Maravi

Sata's inquiries Act route on constitution alarms Mususu

Sata's inquiries Act route on constitution alarms Mususu
By Moses Kuwema and Roy Habaalu
Tue 03 Jan. 2012, 13:55 CAT

BISHOP Paul Mususu says he is frightened by President Michael Sata's pronouncement that the technical committee of experts to draft a new constitution is answerable to him by law of the inquiries Act.

In a recent interview, Bishop Mususu said he was concerned on the constitution-making process, especially on the issue of the inquires Act.

He said the country had in the past failed to produce a constitution that could stand the test of time because of Acts like the inquiries Act, which gave the president the monopoly over the process. Going the inquiries Act way entails the technical committee submitting the draft constitution to the President and the government would produce a white paper indicating what it rejects and what it accepts.

"I think what frightens me is the pronouncement by President Michael Sata that this committee of experts is answerable to him by law of the inquiries Act, to me that is what sticks out and to me those are my fears. If you look at the past historical setting where we have failed to produce a constitution that would stand the test of time because when you use the inquires Act, as the president you have the monopoly like Frederick Chiluba to draw out 70 per cent, like Levy Mwanawasa to end up appointing the National Constitution Conference route just to escape the reality of what people want. And even today, when you are talking about a finished product like the Mung'omba draft constitution and you commit it to the committee of experts which is another form of NCC and this will do what?" he wondered.

Bishop Mususu said what was needed was the straightforward thing of taking the Mung'omba draft to a referendum and have people endorse or reject it.

The technical committee has indicated a roadmap that stretches to June this year.

And Bishop Mususu observed that there is some kind of "breather" in the public media under the Patriotic Front government.

He said the typical traditional manipulated media which existed under the MMD was no longer there because there was some liberty and freedom of expression that was visible and that the PF government should be commended for that.

"I think that without bias, there are certain things that we can commend them for; there are things which we are seeing which are slightly different. For me I think that fundamentally, when you talk about the media for instance, there has been some kind of breather from the typical tradition manipulated media that we had. I will just appeal to the PF to just guard that and continue on the path that we have introduced and we can score very high," Bishop Mususu said.

Bishop Mususu said the PF government had started well, as there were certain strides that it had made but that it needed to do more because it promised big for 90 days.

Meanwhile, Dr Kasuka Mutukwa said the bringing about of rationality in the media was very evident under the PF government. He said towards the September 20 elections, the country had reached a stage where the public media could not be read by the faint-hearted.

He said having worked in 14 SADC countries, he does not ever remember such a biased and unprofessional media as that which characterised the Zambian media towards the elections.

"It was absolutely nauseating. I couldn't believe I was back in my own country where people could misuse the media. Someone once remarked that for one to watch ZNBC news, you have to drink Red Bull to had the energy to watch that rubbish," Dr Mutukwa said.

Labels: CONSTITUTION, MICHAEL SATA, PAUL MUSUSU

posted by MrK @ 6:02 PM