SPEECH BY THE RIGHT HONOURABLE ROBERT M CHABINGA, MP, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION IN THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
As Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, I wish to vehemently and categorically address some inaccuracies in a statement attributed to the sixth Republican President, Dr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu that the New Dawn Administration under His Excellency, Dr. Hakainde Hichilema, President of the Republic of Zambia is purportedly intending to arbitrary alter the People’s supreme document, the Constitution using the National Assembly.
I wish to state that the assertion is false as no such maneuver has been instigated in the National Assembly. As Leader of the Opposition I can confirm that there is no such agenda on the floor of the National Assembly and no Order Paper concerning the proposed constitutional amendments has been submitted.
For the record, as a responsible government through the executive the state has been proposing through the National Assembly to come up with non – contentious constitutional amendments. This is to avert any catastrophic roadmap as the Bill 10 process that was marred with factionalism and partisan approach.
I further wish to place on record the need for our country to continue fine-tuning our supreme law of the land (THE CONSTITUTION) and make it more responsive to the needs and the aspirations of Zambians.
As Leader of the opposition, I propose some of the non – contentious issues as follows:
1. Women representation
2. Representation of people with disabilities or the physically challenged
3. Retention of Members of Parliament to the local authority or councils so that they participate in decision making of councils, particularly on land delimitation.
In light of expanded CDF, Members of Parliament should be in the forefront of ‘determining power’ towards the utilization of CDF, as the name suggests.
That such a clause in the constitution should include delimitation of vast constituencies that have been difficult administratively for a single member of parliament to manage.
4. That the Emoluments Commission Act should be repealed, as its administration interferes with the autonomy of the Legislature and the Judiciary or it should be amended to only apply to officers in the Executive.
Since time immemorial, conditions of service of Legislators have been determined by the Standing Orders Committee in consultation with the Executive in order to have uniformity of benefits with other constitutional office holders.
Let me hasten, to say that this should be expeditiously dealt with to address perceived gaps impacting the country’s governance visa vis the Separation of Powers.
Hon. Robert Chabinga, MP
Leader of the Opposition
SPEECH BY THE RIGHT HONOURABLE ROBERT M CHABINGA, MP, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION IN THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
