Ladies and gentlemen, I greet you all.

We, the members of the National Dialogue Forum (NDF) Observer Team, today wishes to submit our comprehensive report on the deliberations, resolutions, and way forward in the Constitution refinement process.

In line with its provision of promoting impartiality and good democratic dispensation and governance, the NDF deployed Observers to participate in the dialogue process.                                         

We would like to reiterate that issues discussed at the forum were unanimous while others were arrived at by consensus. Those that were not agreed upon in anyway were stuck off.

All delegates were in agreement on the principle that the issues articulated and deliberated were going to be further deliberated upon would be finalized by our Member of Parliament who, with the help of the drafters of the laws, will make good of what the NDF had done.

From the onset, we would like to state that those who attended the NDF but are openly showing misgivings over the clauses they did not agree with are as bad as those who completely stayed away on account that the PF were the ones who spearheaded the process as it was a collective undertaking.

This is because it is not possible for everyone to agree with each clause in the bills but because in a democracy, the majority win and delegates become part of the resolutions even if they may have voted to the contrary.

Our concern is not much on those who attended and don’t agree with some clauses. Our worry is on those who refused to attend the NDF but have continued to insult the intelligence of those who devoted their time to refining the constitution by participating in this process.

To take you back a bit, after President Edgar Lungu assented to the Constitution in 2016, a lot was said about how the Constitution was rushed as there were lacunas which had not been addressed.

A lot of statements were issued to discredit the Constitution and the situation was compounded after the elections when the UPND petitioned the results as there was lack of clarity on the period under which the petition was to be heard.

After their case was dismissed from a technical point of view where the court ruled that the period on which the petition must have been heard had elapsed, political parties, the CSOs, and some stakeholders pushed for the refinement of the Constitution.

At that time, it had become evident that the Constitution will remain a topical issue for as long as certain provisions were not clearly stated and meetings were called upon to brainstorm on how best we, as a country, would amend our law.

However, some people stayed away and refused to have any input in this process, all for political reasons but instead started accusing Government of trying to rape the Constitution even further by fusing in clauses which would perpetuate the stay of the PF in power.

Others went as far as lying that the process was meant to rig the 2021 elections without substantiating how Government intended to do so. An invitation was again extended to them to attend the NDF where all the deliberations on what must be and must not be in the Constitution were held but again, they stayed away.

Today, it is shameful that the mudslinging debate has unfortunately continued with the UPND, a party that cried foul over the Constitution in 2016, now instructing its MPs to block the NDF Bills in Parliament.

We want to be categorical here by stating that those opposed to the NDF Bills are advancing their personal interests and we know that some CSOs creating unnecessary confusion over this matter are heavily funded by foreign entities to make this country ungovernable.

They are determined to use the discord they have created over the NDF Bills and the Constitution refinement process as a campaign tool for the 2021 elections as directed by their paymasters.

We would like to advise our politicians and some CSOs complicity with foreign entities creating this mischief to reflect on what kind of a Zambia they want. We want them to think about the kind of the country they want future generations to inherit from them.

This is not about the PF or UPND. The Constitution refinement process is a national issue which must be undertaken with a sober mind. The propensity to politicise anything will not take us anywhere as a country.

As an Observer Team, we thank the NDF delegates for a job well done. They must be commended for their work, commitment and indeed time sacrificed to attend to matters of national interest.

On behalf of the NDF Observer Team, as the team leader, and my deputy, we would like to take this opportunity to extend our gratitude to the organizers of the NDF for the hospitality given to the observers.

We also congratulate the delegates to the forum for their political maturity and the peaceful manner in which the dialogue deliberation was conducted.

I thank you.
Rev. Moses Lungu
Team leader