The Grand Coalition, championing the speedy enactment of a people driven constitution, has rejected the pronouncement by government to hold the constitution referendum alongside the 2016 General Elections.
The Grand Coalition has however noted the positive step by government to propose to amend section 3 of the Referendum Act of 1969 so that it is in line with the Constitution provision in Article 79.
Speaking during a press briefing in Lusaka this morning, Grand Coalition Spokesperson MacDonald Chipenzi says sadly, government has not asked Zambians or the donor community to support the holding of a referendum by mobilizing the required resources.
Mr. Chipenzi says the current constitution is inadequate in transparency and accountability mechanisms, providing effective checks and balances, promotion of democratic practices and curbing wastefulness of meager public resources through by-elections.
Mr. Chipenzi says the Grand Coalition wants this mischief to be addressed immediately by providing clauses for presidential running mate, appointment of ministers outside parliament, treatment of social, political, culture and economic rights as rights and not privileges in the new constitution.
And the Grand Coalition Spokesperson says the argument that a referendum will be expensive to hold as a standalone event because it would require a full or sample population census does not hold water.
He has emphasized that the coalition still maintains that a Constitution Referendum is attainable in Zambia before 2016 elections if political will is cultivate in the process.
He argues that if a national Referendum is held alongside the tripartite elections, it means that the new constitution will be in effect after the 2016 General Elections.
Mr. Chipenzi, who is also Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP) Executive Director has since called on Zambians to stand up and be counted on the constitution making process which he says has gobbled so much money so far with no hope of ending soon.
Grand Coalition Rejects Referendum Alongside Elections added by on
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he has a point, we cannot have a referendum + elections together,of course it would be cheaper in a way in the sense that the same people distributing ballots country wide can also provide a platform for a referendum,so wen people are voting they can too look at what the referendum holds and tick what they want,problem is a referendum needs time to seat down and read,these are rules that will govern us hence needs time to study and know what we think is best for us.I think after 2016 or we won’t have anymoney left,Edgar just chill 2016,then at least u know u can solve it later, even 2017,I mean what’s the rush,perfection requires time
Unfortunately time is not on your side young man. At this rate of failure you and that clueless chap chagwa are not going beyond 2016. Zambians are waking up and realising the mistake they made. How long have been promising constitution to people and yet have money to carry out irrelevant by elections in your favour. How much money have u lined your pockets with by having constitution meetings which have yielded nothing. Let us vote upnd
Fools who have ooutlived their sell by date. MMd failed u on constitution so did our cclueless friends the pf. There is more to gain forthese greedy ppoliticians in power if the constitution is not enacted so do you surely expect them tocare ? Let us just concentrate on getting rid of these scatter brains in 2016 and bBury them for good. Vote upnd
Refresh your memory UPND were part of that failed NCC. They spent 5 years debating how to stop Michael Sata from standing. They started with age limit but after seeing that RB was older than Sata they shifted to minimum education. You part to this failure.
Huge difference between debating and actually taking what has and not been agreed forward. Of course we needed to have a long debate. Even after solid agreement on these issues and solidifying a draft document what did u chaps in pf do about it? Since 2011 all key stakeholders had agreed on a draft and all we were waiting for is an executive order to take it to the people. What did we see? U see why I call pf fools?
Calling people fools wont earn you votes either.
@ edu what we saw was Ba sata dying just wen it was supposed to be out,If u can remember Ba sata had to fire the one who was in charge of delivering a new constitution because he seemed to b slow to deliver results,so Ba sata fired him and hired some else,if it wasn’t for his death we would have had it,but the money which we could have used went so we have to wait after election,waishaba ka Iwe tonga bull
For as long as Fodep Chpenzi remains th face of the Grand Coalition, its credibility will continue to diminish – full stop. His aim is to oppose everything the PF government does no matter how progressive! It appears the Young Turks in YALI are more sensible.