By Fulman Mukobeko
Democratic Union (DU) leader Ackim Anthony Njobvu says the Technical Committee on the Constitution Amendment lacks transparency and inclusivity.
Mr Njobvu says the Zambian people must focus on finding solutions to the economic malaise the country was grappling with ahead of the August 13th General Elections.
He argued that the Committee lacks inclusivity and was composed of the United Party for National Development (UPND) sympathizers.
“I am not happy with the committee because it is made up of UPND sympathises. People are sympathising with them. And even the composition…The Law Association of Zambia is not there. I would have also loved the Three Church Mother Bodies to be there instead of individual Men of God because it is easy to corrupt and influence them. So, the Church Mother Bodies, LAZ and opposition political party representatives should have been there. The Committee could have been well represented,” he noted.
Mr Njobvu slammed the terms of reference of the committe.
“…Then talking about the terms of reference. If you look at them critically, the preamble talks about capturing the aspirations of the Zambian people. How are you going to capture the aspirations of the people when the term of reference are restrictive. You are restricted to talk only about issues in Bill 7. So, that one will not capture the aspirations of the people. It is not inclusive,” he added.
Mr Njobvu added that according to the Constitutional Court, the all process was not transparent.
He said the system could have been transparent if everybody was involved.
According to the DU leader, the Constitution Amended in it’s current form was a flop and will receive a lot of backlash.
Asked whether Government was dribbling the people in the Constitution Amendment, Njobvu responded in the affirmative.
He said the insistence to have the Constitution before the General Elections was what was worrying
Mr Njobvu said right now, the people of Zambia must be talking about the voters’ registration instead of the Constitution Amendment.
“… They have information that most of them will lose. Maybe they are trying to use the amendment process to advantage themselves,” he stated.
