PF Pushes Ahead With Bill No. 10

Minister of Justice Given Lubinda has restated the Government’s commitment to the Constitution Amendment Bill 10 of 2019.

His comments come amid mounting criticism regarding the contents of the Bill, as well as speculation that it may have been deferred because the PF lacks the two-thirds support necessary to pass it in the National Assembly.

Opponents, from the UPND and the NDC, to the Law Association of Zambia {LAZ) and Linda Kasonde’s Chapter One, are objecting to the Bill on the basis that it strengthens the existing powers of the executive and President to the detriment of Zambia’s democracy.

Among the most contentious and concerning provisions in the Bill are the re-introduction of deputy ministers, the permitting of ministers to stay in office during elections and scope for interference in the appointment of judges. All of which opposition and civil society claim are designed not to benefit the citizenry, but to strengthen the PF’s grip on power ahead of elections next year.

The Bill also contains some worrisome provisions relating to Government’s economic and financial management, giving the President the power to contract debt without requiring parliamentary approval. This has served as another red flag ahead of elections.

“If Bill 10 becomes law, there is a great danger that our democracy will be weakened, our separation of powers will be weakened, and then, there will be Executive powers that will be enhanced, which will cause an imbalance in the way the governance system is supposed to be,” LAZ President Eddie Mwitwa has stated.

The divisive Bill No 10 of 2019 has been championed by Government as a necessary measure to address lacunas in the existing Constitution, but has been virulently opposed by several opposition parties and civil society organisations.

The Bill was restored to the Order Paper last month, when opposition members of Parliament registered their disapproval with both its contents and the process by staging a walk out. Further deliberation of Bill No 10 was deferred until February 2020.

Earlier this month Mwitwa warned that in its current form the Bill has not been amended to remove contentious provisions.

“Next month, that Bill is expected to go back to Parliament. Our hope, as we stated last year, was that the Bill should have been withdrawn. I must also take this opportunity to state again that there is a misconception in the public that Bill 10 has been amended because there was a Select Committee that rendered a report on what stakeholders said. That report is not an amendment to the Bill. The Bill that we saw in June is still the same Bill that is going before Parliament next month”, Mwitwa stated.

While the matter is delayed as the Minister of Justice has now confirmed it is far from over. Although the Constitutional Court has recently thrown out petitions challenging the Bill from LAZ and Chapter One, its ruling was made on the basis that the Court’s jurisdiction related to Acts of Parliament, rather than proposed laws in the form of bills. As such, further more substantive legal challenges can be expected should Bill No 10 come to pass.