UPND WANTS MORE CONSTITUENCIES
….‘Constituencies can be created even without Bill 10’
DELIMITATION of constituencies and wards does not need constitution amendment number Bill 10, UPND spokesperson Charles Kakoma has said.
Mr Kakoma said in an interview yesterday that there was need for creation of more constituencies for effective of service, adding that the matter did not need enactment of bill 10.
He said parliament can instead amend clauses in the current constitution to allow for the creation of more constituencies.
"I think it has been clear that we are all in agreement that there is need to have more constituencies. As UPND we in support of this especially considering the fact that this does not need bill 10 to be implemented,” Mr Kakoma said.
He said parliamentarians should unite beyond political boundaries and that more constituencies should be created to enhance national development.
Mr Kakoma said the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) should recommend to parliament for the delimitation of constituencies so that the constitution could be amended to allow for an increase in the number of constituencies.
"ECZ consulted electorates countrywide on the need to have mores constituencies. What is now remaining is for Parliament to amend the clause to allow for creation of more constituencies," he said.
Mr Kakoma said as much as bill 10 would allow for creation of more constituencies, it could be done without it.
PF Parliamentary Deputy Chief Whip, Tutwa Ngulube however said the UPND had trapped itself by rejecting constitution amendment Bill number 10 of 2019.
Mr Ngulube said no clause in the constitution that is part of bill 10 can be amended in this session of Parliament.
He said UPND should support bill 10 for delimitation which the PF also supports to pull through.
Meanwhile, UPND president Hakainde Hichilema has challenged all citizens eligible to acquire national registration cards to do so for them to register as voters so that they can participate in the 2021 general elections,.
Mr Hichilema said, “I throw a 10 times challenge to the rest of you Zambians, the youth, the women out there, the mothers, the fathers with voter registration which is upon us towards 2021 each one of you should help 10 people to get NRCs.