LAZ DERAILING DEMOCRACY

Editor,

The effects of climate change are evident and it is time Zambians stopped concentrating on maize production alone. Time has come for people to diversify to other crops that are drought resistant and can withstand other climate change effects.

Maize is the staple food, yes, but it has become increasingly difficult to produce it through rain-fed water. It is time farmers, especially small-scale ones moved away from rain-fed agriculture. People have traditionally become accustomed to growing maize, but times have changed with climate change. The State must do all it can to sensitise people on this issue so people change their mindset. It will be a waste of time and resources to continue growing maize in some areas, seriously affected by climate change. Editor,

Zambians must support the process of decentralisation which Government is presently undertaking in the country.

As things stand, the State is implementing the Revised Decentralisation Policy by way of devolution. This is simply the transferring of certain central government functions and powers to the local government system, in this case, local authorities through to ward development committees. The whole idea is to give citizens a chance to make decisions in as far as development and democracy are concerned at the grassroots for betterment of their lives. People and not government, will now decide what they want or where they want to build a road or a bridge as opposed to these being decided for them by central government. In my view, this is long overdue. The good thing now is that ward development committees are provided for under the current constitution. This is good and should be supported. Once fully implemented, the policy which is being implemented in phases, will see an improvement in service delivery by local authorities. Editor,

It is good that Luapula Province Minister Nickson Chilangwa has clarified that Kawambwa Sugar Limited has not closed its operations in the Luena Farming Bloc.

As residents, we depend on Kawambwa Sugar for jobs and the company closing would spell doom for us.

We are looking forward to the firm escalating operations as soon as Zesco connects power to the plant and the Road Development Agency works on the road leading to the plant respectively.

We support this development and we are happy that everything will normalise soon. Dear Editor,

IT will indeed be a very sad day if the Constitutional Court will entertain the ploy by some members of the Law Association of Zambia to derail democracy by stopping Parliament

This country is a representative democracy in which the people have reposed the power of legislation in Parliament. Nobody has elected LAZ to speak for the people of Zambia on matters political.

It is wrong and a complete aberration for some lawyers to champion the cause of the opposition to derail positive innovation as envisaged under the current bills which have been brought into controversy and notoriety.

The lawyers had their say in the National Dialogue Forum where they failed to impress other participants. This failure should not be translated into a legal tussle to give themselves a second chance and bite over a matter that was fully debated and resolved. Clearly, this is an exercise that was initiated by rhe United Party for National Development (UPND).

LAZ has no business interfering, let alone intervening in the political narrative of the country, which is the preserve of Zambians who have every right to participate through their chosen representatives.

Amendment Bill No. 10 does not belong to LAZ nor indeed to the UPND which has invested vast amounts of resources to derail. That bill belongs to the Zambian people and the proper place for it to be debated, changed or indeed dropped will be Parliament which has the full mandate to legislate on behalf of the Zambian people.

It is wrong, un-procedural and indeed a big deviation from practice to take political issues into associations that may have sectional interests to promote, and we know that in this instance there is no unanimity within LAZ itself to take the matter to the Constitutional Court.

This is a matter that should have been fully discussed within LAZ and thereafter other interest groups should have been canvased before taking the decisive action of going to the Constitutional Court.

Time has come for Zambians to see through some of these manoeuvres that are intended to undermine democracy and free debate in the country. Bill No. 10 was the result of a process that was fully legislated for with a clear progression process allowing for input, amendment or indeed eventual abandonment through established legislative channels and not through the coercive, impersonal and “impersonalised” process which an appeal to courts of law imposes.

It is my sincere hope that this matter will be a defining point to demonstrate separation of powers so that in the future, professional associations are not hijacked to represent narrow sectional interests.

Decentralisation Policy needs support

Bravo Kawambwa Sugar not closed