By Patricia Mbewe
As parliament resumes sittings on 9th June 2020, a Consortium of Civil Society Organizations is urging Members of Parliament to reject bill 10 as debate around the document continues.
The CSOs that include ActionAid Zambia, Alliance for Community Action, Caritas Zambia, Chapter One Foundation, CISCA, Centre for Trade Policy and Development and Zambia Council for Social Development are asking the MPs to be servants of the people by rejection the bill.
In a joint statement issued by Linda Kasonde, Executive Director for Chapter One Foundation says the entire nation is depending on the parliamentarians to choose the people over their own political interests.
Ms. Kasonde says the CSOs are against Bill 10 because it proposes the removal of the constitutional provisions on the national assembly’s oversight over the contraction of debt, which means that Zambians will no longer hold those in government to account for acquiring billions of kwacha in debt that future Zambians will be paying for.
She states that while the 2016 amendment was not perfect and had inconsistencies that required attention, there was never a call nor a justification for the fundamental amendment to the constitution that bill 10 represents.
Yesterday, UPND Parliamentarians through their party Deputy Spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa maintained their stance on Bill 10, saying they will reject it as Parliament resumes sittings next week.
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