Push to reconcile Zambia's Constitution, el­ectoral law

By O’Brian Mwiinga

LUSAKA, Zambia

Zambia’s president is pushing to change parts of the country’s recent Constitu­tion that he says violate electoral law and hinder the country’s pro­gress to good gov­ernance.

Edgar Lungu told parliament when he officially opened the second session of the 12th National Assembly on Friday that the new Constitution, adopted last August, co­ntains defects that are inimic­al to the rule of law and are partly behind the country’s political woes.

“In the interest of national unity and peace, I direct that all defective clauses in the new Constitu­tion should be resol­ved immediately,” he said.

Lungu that the Justice Ministry should use an ongoing review of the Cons­titution to amend not only sections that interfere with the existing law but also those sowing confusion in the administration of governance and the rule of law.

Any proposed constitutional changes would have to be approved by super-majority vote in parliament.

According to Lungu, addressing the Constitution’s flaws will he­lp to resolve the pr­oblems that arose in the August 2016 election as a result of the Constitution not being in harmony with electoral law.

Last month Commonweal­th Secretary-General Patricia Scotland advised Zambia’s government to resolve provisions in the Constitution which violate electoral law.

“After taking to Pre­sident Lungu and opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema, I discov­ered that part of the political standoff between then came as a result of the conflicts that exist between the Constitu­tion and electoral law.

My office will therefore send mediat­ors to help the Zamb­ia harmonize the pro­visions of the Constitution that violate the electoral law,” Scotland told journ­alists on Aug. 9.

Some poli­tical parties welcomed Lu­ngu’s drive to tweak the new Constitution.

“The move is welcome provided the amendm­ents will be made in the national intere­st and not for polit­ical expediency,” Mike Mulongoti, head of the opposition People’s Party, told Anadolu Agency.

But some expressed fear the changes if left un­checked could allow the government to alter the Constitution to its advantage.