BILL 10 is just meant to strengthen the ruling Patriotic Front and perpetuate its stay in office, Father Andrew Mukosa has charged.
He says the “very selfish and bad attitudes and deceptions of people like honourable Given Lubinda and Professor Nkandu Luo on Bill 10 which they know is very disappointing”.
Fr Mukosa, popularly known as the social teacher because of his consistency on the Catholic Church’s social teachings and his outreach to the poorest communities in Garneton where he is guardian at the Franciscan novitiate, says this is the time for the electorate to carefully watch the “selfish” members of parliament.
Fr Mukosa has also called out justice minister Given Lubinda and livestock minister Nkandu Luo, who led the Association of Catholic Parliamentarians’ onslaught against the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops following the bishops demand for the infamous bill to be withdrawn from parliament, calling the duo’s stance towards the bishops deceptive.
He said no Catholic bishop had any political ambitions but that they only speak as shepherds of the flock to protect it against bad governance and bad laws like Bill 10.
“This is the time the electorate in Zambia must realise the bad attitude and selfishness of their MPs. This attitude is shown in the very discussion of Bill 10. It’s time the electorate knew who is on their side,” Fr Mukosa said. “The very selfish and bad attitudes and deceptions of people like honourable Given Lubinda and Professor Nkandu Luo on Bill 10 which they know is very disappointing. These are two Catholics who have decided to overlook the very important message from our Bishops. They have decided to be totally disloyal to perpetually remain in power. The electorate should know who is on their side in matters of corruption, good governance and constitutionalism. Our Bishops have no political ambitions; they are shepherds speaking for the well-being of our people. Our law-makers in Zambia, most of them remain selfish, wanting to be in power forever.”
Fr Mukosa further itemised what he thinks are the dangers contained in Constitution (Amendment) Bill No. 10 0f 2019, saying it sought to protect presidential candidates from being challenged once they file in papers for their candidature.
“Here is what is wrong with Bill 10; it seeks to protect the presidential candidate. It means we can’t challenge the president when he pushes in his nomination. This is far from what we want in Zambia. The Financial Intelligence (Centre) will no longer be an independent [entity]. It means they will not issue reports. They will report to one of the corrupt ministers,” he said. “The very origin of the whole dialogue on Bill 10 is not coming from normal constitution-making processes. They want to reduce the campaign period to weaken the opposition. In short, Bill 10 is meant to strengthen the PF and perpetuate their stay in power which is bad for democracy.”
Fr Mukosa, through his social-teacher platform, has been mobilising resources to build low-cost houses using locally sourced materials for the homeless and the poorest of the poor in the Garneton catchment area.