Quarterly Bulletin

Bulletin 83 1stQuarter 2010

CCZ PASTORAL LETTER ON THE STATE OF THE NATION

1. GOVERNANCE ISSUES

Since 1991, Zambia has embraced a democratic system of government i.e., a government of the people, by the people and for the people. This entails that the people’s aspirations are to be determined by the people themselves. Therefore, this calls for principles of equal participation and freedom of expression to be enhanced.

However, almost 20 years down the road, the Church has observed that there has been a departure from democratic principles to a non-tolerant culture. The objectives and aspirations of the 1990s have died down. The governance situation does not promote equal participation and justice for the ordinary citizens as only a few elite are the beneficiaries.

CONSTITUTION MAKING PROCESS

Zambia has in the last eighteen years or so been labouring to have a new constitution, which is the supreme law of the Land. The current process started with the establishment of the Mung’omba Constitution Review Commission (CRC) which went round the Country to collect submissions from the Zambian people before submitting its report simultaneously to the then Republican President Levy P Mwanawasa now late (MHSRIP) and the civil society. This report recommended the establishment of a constituent assembly but the government went ahead to enact the infamous and controversial National Constitution Conference (NCC) Act establishing the NCC that has been sitting in Lusaka since December 2007.

The Constitution making process is already in high gear and people’s expectations are already high. The people know what they want, a new Constitution that is people driven, one that speaks to their aspirations and desires. Therefore to continue to ignore the desires of the people as submitted to the Mung’omba Constitution Review Commission is unacceptable and therefore a serious concern to the people of Zambia. The majority of the decisions of the NCC have dramatically varied from the people’s voice as enshrined in the Mung’omba draft Constitution and the CRC report.

The NCC has with impunity continued to disregard the people’s wishes as submitted to the Mung’omba CRC and has opted to approve provisions that seek to guarantee the continued grip of Government on power. The deliberations in the Conference points to the fact that the process is highly controlled by politicians as only those decisions important to them are favoured and not those favouring the ordinary Zambian people. Amendment to Part Three of the Constitution (Bill of Rights) requires the country to hold a referendum and yet there is no budgetary provision for the holding of the referendum in the 2010 National Budget. Further, the socio-economic, cultural and political rights which are cardinal to the development of our nation have not been tackled to date and the chances of them being considered for inclusion in Part Three of the Constitution remains remote going by the conduct of NCC delegates. There currently exists a lack of both the political will and patriotism on the part of the Government and NCC delegates respectively to deliver to the Zambian people a constitution that reflects the desires and aspirations of the general citizenry.

The NCC has become another scheme to plunder national resources, which could have gone towards improving the lives of the citizens. The recent proposal by the Vice President Mr George Kunda for the payment of K5 billion to Ministers and Lusaka based Parliamentarians as facilitation allowances, cannot go without condemnation. This huge expenditure is not only unacceptable, but unjustifiable especially in the face of many Zambians wallowing in abject poverty. The exorbitant expense goes against the arguments for the establishment of the NCC by Government as the cheaper way of adopting the Country’s Constitution. This in itself means that the people’s driven Constitution would not be in place whether before or any time soon after 2011 tripartite elections.

We, therefore, call upon all the NCC delegates to acquit themselves and represent well the Zambian people who they have been purporting to represent. 

ELECTORAL SYSTEM

As the 2011 tripartite elections are fast approaching and the various political parties are preparing to launch their pre-2011 election campaigns, it is prudent that the same are held in a free, fair and transparent manner. It is, therefore, the duty of all patriotic Zambians to conduct themselves in a manner that ensures that the campaigns and elections are held under a fair and violence free environment. However, the Country is now experiencing a time of severe moral degradation as can be seen from the unpalatable language that our politicians are using against each other. Insults, name calling and character assassination has become the norm of the day as the Country draws towards the polls. The language being used not only is unacceptable but also a bad precedent for our children. The Council of Churches in Zambia condemns any acts by any person or institution that undermines the holding of elections in a free and peaceful atmosphere.

We pray that all political parties and other stakeholders in the electoral process will conduct themselves in strict observance of the electoral code of conduct. This entails that all stakeholders uphold peace, respect for human rights and  the  dignity  and
sanctity of life, abstain from electoral malpractice so as to avoid the potential of negating the integrity and legitimacy of the election results. The observance of the electoral code of conduct is not only a responsibility of politicians, but of all peace loving Zambians.

Further, whereas we call upon members to turn up in large numbers to register as Voters in the voter registration exercise which starts in June 2010, we beseech all political parties to avoid politicising the exercise.

We call upon the Zambia Police Service and other law enforcement agencies to exhibit traits of impartiality in the execution of their duties during this period up to the polls. The law should be applied to the letter and not selectively so as to protect the fundamental rights of all citizens regardless of their political affiliations and/or views. We also call upon the media to be ethical and offer a balanced reporting of the events leading to the polls so as to accord every Zambian the right to information.

