‘Constitutional amendment bill to go on’ to

THE Constitutional Amendment Bill will go on with or without the support of the opposition Members of Parliament, says Justice Minister Given Lubinda.

Mr Lubinda said Government would continue to keep an open door process

The minister said the process would commence in the second week of March.

On Monday, an alliance of 10 opposition political parties rejected the set roadmap for the constitution amendment, accusing Government of adopting a process that is not inclusive.

However, Mr Lubinda said the government would cultivate the support of the civil society and independent lawmakers to ensure the process was done according to the agreed roadmap. He said some UPND lawmakers could be relied upon

vote with the ruling party to ensure that the two-thirds threshold in Parliament was met.

Mr Lubinda stated that the opposition political alliance must not be “agents of retarding national development” through their “acts of opposing every move taken by government to refine the constitution of Zambia”. He also denied claims by the political alliance that the proposed roadmap was meant to manipulate the constitution amendment process.

Two million Kwacha has been set aside for the constitution amendment process with the first sets of meetings scheduled for the first week of next month.

And Mr Lubinda dispelled assassination claims by UPND president Hakainde Hichilema.

When asked why government authorities had allowed Hichilema to continue accusing the government of targeting to kill him, Mr Lubinda said the opposition leader “is forcing the system to react” but maintained that Government was above politics of assassinations.