Government on right track-Chipenzi

By OLIVER SAMBOKO GOVERNANCE, Elections, Advocacy and Research Services (GEARS) executive chairperson, MacDonald Chipenzi, has commended Government for announcing that the Constitution amendment bill will not be presented in Parliament at the next sitting.

Mr Chipenzi says the decision by Justice Minister Given Lubinda not to take the proposed constitution Amendment bill to Parliament is spot on considering the fact that consultations have not been exhausted.

He said stakeholders have not seen the consultative submission from people and therefore it will be premature to take the constitution amendment bill to Parliament before subjecting it to a validation process.

“In my view the minister should produce a draft or consultative bill where people will have an opportunity to have a look at the comments and submission by individuals, groups of people and association institutions on the proposed amendments.”

He said that way it will be good in that the country will have a refined bill before the minister can take it to Parliament.

Mr Chipenzi also said it’s very important for the Minister of Justice not to rush the Political Party Bill to Parliament before first tackling the constitution amendment bill because doing so will be an academic exercise which might be affected by the constitution amendment.

“In my view, the best way as others have already proposed, let’s first work on the constitution refinement process and then take the bills that we need to take so they are not in conflict with the constitution once amended. That’s the best and economic way to handle this matter,” said Mr Chipenzi.