CORRUPTION

It is appreciable that Government has in the last ten years championed a message of zero tolerance to corruption. However, corruption remains rampant especially in Government institutions where colossal sums of money continue to be pocketed by a few individuals. This act not only deprives the country of the much needed revenue but has also resulted in reduced service provision and deteriorating living conditions for the majority of Zambians especially those living in densely populated and rural areas. Corruption is the greatest enemy to the country’s development.  Government needs to scale up their corruption prevention programmes.

POVERTY

Zambia has continued to experience deteriorating and alarming poverty levels despite it recording significant economic improvements such as the attainment of the single digit inflation rate and the average 6% economic growth in the past three years. The Majority of  Zambians  continue  to live below the
poverty datum line coupled with extremely high unemployment rate. This is as a result of unequal distribution of resources from the purported economic gains, misplaced priorities, wastefulness, greed and corruption on the part of those in authority and the continued development of policies that favour the investors and outsiders at the expense of the ordinary citizens.

Poverty is not only a demeaning state of humanity, but also undermines the citizen’s capacity to participate in the country’s agenda. Poverty deprives the people of the God given ability of free will as their bargaining power is weakened. Poverty has been a recipe for corruption, increased crime rates and accounts for the majority of electoral malpractices during elections where people exchange their right to choose for money and other material things.

Government has a primary duty to improve the lives of its Citizens and we thus call upon Government to put in place measures that ensure that the country not only records noticeable economic growth, but that the same gains go down to the ordinary citizens. This entails Government sets its development agenda to be pro poor. Positive economic growth is meaningless if the lives of the majority of the citizenry are not positively affected.

JUDICIAL SYSTEM

“Justice delayed is justice denied,” so goes the old adage. The performance of the judicial system in Zambia leaves much to be desired. Accused persons spend unrealistically longer periods in detention awaiting trial. The time taken to conclude on cases before the courts of law cannot go without a comment. This does not only amount to injustice but also to an infringement of one’s right to freedom and fair trial. We therefore call upon the government to comprehensively review the Country’s judicial system so as to enable for the speedy delivery of a fair trial for all.

It has been noticed that the rich, the powerful and famous appear to be above the law and go scot-free while the poor languish in prisons.

2. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL ISSUES

LAND

Land ownership is the best inheritance any Government can offer to its citizens. Land alienation in Zambia is marred by corruption and favours the elite and foreigners. Government policies have in the past disadvantaged indigenous Zambians in land ownership as most times Zambians have had to be forcibly removed from land they have occupied for years just to accommodate foreign investors leaving one to wonder who the Government is serving. Is it its citizens or the foreigners in the name of investors? Zambians have continued to be made “refugees” in their own country as politicians push their quest to maintain their grip on power. Large chunks of land continue to be offered to a few when the majority of Zambians cannot even afford to secure a small piece to build shelter. We condemn without reservation this discriminatory tendency in the administration of land in Zambia and call upon government to restore the dignity of the Zambian citizenry.

We further condemn all persons masquerading as party cadres who are involved in illegal land allocation and implore upon the enforcement agencies to allow the law to take its course on all perpetrators of illegality in land management in Zambia.

EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRY

We hereby proclaim and affirm our prophetic voice according to the Word of God in the Holy Scriptures that “the earth is the Lords and all its fullness” (Psalm 24:1). With this Scriptural truth, we are persuaded that the wealth under the Zambian soil is given by God through His grand design to benefit all the Zambian people. CCZ believes that a critical mass is necessary to achieve the strategic objectives of enhancing policies that will help in realising real benefits for the Zambian people. 

Zambians must work together in advocating for “Publish What You Pay” campaign which is focused on the extractive industries and calls on mining investors to be transparent with their colossal earnings which in many         cases have been tax free.  It is also imperative that the mines deposit all their generated income with the Bank of Zambia for proper accountability to all parties. 

CCZ is concerned about the poor corporate social responsibility of the mines as there are no serious investments in social support i.e., roads, health, and education. Furthermore, CCZ is concerned about the deplorable working conditions for the indigenous employees, hazardous environmental degradation causing health problems for the people, indiscriminate displacement of people without consultation whereby they lose their farming land and are permanently disoriented, poor environmental assessment strategies and policies by the government and many other evils.

We urge our government to ensure that mining contracts are not clouded in secrecy but ensure wider participation of all stakeholders in decision making. CCZ calls upon Government to review the mining policies in order to balance the benefits between the investors and the people of Zambia.  Currently policies favour foreign investors more than they benefit the local people.

3. THE ZAMBIA WE WANT

The Zambia we want is:

That is a Zambia we demand from our politicians to provide for us and our children.

We call upon all peace loving Zambians to rise up and demand  that    Governments  deliver  to   us   all,
the Zambia we want. One that is free from all forms of intimidation, discrimination and persecution.

Let us revive the spirit of “One Zambia One Nation.” The Church strongly rejects tribalism, political violence and all forms of degrading tendencies. Let us all embrace peace, unity, tolerance, reconciliation, humanness, integrity, impartiality, justice and selfless service to the nation Zambia as our indispensable pillars of a just society.

“Seeking justice for all”

Signed for and on behalf of CCZ Church leaders
16th February 2010
Lusaka, Zambia

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• Bulletin 83 Main Page