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Opposition UPND Mazabuka Central Member of Parliament Garry Nkombo this morning introduced the private member’s motion in the National Assembly to urge government to provide a clear roadmap on the constitution.
And Justice Minister Wynter Kabimba said government would not give the people of Zambia a new constitution at the expense of fighting poverty.
Moving the motion that has been seconded by MMD Chembe Member of Parliament Mwansa Mbulakulima, Nkombo said the PF in their diabolical fashion of donchi kubeba had provided conflicting statements on the constitution.
The Mazabuka lawmaker who described donchi kubeba as a culture of political deception said there was excessive trivialization of a very important process by President Michael Sata who had turned around from being an advocate of a people driven constitution to only calling for amendments.
“There has been excessive trivialization of a very important process,” Nkombo said.
“Don’t kubeba is a culture of deception where you tell one thing and do the other.”
He said there had been a lot of confusion created by the PF on the constitution and urged them to live by their own words.
“They must respect the process they started and there should be no falling on their own sword,” he said.
“Great men live by their own words. They should restore confidence in the process that has left the Zambians very disappointed.”
He added; “President Sata has fallen on his own sword.”
Speaker of the National Assembly Patrick Matibini repeatedly exalted Nkombo for the clarity with which he had laid out the matter before the house and advised other parliamentarians to take heed.
And Mbulakulima who seconded the motion said President Sata had shown remarkable lack of interest in the constitution since the Technical Committee completed its work.
Mbulakulima said the PF should not be hazy if it was their desire not to attend to the constitution making process they should just explicitly state it.
“President Sata has shown remarkable lack of interest since the Technical Committee completed its work. If it is their desire not deal with this matter let them explicitly say so,” he said.
Mbulakulima said being the only opposition MP in Luapula Province his constituency had been by-passed in resource allocation due to a faulty constitution.
“The PF is a brutal government. You can imagine out of all the 14 constituencies in Luapula only Chembe has not received CDF allocation because Chembe is in opposition. Chembe was also not been invited to a ministerial planning meeting for the province,” he said.
And Lubansenshi Independent Member of Parliament dared President Sata to dissolve parliament and call for fresh elections if he thought his party was still popular after so many broken promises.
“On more than three occasions government has dared to dissolve parliament and I dare him to dissolve parliament so that we see who will come back after the many promises they made,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kabimba repeated his snooty approach by openly telling off parliamentarians that there could be no constitution until the government had addressed pressing issues of poverty and other matters.
He said the 90 days promise was based on lack of knowledge on the depth of the problems that the country had been immersed in according to him by the previous MMD government.
“We have listened to the debate on the constitution and if we made promises that we will deliver a constitution in 90 DAYS it was based on a lack of knowledge of the poverty levels and state of destitution left by the previous administration,” he said.
Kabimba also added the poor health system, lack of employment and education facilities as hindrances to the constitution making process.
The Speaker had to guide Kabimba as he lost himself into an anti UPND narrative stemming from the recent Katuba by-election loss.
Kabimba said it would be a betrayal to the Zambian people if they attended to the constitution withot addressing high poverty levels.
MMD Vice President, who is also Mwandi Member of Parliament, caused laughter in the house when he emotionally said members of the Technical Committee would be stoned if the draft constitution will be manipulated as they had stayed quiet despite several attacks on them concerning the draft constitution.
The Speaker asked Kaingu to withdraw the threat but he light heartedly said he meant stoning with words.
Members will wind up debate on Tuesday following and adjournment today.
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