The “How” of a Referendum in Zambia, by Simon Kalolo Kabanda, 28/10/2018 (1)
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Technical committee spokesperson Simon Kalolo Kabanda
THE “HOW” OF A REFERENDUM IN ZAMBIA
Simon Kalolo Kabanda
28 October 2018
1.0. Introduction
1.1. The “How” of a Referendum in Zambia looks at factors that may
hinder the success of a Referendum to amend the Bill of Rights,
and proposes strategies that should lead to having a successful
National Referendum in Zambia.
1.2. One impediment to holding the National Referendum to amend
the Bill of Rights is the cost. In order to address this impediment,
and pave way for a successful Referendum, the following should
be considered:
– That the Referendum should take place during the 2021
presidential and general elections;
– That preparations for the referendum should commence in
January 2019, taking a time-frame of eighteen (18) months;
– That a Referendum Preparations Committee (RPC) be
constituted to this effect.
1.3. The above proposals are critical ingredients to having a successful
Referendum to amend the Bill of Rights.
1.4. The Presidential Assent to the 2016 Constitution Amendment Act,
on 5 January 2016, left out of the equation of constitution making,
an important Part of the Constitution. That Part was the Bill of
Rights.
The “How” of a Referendum in Zambia, by Simon Kalolo Kabanda, 28/10/2018 2
2.0. Referendum During 2021 Elections
2.1. Amending the Bill of Rights to include the economic, social,
cultural and other rights, is an outstanding issue in Zambia. As a
result, the constitution making process, as envisaged from the
product of the Technical Committee on Drafting the Zambian
Constitution (TCDZC), has not been concluded.
2.2. During the 2016 presidential and general elections, there was an
attempt to hold a Referendum to amend the Bill of Rights.
However, that referendum was not successful. It failed not because
of timing it together with the presidential and general elections. It
was due to other factors.
2.3. Factors that contributed to an unsuccessful Referendum during
the 2016 presidential and general elections included, among
others, the following:
– inadequate preparations;
– lack of stakeholder participation in the preparations;
– campaigns against the Referendum.
2.4. If all the factors that led to the failure of the Referendum during
the 2016 general elections are addressed and redressed, we are
bound to have a very successful referendum during the 2021
general elections.
2.5. A question is: How do we address the issue of possible campaigns
against the Referendum, to avoid a repeat of the 2016
Referendum experience?
The “How” of a Referendum in Zambia, by Simon Kalolo Kabanda, 28/10/2018 3
2.5.1. The modus of constituting the Referendum Preparations
Committee (RPC) would be one answer to those who may begin
to campaign against the Referendum saying the formation of
“another committee” is a waste of resources. Therefore, the RPC
should comprise people who are already on government
payroll. To this effect three Permanent Secretaries should form
the RPC, with the Ministry of Justice PS as the Chairperson.
2.6. Another question is: how do we address the issue of campaigns
for a NO Vote, so that the electorate overwhelmingly vote YES?
2.6.1. Adequate preparation of the people is cardinal in this regard.
There could be some sections of society who may begin to
campaign for a NO Vote on the basis of not agreeing with one
issue in the text of the Referendum Question. For example, the
Pro-Choice Movement does not agree with the provision that
“life begins at conception”. Another large section of society does
not agree with the Death Penalty. There is also another large
section of society that does not want to entrench in the Bill of
Rights the provision of Ministers being appointed from amongst
Members of Parliament. There is therefore need for vigorous
engagement of such sections of society, to convince them using
the principle of “the lesser evil”. This point alone underscores
the importance of the RPC being constituted by the beginning
of 2019 to ensure adequate preparations.
3.0. Significance of Referendum Preparations Committee
3.1. A Referendum Preparations Committee (RPC) is one critical
ingredient to ensuring that the 2021 Referendum to amend the
Bill of Rights is successful.
The “How” of a Referendum in Zambia, by Simon Kalolo Kabanda, 28/10/2018 4
3.2. The RPC will be responsible for drawing up a Roadmap of
“everything” required to prepare for the Referendum, including
preparation of the electorate and various stakeholders.
3.3. In order to ensure the success of the Referendum to amend the
Bill of Rights, “all” stakeholders will have to be involved in the
preparations. The RPC will have to work out mechanisms of
stakeholder involvement in the preparations.
3.4. Stakeholders involvement will have to include, among other
strategies, the following:
3.4.1. Political parties should actively be involved in preparing their
members for the National Referendum. The RPC will have to
work with the Zambia Centre for Inter-party Dialogue (ZCID), so
that the ZCID coordinates a process of political parties coming
up with sensitization programmes for their members;
3.4.2. Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) and Community
Based Organizations (CSOs) should mainstream the issue of the
National Referendum in their plans and activities. And in their
budgets they should include a percentage that should go
towards preparing people for the Referendum. The RPC will have
to take a double-thronged approach to achieve this:
3.4.2.1. Hold meetings with NGOs and CSOs to impress on them the
significance of mainstreaming the issue of the Referendum in
their plans and activities;
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3.4.2.2. Engage the donor community and lobby that a percentage of
their funding to organizations goes towards preparations for a
Referendum.
4.0. Referenda at General Elections
4.1. The rationale behind holding the Referendum at election time is
not only addressing the cost implications, but other
considerations as well.
4.2. Both the Mwanakatwe Constitution Review Commission (CRC) of
1993-1995, and the Mung’omba CRC (2003-2005) had
recommended holding a Referendum before coming up with a
new Constitution. However, cost implications were one of the
reasons why the recommended Referenda were not held.
4.3. Holding the Referendum to amend the Bill of Rights during the
2021 presidential and general elections is not going to be the only
and last Referendum the country is going to have, and may not be
a guarantee that we are going to have a “perfect” Constitution.
There could be other issues that would require to hold various
Referenda in future, and the issue of cost will always come up as
an impediment to holding any referendum. There is therefore
need to adopt a cost-effective way of addressing the issue of
holding any referendum.
4.4. The country should adopt a practice whereby during every
presidential and general election, there is a referendum question
to fine-tune the Constitution. If we adopt such a practice, then 20
to 30 years from now Zambia is going to have a “relatively prefect”
Constitution.
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4.5. Adopting the practice of holding a Referendum during the
presidential and general elections will also help to assure those
who may want to campaign for a “NO Vote” in 2021 that the issue
they do not agree with in the text of the referendum question
would have an opportunity to be considered later, and addressed
in the next Referendum to be held at general election time.
5.0. CONCLUSION
5.1. It is important that Government prompts soon the process of
holding the Referendum during the 2021 presidential and general
elections. An announcement to this effect is required.
5.2. It is also important that the preparations of the people for the
Referendum to take place at the time of the 2021 presidential and
general elections are completed long before the campaigns for
the 2021 elections begin.
Simon Kalolo Kabanda is a Zambian Expert in Constitution Making and was a
Member of the Technical Committee on Drafting the Zambian Constitution (2011-2013)
