Tue, 04 Jul 2017 11:12:54 +0000
By AARON CHIYANZO
DEMOCRACY is expensive therefore Government should find money to take the bill of rights to a referendum and this time ensure that people are well informed, says Forum for Democracy and Development secretary general Nathan Mulonga.
And the FDD secretary general charged that the people in Government now would be protected by the bill of rights when they leave office.
He reiterated that there was a trend in Zambia to victimize people who previous held office once there was a new Government.
Mr Mulonga said that Zambia should hold a referendum to enhance the bill of rights at all costs because people’s rights were being abused.
He claimed that Government had completely neglected the fight to enhance the bill of rights on the pretext that holding a referendum was an expensive undertaking. Mr Mulonga charged in an interview with the Daily Nation that it was not a valid excuse for Government to allege that there was no money for a referendum knowing very well that democracy was expensive.
“People are still subsisting on old bills of rights, so I’m getting worried because this is how people’s rights are being abused. Let us deal with this issue of bill of rights, we cannot be claiming that it is too expensive, of course democracy is expensive” he said.
The FDD chief lamented that the rights of people under the proposed amendments of the bill of rights should have created a justiciable process dealing with issues that affected people.
Mr Mulonga pointed out that people were being arrested unnecessarily and being subjected to ill treatments because their rights were not well protected.
Mr Mulonga advised Government to start the process of explaining to people what was contained in the bill of rights as they explored avenues to raise money to hold a referendum. He charged that the fight to enhance the bill of rights should take precedence above anything else in the country.
