Zambian Voice Executive Director Chilufya Tayali has advised the PF Government to stop hiding the illness of President Michael Sata. Mr Tayali said it is clear that President Sata is not enjoying the best of health adding that Government should come out clean and state the fact that he is unwell. He said Government is not being fair by denying information on the health of the Head of State especially that he has not been seen in public for close to a month. Mr Tayali was speaking in Lusaka Sunday afternoon when he addressed a news conference at Lusaka Hotel. “Ladies and Gentlemen, we are now getting to a month without seeing our beloved President whom we overwhelmingly voted for. For some time this year our President has been seldom in the public and the last time we saw him, he did not look healthy in spite of his age. President Sata is a very familiar man to most Zambians because he has been interacting with everybody and this is why he won the hearts of people to be voted as our 5th President. Therefore, it is easy to notice that this man is not the same,” Mr Tayali said. He added, “The recent strange character of the President, of not being among people, physical ineptness and the recent disappearance clearly shows that our President is not fine. Our president cannot stay away from his people deliberately without an explanation. Our President must definitely be sick and government is hiding this fact.” Mr Tayali has since condemned the manner in which Government has handled the issue of the health of President Sata. “To intimidate citizens, one minister warned of criminalizing the discussion of the health of the President, which is so lame of him. President Sata is our public property and he signed for it when he asked the Zambian people to vote for him. The president is also very much aware of this fact, since he even came out and announced that we are free to discuss his health,” he said. He continued, “This is exactly what we should do, we should ask why he went to hospital in Israel, why he has lost so much weight, why he is not seen in public. And the best that Government should do is to give us answers not intimidating us. Our asking is not out of malice or politicking, but a genuine concern for our President. On the issue of the constitution, Mr Tayali said the Zambian Voice is demanding for the immediate release of the draft constitution and the enactment of a new constitution before 2016 Elections. Ladies and Gentlemen, we are now getting to a month without seeing our beloved President whom we overwhelmingly voted for. For some time this year our President has been seldom in the public and the last time we saw him, he did not look healthy in spite of his age. “The Patriotic Front campaigned on the premise of delivering of a new constitution. They promised all the Zambian people a new constitution driven by the people other than what MMD was offering, National Constitution Conference (NCC). In persuading Zambians to vote for them, they even put a time frame of 90 days. Today as we speak it has been 1,022 days or 2 years, 9 months, and 19 days without a New Constitution. The PF government has not changed the priorities putting the Constitution issue on the shelves to gather dust,” he said. “While we appreciate the development Infrastructure, Education, Health and Agriculture embarked on by the PF, we want to prioritize the Constitution so that no politician will hold us to ransom for what we deserve as citizens. Zambians are not at the mercy of any politician to relay on their goodwill. We would also like to warn the PF that they should not take advantage of the ignorance of the poor people especially those in rural areas to advance their ulterior motives not to deliver the people driven Constitution.” He said, “The PF officials claim that people prefer food, fertilizer, roads, medicines, education and other social services to a New Constitution. This is crookedness on the part of the PF, hoodwinking our simple people with social amenities as if they are doing them a favour so that they can forget about their rights. PF has a responsibility to deliver development as well as the Constitution without cheating citizens that they cannot have both.” On the parentage clause in the constitution, Mr Tayali revealed that the Zambian Voice will go to court this week to seek judicial review over the parentage clause. “We know that some few PF government officials do not want give us a Constitution because they want to use it to disadvantage some citizens in a political race. Laws like the Public Order Act, publication of false news, the parental clause in Presidential candidature qualification, have become the favorites for the mediocre PF government officials. “ “Zambian Voice has therefore decided to fight all bad laws which are in conflict with the freedoms of citizens and democratic tenets. This week we will seek a judicial review with an objective of scraping off the constitutional provisions of the controversial parentage amendments of 1996 article 34(3)b which stipulates that both parents should be Zambians by birth or descent qualify to contest for Presidency,” he said. He added, “This parental clause should be scraped off in our Constitution following the ruling that was made in the case of Akashambatwa Mbikusita and others Vs FTJ Chiluba, so that no one can refer to it in discriminating others.” LT REPORTS
Posted on: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 06:24:49 +0000
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