An evaluation of the constitution making process in Zambia and the legitimate sources of a constitution
Date
2013-06-13
Authors
Banda, Tenthani Isreal
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Abstract
The constitution making process in Zambia is currently at crossroads with the government and the people through the civil society not agreeing on the constitutional roadmap. The government appointed Commission of Inquiry (Mung'omba Constitution Review Commission), drawing strength from the submissions of the citizens, recommended adoption of the Constitution through a Constituent Assembly, a recommendation that the government is not in support of.
This comes against a background of sitting governments not adopting recommendations made by the people in the previous Constitution making processes. The Paper will attempt to review and evaluate the history of Constitution making in Zambia and contrast with the Constitution making processes in the region and internationally and attempt to answer the following research questions;
(a) How can Zambia put to rest frequent constitution changes and make
successive governments respect existing Constitutions?
(b) What are the sources of constitutional legitimacy and have Zambian
constitutions achieved this criterion?
(b) Are there any lessons that can be drawn from other countries on
constitution making, which seeks to achieve legitimacy?
The proposed study will aim at discovering the fundamental reasons why constitutions in Zambia have not stood the test of time. It cannot just be human nature not to respect existing constitutions but there has to be some underlying reasons to every action that man takes.
A key issue will be to investigate the source of constitutional legitimacy and using the theoretical understanding, apply the tests on the various Constitutions, Zambia has had. The hypothesis to determine is whether Zambian Constitutions have in fact been legitimate or not. Furthermore an attempt will be made to determine whether the Constitution of Zambia has the following characteristics of being a Constitution: Inclusive of everyone, participative by everyone, beneficial to everyone.
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Keywords
Zambia. Constitutional Convention , Constitutional history--Zambia