By CHILA NAMAIKO JUSTICE-

KABIMBA

Minister Wynter Kabimba has said the legal process leading to the referendum won’t be completed by 2016 and will gobble up K15 million. And Government has assured that Zambia will have a people-driven Constitution and that achieving it will require a spirit of unity and consensus across partisan politics to avoid conflicting interests. Mr Kabimba said holding the referendum under Zambia’s current law required first conducting a national consensus of eligible citizens above 18 years to vote. The exercise alone is expected to take about 15 months at a sum of about K15 million. “I would like to state here that if we are going to have a referendum as it seems to be the case, the legal process leading us to that cannot be completed before the year 2016. “A referendum under our present law requires that we should first conduct a national consensus of all those citizens who are eligible to vote (above 18 years),” he said. Mr Kabimba, who is also Patriotic Front (PF) Secretary General, was speaking in Choma yesterday at the Seventh-day Church (SDA) during the church’s building promotion. Mr Kabimba and Provincial Minister Daniel Munkombwe pledged K5,000 and 40 bags of cement respectively. Mr Kabimba said, some cooperating partners had pledged to offer support to Government towards the Constitution making process. He said the opposition political parties should not only see the Constitution as a priority but also take up issues of education and health as equally important to national development. “In this regard, we need to approach all these issues in the spirit of unity and consensus, and across partisan politics because these are no conflicting interest here,” he said. To achieve national development, the Minister said, there was need for all people regardless of political affiliations to rally together and promote advocacy of national issues. Mr Kabimba said the PF Government was committed to seeing the country have a new Constitution. He said, while Government appreciated monetary support from cooperating partners on the Constitution making process, there was need to also focus on delivering infrastructure of modern standards. “We want to see Choma become a modern city in terms of infrastructure development. We want to create employment opportunities for our youths in this city. We want to ensure that everybody in this province has access to clean water so as to eradicate diseases such as typhoid and cholera,” he said. He said, Government had set its priorities right to improve the living standards of people and he urged the Church to remain pivotal in building unity and consensus in national affairs. The minister said the Church and Government were formidable in responding to the spiritual and physical needs of people and called for collaborative efforts. He said the widespread infrastructure President Michael Sata had embarked on would open markets through accessibility of mobility to speed up development and income for Zambians. Choma SDA central pastor in charge Anthony Choongo said the church was impressed with Government’s objectives of uplifting the welfare of people. Pastor Choongo said the church firmly believed that President Sata’s developmental agenda would improve the living standards of people and assured that it would support his efforts. Mr Munkombwe praised the SDA for spearheading development in the country and urged the church to remain non-partisan.