Insufficient consultation within Sata's machinery worries Rev Ndhlovu

Insufficient consultation within Sata's machinery worries Rev Ndhlovu
By Masuzyo Chakwe
Mon 28 Nov. 2011, 13:58 CAT

ZAMBIA needs a presidency that makes decisions which have been thoroughly vetted and checked, says Reverend Japhet Ndhlovu. And Rev Ndhlovu has urged President Michael Sata to quickly spell out a clear roadmap on the constitutional-making process.

In an interview, Rev Ndhlovu, former Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ) secretary general said President Sata's days in office so far had been very good even though there had not been sufficient consultation within his machinery to enable him make decisions that were above board.

"There are a lot of important pronouncements that have been made, significant pronouncements. He has indicated that he is allergic to corruption in some of his pronouncements. However, it has been unfortunate that maybe there hasn't been sufficient consultation within his machinery to enable him make decisions that would be above board," he said.

"I think we need a presidency that makes decisions that have been thoroughly vetted and checked so that when the President comes to pronounce it, it is in the interest of Zambians; the law has been taken into consideration but also you don't have people with dented records being questioned and all that."

He hoped that the government machinery would be able to help President Sata sufficiently so that he delivers on his promises.

Rev Ndhlovu said President Sata had made a number of progressive decisions, citing the investigations into the sale of Zamtel.

He said this was the right way to go and hoped the commission of inquiry on the sale of Zamtel would bring about the necessary recommendations and maybe reverse the sale and allow another appropriate mechanism to take place.

"So he has made good decisions, he had made a few goofs. We hope that the machinery around him will not allow him to continue making those kinds of unnecessary mistakes," he said.

And Rev Ndhlovu, who is now based in Kenya, said it was a good time to be in Zambia as it was very euphoric.

"Everybody is very excited and my appeal to those that are governing us, they must not spoil the party. They must not spoil the party for Zambians by making decisions that are unpopular, by making decisions that are not in the best interest of the country. The party must go on and poverty, particularly, must be fought so that the levels of poverty are reduced and people have access to the basic needs in life. That's what we need. We need to be governed right so that Zambia is developed and we can all live in peace and harmony," he said.

And Rev Ndhlovu said as a constitutional activist, he was worried that the constitution making process was not budgeted for in the 2012 budget.

"They are saying that there will be some change somewhere, which eventually they will use for supporting the constitutional process, which was a very big political mistake," he said.

Rev Ndhlovu, however, welcomed the political will to set up a technical committee, saying it was the right way to go but said there were some concerns such as the size of the committee.

"It is too big and then there are critical constitutional professionals or experts who have been left out who apparently have been helping other countries. I live in Kenya and Dr (Choolwe) Beyani came to Kenya to help the Kenyan government to have a good constitution that they have in place now. I don't know why he has been left out, there may be others so the size of the committee is rather too big," he said.

"In our minds, in the days we started talking about a technical committee, we were thinking of a committee of not less than 10, 12 people. And not a committee that will start again going to get submissions, going to the provinces to listen to what the people are saying but a committee that will sit down and do a desk top study by simply looking at what are the previous submissions, commissions that were there, what was it that was submitted. What are the progressive constitutions in the world today, what can we borrow from them?"

He said unfortunately, it seemed Zambia was using the Inquiries Act in its quest to come up with a new Constitution.

"I think there should have been a political will, like there was a will to create a Constitutional Conference Act. There should have been another Act quickly put in place where the roadmap is stipulated because at the moment, there doesn't seem to be a clear road map, the President has indicated that ‘the report must come to me' and meanwhile the Minister of Justice is saying and then it will go to Parliament and then to the people so which roadmap are we following?" asked Rev Ndhlovu.

"I think that needed to be clear, we needed to be sure which one we are going to follow but the political will is upheld, it is congratulated. It is the right way to go and then the next step, as soon as this committee with all its faults, as soon as they sit down is to arrange and agree on a roadmap, a clear roadmap that will give Zambians a new constitution at least give and take within one year, that's given with a referendum in it."