THE clause adopted by the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) requiring a presidential candidate to have a degree was aimed at coming up with a quality president and was not targetted at anyone, Chief Government Spokesperson Ronnie Shikapwasha has said.
Lieutenant General Shikapwasha said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday the article was not aimed at barring any individual but to come up with a quality president and that the NCC had a cross-section of people who debated the motion that was unanimously adopted.
Gen Shikapwasha who is Information and Broadcasting Services minister was reacting to Patriotic Front (PF) spokesperson Given Lubinda who said the adoption of the clause was targeted at party president Michael Sata.
He dismissed the allegations saying that was not possible as the NCC had representation from a cross section of the Zambian society including some PF Members of Parliament (MPs).
He said even MPs from the PF partner party United Party for National Development (UPND) participated in the adoption and that only two or three of them feebly debated against the article.
Gen Shikapwasha said there was no such thing as formulating a law aimed at any individual because the clause was almost universally adopted by the House, which has people from different backgrounds.
But Mr Lubinda said in a separate interview in Lusaka that the party was happy that the clause on the candidate was adopted saying the PF had been vindicated when it said that there would be nothing sensible from the conference.
Mr Lubinda said the clause was intended to bar Mr Sata from assuming the presidency.
“In 2008 we said the MMD would not deliver a Constitution. They have shown us that they have fear for one man and the target of that law is president Sata,” Mr Lubinda said.
PF president Michael Sata, however, declined to comment saying he should have been contacted when the NCC made the resolution.
But Mr Lubinda said the MMD has been orchestrating such manoeuvres to stop people that were a threat to their continued stay in power.
Mr Lubinda said in 1996, the Constitution was framed in such a way that it barred Dr Kaunda from contesting the presidency and similarly the degree qualification was meant to block Mr Sata but he was still confident that the ploy would fail.
“It is the MMD that is bound to suffer the consequences because with or without this law we are going to form government. You should have contacted me yesterday (Wednesday) but this is an after thought,” he said.
And the National Democratic Party (NDP) said the requirement of a degree for an aspiring presidential candidate was targeted at certain individuals and as such should be rejected.
In an interview in Lusaka yesterday, NDP president Tenthani Mwanzah said it was regrettable that in all the constitutional review processes, there had been articles targeted at certain individuals.
But featuring on Zambezi FM in Livingstone Mr Sata vowed that no piece of paper signed by a human being would bar him from achieving his political aspiration.
Mr Sata said the approved clause was discriminatory.
“No piece of paper signed by a human being will stop me from my political aspiration,” he said.
Mr Sata said the clause was taking Zambia backwards to the days when the country was colonised by the British.
Mr Sata said the clause was as good as the rules during colonialism which stated that if one had to be a leader, he or she should possess standard four qualifications or have a pay slip with the net pay of 15 pounds.
He said even if the NCC had approved the clause, few delegates including Members of Parliament were university graduates.
He said Zambia’s education system had lagged behind and had few universities resulting in few people having university degrees.
Asked by the presenter as to who would be the presidential candidate for the PF-UPND pact, Mr Sata said the pact was not preoccupied with who would be the presidential candidate but focused on talking for the voiceless.