Study Constitution, ZCID urges political parties

Mon, 28 Nov 2016 17:07:09 +0000

ZAMBIA Center for Inter-party Dialogue (ZCID) has called on all political parties in the country to seriously study the amended Constitution and the Political parties’ Act and treat it as a matter of urgency to note areas of concern which must be included in their presentation to the Government through the Ministry of Justice.

ZCID spokesperson Edwin Sakala said some member parties of ZCID have also identified a number of ambiguities, conflicts and inconsistencies in the constitutional amendments which came into force on 5th January, 2016 after the assent by President Edgar Lungu.

He said it was against that background that ZCID wished to make it known that it had already approached the Ministry of Justice to raise some of the concerns and to seek clarification on the several changes which the new Constitution had made on the way political parties would be required to operate.

“This has also made it necessary for ZCID to call on all political parties in the country to seriously study the amended Constitution and the Political Parties’ Act especially which affected them directly and as a matter of urgency to note areas of concern which must be included in their presentation to Government through the Ministry of Justice,” he said.

Mr Sakala said the amended Constitution had many changes which political parties needed to understand, saying that was the best time for the parties to seek clarification, refinement, amendments and removal of cobwebs to ensure efficiency in the implementation.

“We do not want political parties to remain behind in this process and to come and start complaining after implementation because then it will be too late, hence the need for each and every political party to get a copy of the Constitution, study it and urgently submit any concern if they identify any,” he said.

The motion was passed in Parliament recently, recommending the amendment of the Constitution.