UPND mayors’ argument for wider consultations on Constitutional clause

By Daily Revelation Editor

UPND mayors for Chililabombwe and Mufulira have raised issue with one of the clauses that President Hakainde Hichilema’s administration has proposed for amendment in the Republic Constitution.

Hichilema’s UPND administration has proposed that Article 153(2) should be amended in order to include members of parliament on the list of officials who constitute a council.

But Chililabombwe mayor Lucky Sichone said some proposed amendments needed wider consultations if they were to be effective, saying he personally did not support the proposal as doing so would take away the freedom of the mayor and councilors in the chamber.

He said the proposed amendment needed wider consultation.

The same goes with Mufulira mayor Tanaeli Kamanga who said the government should have concentrated on more important issues at the local authorities.

He said he welcome other proposals but felt that the government had failed on the clause to reinstate MPs in councils.

This is the argument coming from UPND members. Not just ordinary members, but these are elected UPND officials presiding over two urban municipalities on the Copperbelt. They too are reinforcing the need for the same wider consultation over this constitutional making process, which all the other stakeholders who have rejected these amendments have been raising. The remarks from the UPND mayors underline one very important aspect, that constitutional making always requires wider consultations in order to be effective.

For those in the UPND who have been arguing that the opposition to the government’s move is being opposed by Hichilema’s critics, the remarks from the UPND mayors should clearly tell them now about the need for them to come along and demand from the government to hold on to this process, in order to allow sufficient time and consensus over this very important national undertaking.

Clearly, the opposition from the mayors, although on just one specific clause, indicates that even at party level itself, the UPND did not do enough consultations, otherwise the mayors would not come out in the manner they did. One can deduce that the process is being driven by the President and the top politicians in the UPND who want to protect their interests at all cost.

There is also one important statement the mayor for Mufulira Kamanga issued in opposition to the proposal to allow mayors to stand for more than two terms.

“I do not think that augers well. Two terms are enough. Why should I go for the third term? Am I the only person who wants to be mayor for life? Well, for me it’s 50-50,” said Kamanga.

One can come up with various inferences regarding what Kamanga is saying, including the fact that mayors most often have aspirations to rise up the political ladder to become MPs, so that they could also be considered for ministerial positions etc, and after that possibly the presidency. The clause to allow mayors to stand for more than two terms is not actually being done in good faith by the members of parliament. The move is to ensure that mayors perpetually remain as civic leaders so that they cannot threaten the MPs hold on power. This is not how you go about enacting laws in the country. This is actually lawfare promax.