ZCID upbeat on successful dialogue

IT will be the responsibility of political parties who are our constituent members with representation in Parliament to enforce the agreed reforms in national dialogue if it is to be a success, the Zambia Centre for Interparty Dialogue (ZCID) has said.

In a statement, ZCID spokesperson Jackson Silavwe said unlike the last interparty dialogue meeting held at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in 2016 which failed because political leaders did not abide by the agreed resolutions, the proposed dialogue should a success. Mr Silavwe said this was why after extensive consultations and deliberations with all the political parties, some reforms were agreed upon for the dialogue process to be a success and stand the test of time. He pointed out that the agreed reforms included constitutional and institutional reforms, separation of powers and judicial independence, tolerance, Public Order Act (POA) and civility in politics and also electoral reforms. Mr Silavwe however said that once the outlined reforms were conclusively dealt with, it would be the responsibility of political parties who were constituent members of ZCID with representation in Parliament to enforce them. “The last interparty dialogue meeting held at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on 29th March 2016 failed because political leaders did not abide by the agreed resolutions. “It is for this reason that after extensive consultations and deliberations with all the political parties and wider stakeholders, all agreed that for this national dialogue to be a success and stand the test of time, will include 4 broad thematic areas to be considered,” he said. Meanwhile, Mr Silavwe said the centre was committed to ensuring that the national dialogue was facilitated by ZCID and chaired by the Church mother bodies. He said that ZCID had gone a step further to request the Church to also chair the much-anticipated Summit of Presidents. Mr Silavwe said that ZCID remained resolute in continuously engaging the main three Church mother bodies to critically review their position outlined in their last communiqué.