Government's reluctance on constitution referendum worries Caritas

Government's reluctance on constitution referendum worries Caritas
By Masuzyo Chakwe
Sun 17 June 2012, 13:24 CAT

SAMUEL Mulafulafu says government's reluctance on the constitution referendum, as clearly demonstrated by President Michael Sata's refusal to heed to calls for appointment of a referendum commission, is a matter of grave concern.

In a statement yesterday, Mulafulafu, the Caritas Zambia executive director, stated that what was in the public domain was that the PF government would want to use the popularly demanded referendum to elongate the constitution-making process beyond 2016 in order to create an opportunity for the next elections to be held under the current constitution with its deficient electoral laws to avoid provisions like the 50 per cent plus one being proposed in the new constitution.

He stated that since the constitution technical committee launched the draft constitution, there had been a lot of excitement generated by the content with different interest groups and individuals jostling to have a final say as to what should go in the final draft as content.

Mulafulafu stated that this was encouraging considering the fact that the launch of the draft was preceded by many negative factors which could have easily made a lot of people lose interest in the process, suspecting it to be yet again one of the wasteful constitution making ventures the country had gone through in the past.

"This scepticism could have been justified considering the fact that the initial performance by the PF government in moving the constitution making process forward was least inspiring given the many miscarriages the process had already experienced in the very initial stages," he said.

He stated that much as the benefit of doubt had been given to the process and now even with the extension of the period for discussing the draft from the initial 40 days to 90 days, there were still questions that beg to be answered.

Mulafulafu stated that it was still not crystal clear as to when the constitution-making process would end and there seemed to be also confusion as to what happens after the 90 days discussion of the first draft.

He stated that this time around, the people had emphatically reiterated what they had said at all times that the final draft constitution be subjected to a referendum before being enacted into law by Parliament.

"The technical committee has promised that this will be the case but we all know that this is a wish from them; they are not the legitimisers. The Mung'omba Constitution Review Commission proposed the same but they were overruled by the executive who opted for a dubious National Constitution Conference (NCC) which they manipulated to circumvent the need for a referendum," he stated.

"In the absence of a legal framework that would have clarified this matter, we need an unequivocal statement from government and better still the President that a referendum shall indeed be part of the process," he stated.

Mulafulafu stated there had been some disquiet on comments made by top ruling party officials when expressing their preferences on some specific issues in the draft constitution.

"But they may be too harshly treated as the draft constitution is for all to discuss. But what the top party and government officials should be weary of is not to insist that their individual views should be the way forward even when the majority of the Zambians are opposed to such views. They should not even shove their views on the throats of their party members as the party views. The likely danger is, holding such strong views by the executive and wanting such views to carry the day at all cost can lead to temptations of manipulating the process from an objective one to the one that will be very friendly to executive input. The fallen NCC is a good example," he stated.

He stated that much as the constitution technical committee was given the latitude to determine the pace of its work, it must be put under microscopic surveillance to ensure that its own inefficiency was not covertly used to motivate public outcry for more time.

"Though thorough consultations are needed, the process cannot go on forever. It is regrettable that to date government is not able to tell the public the budget within which the review process is working despite numerous promises to that effect. The public needs to know," stated Mulafulafu.