Ethno-Net Database: Zambia

Reports on Ethnic Relations / Rapports sur les relations éthniques

The following section is mainly consisted of part, full or summaries of articles taken from newspapers.
La section suivante est essentiellement constituée d'exraits, de la totalité ou de résumés d'articles issues de journaux .

Zambia's President Levy Mwanawasa has bowed to demands for a constituent assembly to review the country's constitution.

Mwanawasa, who had favoured appointing a Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) said on Sunday he would introduce the required bills in parliament to pave the way for a constituent assembly after previously rejecting the idea, saying it would be too expensive to put in place.

A constituent assembly would be made up of all members of parliament and from a shortlist of interested parties and NGOs, thus perceived as being "people-owned". Once the constituent assembly has been selected, a constitutional law dictates that a referendum is necessary for obtaining a mandate for the constituent assembly.

However, the constitution also calls for a population census before the referendum to establish how many voters there are.

Under pressure from a large section of civil society and some of his own cabinet ministers, Mwanawasa on Sunday told a meeting of commissioners due to be sworn into the CRC that he would send bills to parliament to repeal laws that stand in the way of forming a constituent assembly.

"If there are laws in the present constitution that impede what people want [a constituent assembly], I will pass a bill over to parliament to amend such laws. If the bill to amend such laws fails, you will know who the enemy is," he said, referring to members of parliament.

It is unclear when this will happen as the commissioners for the CRC are due to be sworn in on Wednesday.

Mwanawasa's undertaking has been cautiously welcomed by the NGO umbrella group, the Oasis Forum, which has lobbied for changes to be made through a constituent assembly. Their fears are that Mwanawasa and his cabinet, which would appoint the CRC, would be able to reject recommendations not in their favour.

Among the key issues civil society groups want addressed are the extent of the president's currently wide-ranging powers.

"There's a need for him to make a separate statement in print so that he does not turn around in future and say 'I did not say that,'" Father Ignatius Mwebe of the Oasis Forum told IRIN.

Meanwhile, Women for Change, an NGO which is part of the Oasis Forum, has appealed to Zambians country-wide to continue an anti-CRC campaign involving the honking of car horns and the wearing of green ribbons that started last Friday.

"We want people to continue honking and wearing their green ribbons every Friday in order to send a clear message to Mr Mwanawasa that we want a people-driven constitution. Last week, people honked very well and I think the campaign started well."

Police have threatened to arrest and charge those participating in the campaign, but so far have not arrested anyone.

The Zambian police warned that anyone participating in Friday's planned protest against a Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) would be arrested and charged with creating a public nuisance.

The NGO group, Oasis Forum, planned to launch the protest at 5pm on Friday by encouraging people to honk their horns and wear green ribbons, mirroring an earlier campaign against former president Frederick Chiluba's plans to run for a third term in office.

Police spokeswoman, Brenda Muntemba, said in a statement, "All those that will honk and wear green ribbons shall face arrest."

In addition, Walter Manzi, National Youth Chairman of the ruling Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) said: "There's no provision of wearing green ribbons or honking in the constitution. If these people [Oasis Forum supporters] go ahead with their action, we shall meet them with force and violence."

Opposition to President Levy Mwanawasa's decision to have the Zambian constitution reviewed for the fourth time by using a CRC has reached a crescendo, with the Oasis Forum also collecting signatures opposing the review country-wide.

Mwanawasa has named 41 people to the CRC, drawn from the labour movement, some political parties and sections of the media. It will "examine and recommend the elimination of provisions which are perceived to be discriminatory in the constitution," a government gazette said in April.

But the Oasis Forum, an umbrella body comprising the country's main churches and NGOs, argues the only way to have a constitution that will stand the test of time is through a representative constituent assembly producing a document people can take ownership of.

The rejection of the CRC is largely due to concerns that Mwanawasa will play a key role in selecting participants and deciding on whether to accept the commission's recommendations.

The decision to oppose the CRC was reached by the five organisations making up the forum - the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia, the Christian Council of Zambia, the Law Association of Zambia, the Zambia Episcopal Conference and the umbrella body of all NGO's in Zambia, the NGO-Coordinating Committee - at a national conference held in Lusaka on Tuesday.

The forum unanimously voted to re-introduce the wearing of green ribbons and honking car horns every Friday to show their displeasure with the CRC.

However, the government has accused the forum of inciting the public to rise against the government, and said it should not be judged on the actions of the previous administration.

Home Affairs Minister Ronnie Shikapwasha told journalists: "It is now clear that the Oasis Forum has a political agenda, but it will be unwise for them to engage in lawlessness. Why should they disturb the peace by honking? If they do anything that's against the law, we will deal with it."

Forum spokesman, Bishop Paul Mususu, told IRIN: "The reason [the CRC will not work] is simple. The recommendations are subject to presidential and cabinet approval, which in the past have rejected most of the proposals which were people-friendly and adopted those that supported the needs of the leadership. Three times, this has happened."

Mususu added that for the CRC to adopt the constitution, the terms of reference should be drawn up by parliament for it to be "people-driven".

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