UPND trivialised ICC debate

Sat, 01 Jul 2017 11:16:45 +0000

CABINET’S decision to authorise the Ministry of Justice to spearhead a national consultative process on whether Zambia should remain a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC) demonstrates how democratic, and not dictatorial, government is.

At the time President Edgar Lungu expressed his view on the matter, and how government should come up with a position, several civil society organisations and some opposition political parties, particularly the United Party for National Development (UPND), trivialised this crucially important public discourse.

For instance, the UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema trumpeted lies and insinuations that Government’s resolution to conduct wide consultations regarding Zambia’s membership to the International Criminal Court (ICC) was intended to create an autocracy. How sincere was Mr Hakainde in his statement?

It is crystal clear that the UPND leadership agenda was bent on misinforming and misleading the citizens on a very straightforward but pertinent issue.

From the total submissions received during the sittings, 91.43 percent of the petitioners were against Zambia’s withdrawal of its members to the ICC. Only 8.57 percent were of the view that Zambia should withdraw its membership. We challenge Mr Hakainde and his honchos to categorically state whether such an outcome proves their autocracy claims.

We recall succinctly that UPND MPs vociferously debated in Parliament and made unsubstantiated statements and allegations against Government on the subject matter.

The statement made by Minister of Justice Given Lubinda in Parliament yesterday goes not only to vindicate Government from allegations espoused by the cartel through smear campaign that Zambia’s democracy is eroding and sliding into a dictatorship but also shamefully exposes how the UPND misplaced its priorities on the ICC debate.

The UPND should know that the consultative process on Zambia’s position on the membership to the ICC government embarked on was not a PF party agenda, but it was conducted in national interest, hence politicising it was otiose.

This is not the first time that Government has procedurally decided to conduct wide public consultation before a final position is made known on a matter.

For instance, it is common knowledge that governments have previously employed a broad consultative approach when undertaking the constitutional review processes as well as referendum on the Bill of Rights.

And it should not have come as a surprise to the UPND leadership that Government thought it prudent to engage all citizens before arriving at a decision regarding Zambia’s membership to the ICC.

Needless to remind the UPND leadership and those spearheading the ‘dictatorship campaign’ that Zambia practices democracy. As such, government is expected to engage the people in a public discourse on such a matter of national interest.

Is this what Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu and other church leaders call dictatorship?

In any case, President Lungu’s indication for wide consultations before a decision is made is a sign that he and his government respect the democratic values entrenched in the Republican Constitution and the will of the people. This is what democracy demands and not what Hakainde Hichilema and the UPND parroted.

The genesis of the debate is well-known. It emanated from the passing of a non-binding recommendation for a mass withdrawal of African countries from the ICC at the 28th Summit of the Assembly of the African Union (AU) citing impartiality of the Court. This was never President Edgar Lungu’s unilateral decision, but a unanimous position of head of States who had no definite consensus  either for or against withdrawing from the ICC, thereby requested for more time to consult their citizen.

And this is why Cabinet at its sitting on Monday, 13th February, 2017, authorised the Minister of Justice to initiate and spearhead a countrywide consultation process which must serve as a basis on which to make a decision for presentation at a Summit of the Assembly of the African Union.

Now that a position is made known, Zambia will remain party to the ICC. Was the UPND in order to have trivialised the ICC debate?