Provincial Convention rejects Dual Citizenship

Delegates to the Northern Province Provincial Convention currently sitting in Kasama  have rejected the dual citizenship article as drafted in the draft constitution.

And most Members of Parliament attending the conference have vehemently opposed the Proportional representation kind of electoral system as advanced in the draft constitution.

The delegates yesterday unanimously resolved to reject the article saying that dual citizenship was not ideal for the country at the moment.

Some delegates argued that Zambians needed to be patriotic, adding that the article was also detrimental because it will leave room for qualified professional like doctors who were trained at a great expense to leave the country and be citizens of other nations.

They said many countries of the world had developed because its citizens were patriotic and loyal to their country.

Meanwhile several freedom fighters have called for their recognition in the preamble of the first draft constitution.

The freedom fighters attending the conference lamented that many of their colleagues who participated in the fight for freedom during the colonial days had died in the past without being honored or recognized in any way.

They lamented that many of them suffered a lot and lost property and loved ones just so that the country could enjoy the freedoms that was being enjoyed today.

They said had it not been for their patriotism and sacrifice, Zambia could not have gotten the independence it had today.

And most Members of Parliament attending the conference have vehemently opposed the Proportional representation kind of electoral system as advanced in the draft constitution.

The MPs in the province said the system was not ideal to the Zambian situation currently because it was not conducive and was a very difficult clause to understand by a layman.

However other delegates argued that the system was fair and representative because it will allow all the political parties to have fair play in Parliament.

The clause was later subjected to a vote and delegates voted to reject it from the draft in its current form.

Among the other contentious articles that had been debated so far is the death penalty which the Northern Province delegates have resolved that it be upheld.

The Provincial conference has attracted about 200 delegates among them local chiefs, members of Parliament, representatives of political parties and other NGOs from all the nine districts in Northern Province.

The delegates have a task to deliberate and resolve on all the 320 articles that had been enshrined in the new draft constitution.