WITHDRAW Bill 10 or we will defeat it on the floor of the House, says Sesheke UPND member of parliament Romeo Kangombe.
He said the PF cannot be trusted because it dribbled members of parliament by adding “alien” clauses in the 2016 amended Constitution.
He reiterated that even if UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema, “tells me that go and support [Bill 10] now, I will not do it, because I’m doing this for the future, not for an individual or a political party”.
“We as UPND are resolved and resolute that this [Constitution (Amendment) Bill No.10 of 2019] does not see the light of the day. It should not be enacted. It should be withdrawn. If they don’t withdraw it, we will defeat it on the floor of the House. We have the numbers. PF does not have the numbers … that is why they are parading people and giving them money to petition HH. But HH does not vote in Parliament,” Kangombe said. “I am still young and if I may be counted among the living, I may still be in Parliament in the next 30 years. So why should I jeopardise the future of the country because of a document being pushed by individuals who want to perpetrate their interests?”
He wondered why the PF was in such a hurry to change the Constitution, which President Edgar Lungu assented in 2016.
Kangombe said Zambians had rejected Bill 10 and the PF should stop telling lies.
He identified three current members of parliament who are physically challenged and questioned why the PF was saying it wanted to introduce a clause to advantage such individuals.
“The President has an opportunity to nominate MPs, so why has he not chosen to nominate youths or the disabled? Why hasn’t he taken the lead? This shows Zambians that the PF is just cheating people and the precedent was set in 2016,” said Kangombe. “What happened to the resolutions of the select committee chaired by Cornelius Mweetwa? Was it adopted by the Executive, by Parliament, no! This shows that the PF cannot be trusted. What will make them different now when the current Constitution has alien clauses that were just introduced on the floor of the House? This Bill (10) that can be tackled in an hour has cost us money and a lot of time. Why not just withdraw it? Why is it difficult? We as UPND are not afraid to debate the bill. Those that were there in 2016 know what happened. They were dribbled, we know enough to go through it again. We don’t trust the PF and their rhetoric. In any case, we are siding with Zambians who understand the bill and its repercussions if enacted into law.”