The Roadmap on constitution released by HH was stolen from Justice – PF govt

The Patriotic Front government nows opposition United Party for National Development Hakainde Hichilema’s Roadmap for enacting the new constitution he released this morning was stolen from Ministry of Justice.

One wonders why the PF could not release the Roadmap when there has been demands by Zambians for government to come up with a clear Roadmap on how the new constitution will be adopted.

Chief Government Spokesperson Joseph Katema in a statement below released this evening says an official from Ministry of Justice stole the document and leaked it to UPND.

Lusaka, 12th January 2015

Members of the media, I want to inform you that a serious criminal act has been committed at the Ministry of Justice where some misguided persons have illegally released a classified document to the opposition UPND.

This crime requires an immediate thorough probe by the police and subsequent court action. You may recall that when Hon. Edgar Lungu was appointed Minister of Justice, he presented the draft constitution to Parliament in the first two months of assuming office.

This act of good faith and commitment was done in order to allow Members of Parliament to go through the document and make recommendations in consultation with their constituents.

This was after a consultative meeting with civil society members. In addition, hon. Lungu constituted a technical team to advice on how to move the process forward in order to fulfill the wishes of Zambians that have been calling for a new people driven constitution.

I regret to inform you that this document that was to chart a progressive way forward has been stolen and subsequently released to the public even when it is a bona-fide government document that would normally require clearance before being released to the public.

The government takes this crime very seriously and we would like the police to vigorously probe the matter and take the perpetrators to court.

We want to run a government of laws and not wanton disorder that has the potential of throwing the nation into chaos.

Let me remind you that the PF Government is the only party capable of passing the constitution in Parliament for clauses that do not require a referendum because we have the numbers: 81 MPs plus the support of 26 other opposition legislators.

The UPND which is encouraging illegal acts at the Ministry of Justice cannot pass any law because it has only 27 MPs. The UPND cannot even form the bare minimum quorum of 53 required for Parliamentary business to take place.

Government finds the behaviour of UPND unprofessional by taking credit for the work done by the Ministry of Justice Legal. As a government we work on the basis of integrity and such desperate actions raises serious question of lack integrity on the party of the UPND. No wonder they are far away from a position where they can be trusted with the responsibility to run government.

Hon. Joseph Katema (Dr)
Chief Government Spokesperson