Canisius slams anti-Lungu scheme

THERE

is a systematic undertaking by those opposed to President Edgar Lungu to bring him down using the Amendment Bill No. 10, Canisius Banda has warned.

Dr. Banda who is former UPND vice president, said yesterday President Lungu would be headed for failure if he followed, the prescriptions that those who oppose him were now writing over the Amendment Bill No. 10.

“Wearing masks that cast them as nationalists, disguised as patriots, buoyed by their titles and speaking as self-appointed authorities of the masses but ever self-serving, many citizens that detest President Lungu, the person, and his reign, now want to bring him down using Amendment Bill No. 10.

“On the other hand, using Amendment Bill No. 10, the Republican President now has a grand opportunity to sculpt and fashion the kind of future for Zambia replete with unity, peace and prosperity premised on the very expectations of all the citizens,” Dr. Banda said.

He said many of those who were calling for the wholesale withdrawal of Amendment Bill No. 10 were doing so because they hated President Lungu and the PF and not that they were driven by the love of Zambia and its people.

He said their view of the future was not national but that it was terribly tainted and corrupted by both their covert and overt sectarian and partisan interests.

“Frankly, the process that has now led to the birth of Amendment Bill No. 10, though imperfect like many human undertakings, has its own merits for its marginal participatory nature.

Of course, note that others also participated by staying away, which in any functional democracy, is expected and required conduct of citizens.

“What the focus for all citizens must now be is the substance of Amendment Bill No. 10, what it contains. It is agreed by the PF and everyone else that not all clauses should be adopted as submitted. This is clearly a worthy position to build national consensus and unity upon,” he said.

He observed that prior to the preparation of Amendment Bill No. 10, nearly all citizens were agreed that our Republican Constitution was riddled with flaws, that, it had lacunas, and that it required refining.

“Now tell me, why would any sane and well-meaning citizen call for the withdrawal of the whole bill when, with submissions still being welcomed/taken at Committee and other stages of Parliament, there still is room for changes to made to each individual clause?”

Such a stance boggles the mind, but then, folly, malice, egoism come close as an explanation to act as a mental consolation,” he said.