Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa is offering to hold talks with civic groups and founding president Kenneth Kaunda on their demands for a new Constitution to be adopted before next year’s elections, state radio reported on Monday.
Mwanawasa, who has long held that Zambia cannot afford to fund a constitutional conference and referendum ahead of next year’s presidential and parliamentary polls, made the offer at a rally held on Sunday outside Lusaka, the report said.
”I have invited NGOs to state house to dialogue. I will invite Kaunda so that he can express his counsel on how he thinks the Constitution can be put in place before 2006,” Mwanawasa was quoted as saying by state radio.
A meeting tentatively set for next week will also be attended by members of the Constitution Coalition, which has been organising nationwide demonstrations to press for a new Constitution.
Their campaign for a new Constitution that would reduce the powers of the presidency, among other changes, is backed by Kaunda, who was Zambia’s first president after independence 40 years ago.
While Mwanawasa offered to hold dialogue with his critics, he issued a stern warning to Kaunda to stop commenting on the constitutional debate.
”I want the old man to enjoy his pension in peace but not to provoke me. If he continues attacking me I will respond and he will feel the pinch,” Mwanawasa said. — Sapa-AFP