Civil society groups ask govt to provide clear roadmap on electoral, constitution reforms

A Consortium of Civil Society Organizations has urged government to provide a clear roadmap and expedite the process of reforming the Constitution and electoral laws.

Christian Churches Monitoring Group Steering Committee Chairperson, Bishop Andrew Mwenda, said the CSOs were concerned with the inertia on the part of government in embarking on a review of the constitution.

Addressing a media briefing in Lusaka on Friday in Lusaka on before of the CSOs, Mwenda said government should urgently engage stakeholders to develop a roadmap and build consensus on the reform approach.

“There has been little to no engagement with stakeholders to plan around constitutional and electoral reform, and particularly in the case of electoral reform and in most cases the Ministry of Justice has not been clear on which institution should initiate the reforms,” he said.

Mwenda said the CSO’s recognised that the 8th National Development Plan comprehensively reiterates that constitutional reform will be undertaken to enhance good governance and strengthen the protection of human rights, which are critical to the wellbeing of citizens and that subsidiary laws will be aligned to the Constitution.

“We also note that the National Development Plan envisages 2024 and 2025 as the time for electoral and constitutional reforms respectively; however, we are of the view that the government must begin engaging stakeholders now in a meaningful and transparent manner, and take advantage of the 2024 budgeting process to provide for these reforms in the 2024 budget,” he said.

Mwenda said by doing so, the government will be demonstrating commitment to the reform agenda and not rhetoric as has previously been the case.

The CSOs are Action Aid Zambia (AAZ), Alliance for Community Action (ACA), Bloggers of Zambia, Centre for Young Leaders in Africa Zambia (CYLAZ), Chapter One Foundation (COF), Christian Churches Monitoring Group (CCMG), Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP) and Governance, Elections Advocacy and Research Services Initiatives Zambia (GEARS).

Others are the Media Institute for Southern Africa-Zambia Chapter, Operation Young Vote, Transparency International-Zambia (TI-Z), Zambia Centre for Interparty Dialogue (ZCID), Zambia Federation for Disability Organizations, and Zambia National Women’s Lobby.

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