ZCID, Church urged to hurry presidential summit

The Zambia Center for Interparty Dialogue (ZCID) and the Church have been called upon to quickly resolve issues surrounding the holding of the presidential summit.

Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) governance advisor Isaac Mwanza says his organization is worried that the holding of the summit among political party leaders is being delayed unnecessarily.

Isaac Mwanza

Mr. Mwansa says it is important that both the Church and the ZCID hasten in deciding how each of one of them will share roles in facilitating and chairing the summit.

In an interview with QTV News Mr. Mwanza says delaying the presidential summit any further will also delay the refinement process of the Republican Constitution.

Mr. Mwanza states that the expectation of YALI is that the presidential summit can be held either before the end of July or the first week of August.

He says his organization is also of the view that if this dialogue is not going to take, government must ensure that the refinement process of the Republican Constitution goes ahead regardless.

Mr. Mwanza says Members of Parliament have a responsibility to ensure that all provisions in the Constitution that have caused controversy after the 2016 amendments are cleaned up before 2021.

He says it will be unwise for Zambia, for example, to go into the 2021 general elections with the 14 days constitutional requirement for a presidential petition as it did in 2016.