Govt wants  transparency over ICC issue-Lubinda

Tue, 04 Apr 2017 10:14:58 +0000

By AARON CHIYANZO

GOVERNMENT did not table the issue of the International Criminal Court (ICC) membership before Parliament to avoid speculation and suspicion since the ruling party has a majority in the House, says Justice minister Given Lubinda.

Mr Lubinda said Government wanted to ensure that the decision whether Zambia should leave or remain a member of the ICC should be wholly made by the people.

He pointed out that in as much Government had the mandate to make the decision on behalf of the Zambian people, it was only fair that the people themselves made the decision to avoid suspicion.

Mr Lubinda said during the Sunday Interview programme on ZNBC that Government equally did not take the ICC matter to Parliament to avoid accusations that it was taking advantage of its numbers in the House to advance a selfish agenda.

He reiterated that Government was neutral on the matter and that it would respect whichever decision the Zambian people would make after the on-going consultation exercise.

Mr Lubinda noted that the people of Zambia had on several occasions complained that Government had been making decisions without consulting the general citizenry.

“People have complained that Government makes decisions without consulting Zambians. This this time we have decided to do things according to their will, consult them. If we took the issue to Parliament, people will again accuse us that we are taking advantage of our numbers in the House,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Lubinda however wondered why people were complaining over the K2 million Government had proposed to spend on the consultation process.

He explained that consultation was an expensive undertaking and that the repercussions of not doing so would not be equated to the proposed amount.

The minister pointed out that the violence that was recorded in Namwala district of Southern Province last year could be avoided by such consultations.

He said that some incidents of violence across the country had occurred because of baseless suspicions and mere speculations.