THE signing of the Constitution Bill by President Edgar Lungu on Tuesday, this week, marked the genesis of a new epoch in the history of this 51-year old country.
Surely a new era has dawned!
Given the milestone provisos in the new document, Zambia’s political and public landscape will never be the same.
The way the Zambians play politics and who should play in it, has indelibly changed as a result of the deep-seated amendments, which have been made to the Republican Constitution.
A humongous leap has been made, which will take the country to higher heights in terms of enhancing democracy and moving the political dispensation towards a higher level of maturity.
What is even relieving is that most of the provisos, if not all, have been a cry of the Zambian people since time immemorial.
Zambians, including some politicians who are now seemingly opposed to the 50 per cent plus one vote requirement for the presidential election winner, at one time or another advocated it.
It is, therefore, difficult to fathom how some people may choose to attack what they championed only a few years, if not months, ago.
All well-meaning Zambians, regardless of their political affiliation, need to celebrate the feat, the country has achieved, which not so long ago seemed insurmountable.
The platform for the future constitutional reform debates has been raised together with the bar for who should aspire for political leadership in this country.
This has been done, not by Government, but by “we the people!” With some far reaching ramifications, the issue of 50 per cent plus one vote requirement for a winning presidential candidate was proposed by the majority of the Zambians in all the Constitutional Revenue Commissions (CRC), for instance.
Generally, we agree with many citizens who have said that the new Constitution will provide Zambia with an opportunity to further build the nation.
A strong foundation was established and now sturdy pillars have been erected on which the country’s young democracy will rest and grow.
Once again, Zambia has shown that it is a leader in the promotion of democracy in the region and beyond.
“We the people” spoke and the leaders listened.
The signing of the Bill into Law is, therefore, an embodiment of the response to what the people want and aspire to become.
Naturally, when a fundamental law like the Constitution is passed and assented to, there are always casualties, yes, some people who may seem to be disadvantaged by it.
Therefore, even with this document, we expect some section of the citizenry to cry foul because in one way or another they have been disadvantaged.
Take for instance, those who may be disqualified from aspiring to some offices as the result of some new qualification clauses! Selfishly, they may not be the keenest supporters of the document!
What is comforting, however, is that these provisions are what “we the people” collectively wanted and they have not maliciously found themselves in the national document.
What we are failing to make out is how some of the political leaders who advocated certain clauses are now against them; this is a political-summersault kind-of- reaction.
With the enactment of the new Constitution and the eventual Presidential assent, we expect that the period of insults from the opposition political leaders will come to an end and they would now start debating issues.
The date for elections is set and the qualifications for all candidates who can participate therein have been well stipulated, hence what is required for the parties is to start preparing themselves for the exercise.
Through the new Constitution, the Zambians and President Lungu have asserted their desire for mature politics and it is high time the opposition followed suit.
Time for violence, insults and political rhetoric is gone. Gone with the old Constitution!