I'd like to ask every Zambian not to be duped by recent remarks attributed to the NCC spokesperson, Mwangala Zaloumis that commissioners at the NCC are keen on completing the constitution-making process before 2011 (Daily Mail, November 24, 2009).

My view is that these people are merely buying time. We won't have a new constitution until public pressure is mounted on the government. What have they been doing since 2002? It doesn't make sense to spend nearly a decade pretending to draft a "new constitution" given the data available.

The American Constitution, for example, which I believe to be one of the best pieces of legislation with less than thirty amendments since the late 18th century, did not take more than four hundred commissioners and years to complete. It took only a couple of months and a few dedicated delegates to craft the constitution that has really stood the test of time - and without lofty allowances and many extensions.

Yet as the commissioners wallow in luxurious allowances and deplete our national treasury, let me remind them that a day that passes denies Zambians of a good constitution which guarantees them social, economic, cultural and politcal rights.
Every day they make an extension is justice denied to widows, orphans, our women and those suffering in our prisons.

Every day the commissioners laugh and open their mouths to feast on taxpayers’ food, Zambians are deeply yearning for a new electoral Act and a just constitutional court so that in a case of a disputed election, the incumbent who steals votes shall not be sworn in. As a published writer, myself, I am longing for the time when my freedoms shall be protected and I shall not be harrassed nor persecuted by the repressive arms of this regime.

I, therefore, request the spokesperson to furnish me with the roadmap? When exactly are we to read the compeleted draft constitution, and when shall the public discuss contentious issues in the document?

The constitution-making process in itself is a good, serious thing, yet the MMD government under Levy Mwanawasa and Rupiah Banda has let the people of Zambia down. Their greed, arrogance and short-sightedness have cost the country dearly in terms of the finances spent on this exercise, time and an opportunity to use a good, workable legal framework to develop our country.