Africa-Press – Zambia. Mporokoso Member of Parliament Brian Mundubile has urged Justice Minister Princess Kasune to stop wasting tax payers money by pretending to get submissions on the Constitutional Amendment Bill.
This comes after the Justice Minister convened a meeting in Northern Province, purportedly to collect submissions on the bill.
Speaking at a Press Briefing in Lusaka today, Hon Mundubile questioned the purpose of collecting submissions when the bill had already been published in the gazette.
He said the bill’s process was flawed from the beginning, with the government ignoring advice from the Citizens, Law Association of Zambia, the Catholic Bishops, and civil society organizations to halt the process and engage in broader consultations.
Hon Mundubile wonders why it is the UPND themselves who want to come up with laws to govern the people.
He said the people of Northern Province find it disturbing that the Minister told them to make submissions which will not have any impact on the bill that has already been published.
Hon Mundubile has suggested that the government should start anew, gathering views from traditional leaders, citizens and other stakeholders to create a proper social contract that reflects the people’s aspirations.
He has since implored the Minister to take into account the submissions the people made, the concerns of Northern chiefs on the process of this particular amendment.
“Our fears were confirmed on 23rd May when the bill was published. All the clauses are frightening, Citizens are worried. The message coming from Northern Province is that members of the public vehemently reject this particular bill. They demand that this process be abandoned and that the same way hon Kasune was able to go to them, it should start from there so that they can get views of traditional leaders and what they want to be contained in the constitution.
This will enable a proper social contract can then be executed, one that will set rules of which the people of Northern Province will agree to governance themselves alongside people from other provinces of Zambia,” he said.
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