‘Mwitwa insincere on Constitutional Amendment Bill’
LAW Association of Zambia (LAZ) president, Eddie Mwitwa, is being hypocritical by calling for the withdrawal of the Constitutional Amendment Bill, Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) Governance Advisor Isaac Mwanza has charged.
Mr Mwanza said the claims by Mr Mwitwa that the country was not in a constitutional crisis hence the need to withdraw the Bill, showed that he was being used by selfish politicians.
Mr Mwitwa was quoted in some section of the media claiming there was no need to rush to amend the constitution as there was no constitutional crisis.
The LAZ president said it was necessary therefore that the bill be withdrawn.
But Mr Mwanza in an interview yesterday said LAZ was among stakeholders which criticised the 2016 amended Constitution and even called for its refinement, therefore, it was hypocritical for it to be against the Amendment Bill. Mr Mwitwa is fighting political battles, Mr Mwanza said, because his stance on the matter showed that he was being driven by politicians. He said Zambians and those who attended the National Dialogue Forum (NDF) would not be swayed by insincere people like Mr Mwitwa. "LAZ had representatives at the NDF so it does not mean well for it to start criticising what they agreed to during the deliberations,” he said. “We agree that the Constitutional was intact but after 2016 elections we agreed that it had some lacunas. These problems in the Constitution even made the Law Association of Zambia to try to join the Presidential petition because it realised that there was a problem with the Constitution,” Mr Mwanza said. "So Mr Mwitwa should understand that Zambia cannot continue or go into another election under the current Constitution," he said.