By Chinoyi Chipulu
UPND media director, Mark Simuuwe has urged Zambians to disregard opposition political parties who have continued to politicise the Constitution amendment process.
And UPND presidential support system media team director general Frank Bwalya said the opposition parties who held a press briefing yesterday to reject the amendment process were a group of desperate politicians.
During a press briefing to respond to the opposition political parties and Civil Society Organisations yesterday, Simuuwe said there was nothing secretive about the reforms and that the process would be transparent.
Simuuwe said political opponents should not misguide the general public over the document but wait for the road map to be given.
He said the timing of the constitutional reforms aligned with historical precedents, noting that previous amendments had often been undertaken during election years since 1991.
He said remarks by the opposition that the UPND’s approach to constitutional amendments was deceptive was false as the party was committed to a transparent and inclusive process.
“We are disappointed that some opposition parties are dragging President Hakainde Hichilema into the issue, despite the fact that he has no direct control over it. The President does not sit in Parliament hence, accusations that he is trying to manipulate the constitution are baseless,” he said .
And Bwalya said the opposition political parties remarks at a press briefing were senseless.
He said most of the opposition leaders had been in government before and people should not trust them because they wanted to cheat the Zambians using bill 10.
He said if the opposition political parties meant well, they would have been calling for a dialogue with the rulling party.
“They should have been calling for enactment of specific clauses that will be good for the country. So if they came back into power, are you telling that they should be trusted,” he asked.
Bwalya said the demeanor of Socialist Party leader Fredd M’membe at the press conference made him wonder what troubled him.
He said M’membe was driven by hatred for the President.
“When you look at the demeanor of M’membe at that press conference, you would wonder ati bushe uyu umuntu finshii fimuchusha? (What troubles this person?). I’m sure you would agree that the man is driven by hatred for HH. HH did not close The Post by the way,” he said.
He said M’membe overated himself to a point where he thought the amendment process would make Zambians to rise and set the country on fire making Hichilema and his party to run away.
“He thinks when the UPND runs away then Zambians will decide to be ruled by him. It won’t happen. M’membe was speaking like that because he is desperate, because everyday he realises that Zambia is not his newspaper or his small companies like socialist where he intimidates everyone,” he said.
Bwalya said M’membe was a hero at the Post newspaper but he was no longer a hero hence, people needed to advise him not to invite problems.
“We need to advise them because we love them, they should not foolishly invite problems. We urge M’membe to leave the defence forces alone because they are of high integrity and the President is not issuing any illegal orders to them,” he said.
Speaking at the same function, UPND Consultant Oliver Shalala underscored the importance of constitutional reforms saying this would enhance women, youths and differently abled people to participation in Parliament and other leadership roles.
“The government has no intention of extending the presidential tenure or removing the 50+1 clauses, contrary to claims by some opposition parties,” said Shalala.
