“I have heard about the elections coming up later in the year, but I don't know anything about the failed constitution. What we need here are schools and health facilities for our children and ourselves. Look at this school, surely our children deserve better!” he says as he points at a grass thatched shelter which is used as a school for children.

Chakanda village is just 100 kilometres from Lusaka. There are many other people who share the same views expressed by Siamwinde concerning the constitution.

“They have been saying we need a new constitution to improve our conditions of living but you can't eat the constitution,” says Peter Shangwele.

In contrast to the sleepy atmosphere in remote areas, in Lusaka the collapse of the constitution-making process has not gone down well with some individuals and organizations. The Constitution Amendment Bill of 2010 failed to go past the second reading in parliament after the ruling party failed to garner the required two-thirds votes in the house of 158 members.

Some opposition members of parliament walked out of the House while others abstained from voting because the draft constitution did not include other important clauses such as the 50% plus one for election of the president and delay for 90 days before swearing in of the new president.

The church connection

Newspaper columnist and Catholic Priest, Fr. Pete Henriot accused the government of lacking honesty in the whole constitution-making process.

“Surely, it is not truthful to imply that the churches were represented – Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ), Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC) and the Council of Churches in Zambia declined to participate.”

He says that some individual church members participated but not as representatives of the major church bodies. And some civil society organisations did participate but not the major civil society organization, Non-Governmental Organization Coordinating Council (NGOCC).

Fr. Pete notes that major items widely recommended by the Mung'omba Constitution Review Commission (CRC) were not included in the draft submitted to the National Constitutional Commission (NCC).

“The NCC did not accept many of the proposals that had been formulated by the Mung'omba Constitution Commission... items such as the 50% plus one for election of the president, delay for 90 days before swearing in of a new president and choice of cabinet ministers from outside parliament.”

The Oasis Forum has described the collapse of the constitution-making process as a “big blow” to the people of Zambia because colossal sum of tax payers resources have been used in the “failed process.” The forum has demanded that government be held responsible for the resources expended on the NCC process since 2007. Beatrice Grillo, chairperson of the NGOCC spoke on behalf of the Oasis Forum at a press conference.

“Parliament was informed by the leader of the house and the minister of Justice (Hon. George Kunda) that the NCC cost Zambia in excess of 83 Billion Zambian Kwacha. As Oasis Forum, we believe that this figure is grossly understated because the original budget was 135 Billion Zambian Kwacha for a shorter period but we all know that this process took much longer than was anticipated.”

The Oasis Forum is an alliance of Zambian civil society organizations which include the Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC) the Non-Governmental Organization Coordinating Council (NGOCC), Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ), the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ) and the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ).

Scandal?

Beatrice Grillo says she views the whole National Constitution Conference (NCC) process and the new development (failed Constitution Bill) as a scandal.

“The fact that the Constitutional Bill of 2010 failed to pass the second reading in parliament, gives the Zambian people an opportunity to develop their own constitution that will bring out their aspirations and stand the test of time.”

But back in the village, the constitution is not John Siamwinde’s concern. He says “what is important is to have our children access good schools. We have no schools here; our children rely on community schools. These schools have no trained teachers, how do you expect us to improve our life and that of our children without education.”

The same belief is shared by opposition Heritage Party leader Brigadier General Godfrey Miyanda (retired) who says: “The bread and butter issues are the issues … the NCC Bill which has failed has all the things which are in the constitution. The former republican vice president in the second republic was speaking when he appeared on one of the local television stations, MUVI TV.

President Rupiah Banda appealed for calm in the nation following the failure by parliament to pass the Constitutional Amendment Bill ahead of this year’s general elections.

“I am appealing to all ministers, deputy ministers, members of Parliament and MMD (ruling party) members not to apportion the blame on anyone for the failure to pass the Constitutional Amendment Bill…”

On 17th April, 2003, late Republican President Levy Mwanawasa following pressure from civil society and the church announced the appointment of a fourth constitution review commission since independence in 1964. The Constitution Review Commission (CRC) chaired by Mr. Willa Mung’omba toured the country extensively, and obtained the views of the people. It then proceeded to prepare, and publish its report and a draft constitution which was submitted to government in December, 2005.

The government set up the National Constitution Conference (NCC), a body comprising members drawn from a cross section of society including the church, professional organisations, district councils, universities and media organisations to consider and deliberate the provisions of the report and draft constitution of the Mung’omba Constitution Review Commission. The NCC after adopting the draft constitution submitted it to the Minster of Justice for presentation to parliament.

The three main church mother bodies namely, the Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC), Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ), Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ), the leading opposition Patriotic Front and the Non-Governmental Organization Coordinating Council (NGOCC) stayed away from the NCC deliberations citing unfair composition favouring government.