to put provisions in our constitution that were targeted at stopping Dr Kenneth Kaunda from contesting the 1996 elections on account that although he was born in Zambia his parents were born in Malawi. When privately asked why he wouldn’t just allow Dr Kaunda to stand and defeat him, Chiluba’s response was: “What if he wins?”

Clearly, the 1996 constitution amendments were not for the benefit of the people and for the realisation of their interests and aspirations. It was made to suit the power desires of the leadership of the MMD. But the bill for all this had to be borne by the Zambian taxpayer.

In 2003, another constitution review commission was initiated by the Levy Mwanawasa-led MMD government.

The Wila Mung’omba Constitution Review Commission went round the country, at a gigantic cost, to gather the views of Zambians on what type of constitution they wanted. A very good job was done by Wila and his team but when this was tabled to Levy’s MMD government, there was reluctance to move and move in the suggested manner.

Levy died and Rupiah Banda took over from him the management of this process with the help of George Kunda. And it’s important to mention here that even when Levy was around, it was George who was in charge of this process and this continued when Rupiah also appointed him minister of justice and Vice-President.

Under Levy, George was at one time Attorney General and minister of justice. But by the time Levy was dying, George was only remaining with the position of minister of justice – but firmly in charge of the constitution review process.

Rupiah put up a National Constitutional Conference (NCC) at a very high cost to the taxpayer and in total defiance of strong opposing views from the main opposition, the Church and civil society in general.

The end of this exercise is well known. Rupiah’s term of office ended without a constitution in place. The only thing he left the Zambian people with was a bill of over K200 billion spent on this futile process.

And to this, add the expenditure of the Levy and Chiluba regimes on the constitution review process. A huge amount of money that could have changed the lives of our people in so many ways was wasted. No one has seriously been taken to task, politically or otherwise, for this wastefulness and recklessness.

Given the expenditure on the constitution review process by successive MMD governments and the importance of having a good constitution, it is necessary that the issue of the constitution becomes a campaign issue and is firmly placed on the agenda of this year’s elections. Rupiah and the MMD should be made to account for the billions they have spent in futility over this process.

They should also be made to account for their failure as a ruling political party to come up with an acceptable constitution in 20 years. And the leading opposition, that is the PF and Michael Sata in this case, should be made to explain their vision over constitutional and legal reforms.

In their 2011 to 2016 manifesto, the PF states that: “Under the MMD government the opportunity to have a new constitution that reflects the will and aspirations of the people, and which could stand the test of time has once again eluded the Zambian people.

The colossal expenditure of more than K135 billion incurred under the National Constitution Conference has been a sheer waste of scarce resources that could have been applied to meaningful national development. This failed process had nothing but a betrayal of the Zambian people. Additionally, rule of law, social justice and the justice delivery system have been compromised.

In order to address the above, the PF government shall: ‘establish in consultation with stakeholders a committee of experts to review the recommendations of all previous constitution review commissions in order to draft and present a constitution which will reflect the will and aspirations of the people for submission to a referendum and subsequent enactment only, by the National Assembly.’” This is what the PF is promising the Zambian people.

Clearly, there is a need to engage PF and its leadership more on this score so that a much more clearer and firm commitment is made. As for the MMD, the nation needs to know how they are going to remedy the situation; how they are going to make good the hundreds of billions of kwacha they have wasted.

It is also important to note that so far there has been no apology from the MMD leadership to the Zambian people on the time and money wasted on a constitution review process that was clearly destined to fail because of the autocratic and single-minded approach they had taken from the very beginning – where it was only their views, and no one else’s, that had to prevail, that had to dominate.

So far Rupiah and his friends in the MMD have shown no remorse or contrition over what they have done with the constitution review process. This is not a small issue. It is a very important issue that needs to be on top of our election agenda because, as we have already stated, the rock upon which a democratic government rests is its constitution.

Labels: CONSTITUTION, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 6:16 PM