. NKOMBO

By CATHERINE NYIRENDA –
UNITED Party for National Development (UPND) Mazabuka Central Member of Parliament (MP) Garry Nkombo has appealed to President Michael Sata and Justice Minister Wynter Kabimba to restore people’s confidence in the Constitution-making process.
Mr Nkombo also urged all the MPs to conduct a “soul search and deep reflection of the heart” on the Constitution-making process as posterity would judge each one of them as representatives of the people.
He said this when he moved a private members’ motion for the House to urge Government to provide a roadmap for the enactment of the new  Constitution and to speed up the work of the Technical Committee on the Constitution now that it had completed its job.
Mr Nkombo said it was unfortunate that the Executive had been giving conflicting statements on the Constitution-making process.
He said some recent statements by President Sata on the process were worrying as they were serving to trivialise an important national exercise.
“It is not worth it for them to continueg falling on their sword, it’s a dangerous state of affairs that they are promoting.
“Therefore, they should restore the confidence of the process and of their own party that they fought so hard to attain,” he said.
Mr Nkombo said the Patriotic Front (PF) should respect the processes that they began because “great men live by their own words”.
Contributing to the motion, Mr Kabimba maintained that Government was committed to delivering a people-driven Constitution but not at the expense of other developmental and social issues.
Mr Kabimba also admitted that the PF Government, upon being elected into office, promised Zambians a people-driven Constitution within 90 days out of lack of  knowledge on the state of the country.
He said the PF did not know the poverty levels among the people at the time, the unlimited employment opportunities for the youths, irrespective of their high qualifications, and many other challenges the citizens were facing.
He said it would be a betrayal for the PF administration not to attend to the immediate needs of the poor people who voted for them into power and concentrate on the Constitution-making process.
MMD Mwandi MP Michael Kaingu said during the same debate that his party was suffering because of the same Constitution which it never delivered.