BILL 7 OUTCOME ALREADY KNOWN – SANGWA
MOVEMENT for National Renewal leader John Sangwa says the outcome of Bill 7 is already known because the constitutional amendment process is stage-managed.
Sangwa notes that there has never been a time in the history of the country where a technical committee was given a timeline within which to conduct its business, stressing that this shows that the entire exercise is a rubber-stamping exercise.
Speaking on MNR’s YouTube channel, Monday, Sangwa said the constitutional amendment process lacked broad-based consultation and the outcome would not express the will of the people.
“The process itself, which has been followed, is not at all consistent with the judgement of the Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court was very, very clear that you need a broad-based consultation. Meaning that each and every Zambian, they have to go to the lowest unit of the Republic, get the people, perhaps to have the broadest consultations possible. Right now, everything that is being done is basically stage-managed because the outcome is already known.
Never in the history of this country has a technical committee been given a timeline within which to conduct its business. It is given the mandate, it is up to the technical committee to determine its own time-table. But this particular committee, because everything is engineered, it has a definite timeline within which it must conclude its work. So what is going on is basically a rubber-stamping exercise, and the outcome will in no way reveal or express the will of the people,” Sangwa argued.
“Already, most people have refused to take part. In fact, if you read the judgement of the Constitutional Court, the Constitutional Court directed that the procedure to be followed should be similar to the one which resulted in the draft constitution of 2016. That particular process was broad-based, and the largest number of people possible took part in that exercise.
But what is going on, in no way, comes close to what the Silungwe Commission Technical Committee did, so everything is a sham. The constitution is as good as the people themselves. For example, I should have expected people that are members of the Technical Committee to have declined to take part in the Technical Committee because the Technical Committee is a sham. What they are doing is that they are facilitating a fraud on the people, and these are things that should never be allowed to happen in a democracy and, most importantly, in a constitutional democracy”.
Sangwa argued that the constitutional amendment process had proven that the country had weak institutions of government.
“There are lawyers that are acting, preparing some papers, and they are thinking of going to court to try and stop the process. The whole process is another example of weak institutions, of an Executive branch which is so powerful that it can disobey an order of the court, so powerful that it can ignore the Constitution itself, and that is the state of lawlessness we are in. Even the entire exercise that goes to do with the appointment of the Technical Committee is wrong, it is illegal, it is not consistent with the provisions of the Constitution to start with, and then also, even the manner in which it is being done is completely illegal and clearly it is rushed,” said Sangwa.
“I’m not aware of any report done or exercise conducted where Zambians have been asked as to whether they want the constitution amended, that is a decision of the current administration. It is not a decision that is in the interest of the people, and I think it is important, in addition to taking up court action to stop the process, citizens also have the right to appeal to their MPs because it will require a two-thirds majority in order to pass the Bill.
It is important that we all collectively speak to the members of parliament in opposition, together with the independent members of parliament to make sure that they do not support this particular Bill, including members of the UPND itself. They need to put the country first, and this Bill does not further the interest of the country at all, and we do not need Bill 7″.
News Diggers
Sir, just concentrate on your presidential campaigns and leave Bill 7 to the people. Even if the outcome is known, it will out of what the majority Zambians have submitted. The government will not force anyone to approve any of Bill 7 clauses, so your fears are invalid.
Only a dump person would not know. When you boycott to submit your position and you are busy making useless noise trying to convince people not to participate without elaborating why and the majority are happy and busy with their submissions offcourse the outcome would be clear. How on earth would you want to be a President, but you are moving around telling people not to waste time in voting without explainingto them why? This may sound crazy, but it’s exactly what they are doing. The results that are going to be considered are only for the submissions made
and not otherwise. This is the stupid of PF, they will wake up when it’s to late. Management has time frames otherwise you can’t produce anything. How do give a task to someone without giving when the project should be finalised. The commission work has costs and costs need to be managed. Governance and law practising differ. You guys are fond of asking for postponements dragging cases for year and at the same time continue biling the client, while non of the actual work is done. Governance doesn’t work like that. That’s the reason for planning.