23 April 2014, Kampingila House, Lusaka
Dear Colleagues,
We welcome you all to this briefing
at which we want to state the position of the Grand Coalition over the
Constitution review process against the backdrop of various events and
statements seen over the last few weeks. We note with sadness the conflicting
statements made by the Executive which do not address the earnest demands of
the people of Zambia to categorically release the second draft Constitution. It
has become very clear now that the position of the State over the issue of the
Constitution is one devoid of the seriousness required to provide a new
Constitution to the Zambian people.
The experiences of the past few
weeks speak for themselves on this matter. The Grand Coalition is also
extremely disheartened at the increasing levels of intimidation and police
harassment under the PF rule whenever people with divergent views stand up to
demand for their rights or when the demand accountability from their elected
leaders. The Police have continued to be used to gag citizens’ right to free
assembly and expression without shame or remorse. They have continued to
selectively apply the Public Order Act favoring those in power and disfavoring
the opposition views. The intimidation suffered by all fellow patriotic
compatriots at the hands of State institutions that should protect them in
promoting transparency and good governance has not spared the church and community
radio stations. We would like to offer our solidarity to these stakeholders and
many more that continue to receive threats for standing out to provide solace
and voice to the common man and woman that may not have the medium and space to
air their voices on the Constitution. We are aware that some colleagues who
participated in the organization of the recent Prayer service in Chipata fear
for their lives after being harassed for simply facilitating the people’s voice
calling for a new constitution. We particularly wish to throw our weight and
support behind Bishop George Lungu of Chipata Diocese for his courage to reveal
his interaction with the republican President HE Michael Sata on the phone.
Indeed, it takes a man of courage to reveal such incidents to the public.
Bishop Lungu, we salute and feel greatly humbled by your patriotism. At the
same time we wish to condemn comments attributed to the President in the said
telephone conversation which border on threats to the Bishop’s life. Those
comments if true are patently unchristian in a supposed Christian nation and
clearly go against the recent rhetoric of ‘unity and consensus building’ as we
head towards our Jubilee celebrations. We are mindful that there are many more
in the Church and elsewhere that continues to suffer silently through these
orchestrated threats and earnestly extend our prayers of solidarity to them all.
We further condemn the harassment suffered by the youths from Action-Aid during
the Youth Day celebrations for just wearing T-shirts with inscriptions
demanding for the immediate release of the final draft Constitution. We also
note with sadness the degenerating and continued harassment of opposition
political leaders and in particular the incident involving President Hakainde
Hichilema in Ndola recently. We condemn that behavior in the strongest of terms
and urge the state to allow all people, regardless of their political
affiliation, to exercise their rights to free expression and assembly. We
believe that Fifty years after independence, what we have seen lately takes us
back to the era of the Stone Age, to the days of Welensky. Surely country men
and women, we need to have something to show as a country after so many years
of independence. Violence is the least of those things, it is archaic. It
exhibits leaders’ failure to reason and use their wisdom. As for ourselves and
other patriotic Zambians, we find ourselves rather ironically being referred to
as “yappers” who should be ignored, all because we stand for justice and truth
for all Zambians. There is pride in undertaking such defining ‘yapping tasks’
on behalf of a majority of a people that God has given the virtues of peace and
humanity. We feel indebted to continue ‘yapping’ because our message on the
Constitution is undoubtedly hitting hard and finding its mark across the
stretch of the entire country through our dedicated and well networked
membership. We urge the President to simply come clean and observe a
fundamental cornerstone of the 10 commandments: Thou shall not lie. We urge the
President to heed the people’s call: release the final Draft Constitution now.
The Grand Coalition reiterates its firm belief in the strong linkage between
good governance and social, economic and political prosperity. This is one
reason we are strong advocates of the expansion of the Bill of Rights in our
Constitution. The current ‘functional’ Constitution of Zambia is a fountain for
bad governance. With bad governance comes lack of accountability and
transparency. With the lack of accountability and transparency comes
corruption, recklessness, arrogance, poverty, joblessness, price hikes and a
general degradation in the well-being and freedom of a people. These ills and
many more are what compelled the Patriotic Front government to invest huge
resources into the Constitution review process because they wanted to put more
money in people’s pockets and address the high levels of poverty through
correcting the glaring deficiencies of the current functional Constitution. The
Grand Coalition resolutely believes that the noble task of delivering a
people-driven Constitution is now just before dawn and if His Excellency the
President exercises his full commitment to the 10 commandments as he did when
he took office, he will do the right thing, he will deliver the second draft
Constitution now. We believe that this courageous action will help raise the
popularity rating for the Patriotic Front government particularly as we begin
the countdown to the 2016 tripartite elections. Based on our interactions on
the ground, we have noted with concern that the perception of the current
governments’ political will to deliver on their campaign promises in their
manifesto is at an all-time low. In this regard, the Grand Coalition proposes
that the country celebrates the golden jubilee of our independence with renewed
hope and liberty associated with a new Constitution, a Constitution that would
ensure political, economic and social freedom. Our firm belief is that with a
flawed ‘functional’ Constitution, there is no guarantee that Zambians will have
food on the table, neither is there any guarantee that they will have jobs,
safe drinking water or even medicines when they are sick. A new constitution is
the best gift we can receive in this Jubilee year. Dear Colleagues, unless we
stand up and defend our rights, no one will do it for us. Remember that God did
not give us the spirit of timidity but courage, as a Grand Coalition we
religiously receive this gift. We must all defend our rights. History still
tells us that mighty armies and dictators have been defeated by the people’s
collective wisdom and energies once they get resolved to defend what belongs to
them. Going forward, the Grand Coalition has lined up a number of nationwide
activities to demand for a people driven Constitution which will be launched
very shortly. Zambians are resolute in demanding a new constitution NOW, not
tomorrow, not the day after and shall remain steadfast and focused until it is
delivered to them.
Presented
on behalf of the Grand Coalition by Fr. Leonard Chiti (Jesuit Centre for
Theological reflection Director).
