Minister of Justice Princess Kasune has called on citizens to familiarize themselves with the Constitution of Zambia and the provisions being prioritized in the proposed constitution amendment.
Speaking in parliament this afternoon, Kasune advised Zambians to critically analyze and understand the essence for the amendment of certain provisions being proposed to avoid being misled by some opposing political figures.
“Zambians, our call as Ministry of Justice and for me as your Minister is that lets read the constitution in totality. The PF did agree to the delimitation of the constituencies and they did not do it in a vacuum but they did it because this report [ECZ report on delimitation] which came out in 2019 spoke to the fact that 94 constituencies will be added. So why then do we want to pretend or say that it wasn’t there or that there is no document?” Kasune quizzed.
Kasune went further to explain that despite the current constitution promoting consideration of 50/50 gender representation in parliament and governance, there is need for the establishment of laws to ensure that women gain equal representation in governance as proposed in the constitution amendment.
“As long as you do not have a legal framework, whether through the quota system or proportional representation, the enactment of the law itself will not come to light,” Kasune said.
The Minister stressed that Zambia’s current rate of women representation in parliament and governance is atypical of a democratic state hence the need for the country to adopt the proposed constitution amendment in order to bring about equal gender representation in governance.
“Is it not a shame that as a country which is peaceful and enjoyed democracy you still seat with only 15% of women in parliament? And then you have a chance to correct that and you want to throw it away,” she said.
Furthermore, Kasune dismissed concerns raised by the opposition, the former ruling Patriotic Front (PF) in particular, over the government’s timing for the proposed constitution amendment.
Kasune argued that the former ruling PF administration do not possess the moral right to criticize government’s timing for the constitution amendment having overseen a similar process during their tenure less than a year to the general elections in 2016.
“In December 2015, the amendment came and passed in this house and in 2016 they were assented on the 5th of January and the elections were held in the same year, the second Thursday of August, so why do we want play hypocrisy?” she said.
