BILL 10 CANNOT GO BACK TO PARLIAMENT, LUNGU CONFIRMS
Constitutional Amendment Bill 10 cannot be taken back to the National Assembly during the current parliamentary session, President Lungu has confirmed.
Speaking to members of the Kapiri Mposhi Pastors Fellowship, the president told his supporters to back PF candidates in next year’s elections if they wanted to see the legislation debated again.
The president reiterated his support for the bill on the grounds that it would split up larger constituencies and allow women to play a larger role in national development.
Reverend Msoni of the pastors fellowship said the government should consider taking the bill back to parliament so that more constituencies could be created.
On the whole, however, the Church has been largely critical of Bill 10, with the Zambia Conference of of Catholic Bishops calling for it to be withdrawn in June.
The Bishops claimed the bill had become a source of division in Zambia and lacked any genuine consensus.
Opponents, from the UPND and the NDC, to the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ), ActionAid and Linda Kasonde’s Chapter One, have objected to the Bill on the basis that it strengthens the existing powers of the executive and President to the detriment of Zambia’s democracy.
The Bill also contains some worrisome provisions relating to Government’s economic and financial management, giving the President the power to contract debt without requiring parliamentary approval.
The Bill was defeated in parliament on 29th October, falling six votes short of the required two-thirds majority of 111.