By Scoop Reporter
CHAIRPERSON of the parliamentary select committee on Bill 10, Raphael Nakacinda, says it is regrettable that the opposition has created a lot of misconception about Bill 10 when the piece of legislation is aimed at addressing lacunas in the Constitution.
Meanwhile, all the Indunas from chief Lukama in Sioma and Shang’ombo districts of Western Province have unanimously supported the enactment of Bill 10 into law saying this is the only way that powers, rights, and authority of senior chiefs will be retained.
And Prince Mwananyanda Inyambo Yeta, son to senior chief Inyambo Yeta of Mwandi district in Western Province, has appealed to the traditional leadership to sit down all their Members of Parliament in the province and ask them to put aside their political agenda and support Bill 10.
Speaking at the Kaunga-Mashi palace in Sioma yesterday during a meeting with indunas yesterday, Mr. Nakacinda said he had taken it upon himself to personally visit the traditional leaders in the province to correct the misconception created by those who wanted to play partisan politics in Parliament.
He says Constitutional processes must never be made to please the PF or the UPND but must be done to advance the interests of the Zambians.
He says political parties come and go hence the need for MPs to represent the interests of the people.
“What is worrying us is that there are some MPs who have chosen to go into parliament to play politics at the expense of what is important. Some of them are walking out of Parliament to try and ill a bill is supposed to restore power to traditional leadership.
“Edgar Lungu is President today but may not be the President tomorrow. Hakainde Hichilema is UPND leader today but may not be there tomorrow but the traditional leadership like that of the Litunga, has been there for years,” Mr. Nakacinda said.
Meanwhile, Indunas from chief Lukama in Sioma and Shang’ombo districts of Western Province have unanimously supported the enactment of Bill 10 into law saying this is the only way that powers, rights, and authority of senior chiefs will be retained.
The Indunas said retaining the authority of traditional leaders which was taken away by the current Constitution was important.
Making their submission through their senior Induna, Mutungwalo, the indunas said taking away the authority of senior chiefs was a recipe for the current succession wrangles which had characterised most parts of the country.
They said enacting Bill 10 was welcome and must be supported by all well-meaning Zambians to correct the lacuna created by the Constitution on the authority of traditional leaders.
“Our wish is that the privileges, powers, and authority of traditional leaders must be retained in the constitution. Our enerst appeal to Government is that the rights powers and privileges of the powers must be retained.
“It is important that if there is any enactment of the constitution, we must be consulted because the issue of bill 10nnwas not extensively communicated. Amendments to the Constitution are very important,” Induna Mutungwalo said.
And Prince Mwananyanda Inyambo Yeta, son to senior chief Inyambo Yeta of Mwandi district in Western Province, has appealed to the traditional leadership to sit down all their Members of Parliament in the province and ask them to put aside their political agenda and support Bill 10.
Prince Yeta advised MPs to stop playing partisan politics over the Constitution failure to which they will plunge this country into chaos if they continued on the same trajectory of advancing partisan interests.
He said there is no Constitution which was perfect hence the need for continuous refinement where citizens deemed it fit as then case was with Bill 10 but wondered why the same people who are elected to enact laws on behalf of their electorates were refusing to play their role.
He has pleaded with the traditional leadership in Western Province to sit down all the MPs in the area regardless of their political affiliation, and ask them to support Bill 10 because that was the only guarantee that their rights, privileges, and authority, which had been taken away from them, could be restored.
“I am pleading with the traditional leadership in this province to sit down with the MPs and ask them to support Bill 10, regardless of whether they are PF or UPND. The MPs must put national interest first before their party agendas.
“The Litunga used to appoint chiefs and you cannot just come and get powers away from him. We will not accept that. Tell them to put aside their agenda because if we continue like this we will put this country into chaos,” Prince Yeta warned.
He says the traditional leadership will not accept the current status quo where their authority has been taken away in the Constitution while MPs who have the power to change it are engaged in petty partisan fights without looking at the aggregate benefit of enacting Bill 10 into law.
“We should stop playing partisan politics over issue of importance like the Constitution. The constitution also touches on the royal establishments. There is no constitution which has stood the test of time. All the laws change with time.
“What was important yesterday may not be important. I tend to wonder when people reject these amendments of the law.
“It is the responsibility of the MPs through the National Assembly to enact laws and therefore, my request to our royal highnesses is that we need to sit down our Members of Parliament and advise them to put their interests aside and put the national agenda first,” he said.
