Eastern Province Minister, Malozo Sichone has cautioned civil society organisations against misleading easterners on the draft constitution.
Mr. Sichone told Breeze News that he is aware that some civil society organisations including those operating in Eastern Province have been paid by some donors to cause confusion over the draft constitution.
He says that government will not be pushed into enacting a new constitution because Zambia does not have a constitutional crisis.
Mr. Sichone explained that government needs to be careful in the way it handles the draft constitution especially that traditional leaders were already raising concerns over some of the clauses in the draft document.
Meanwhile Civil Society for Poverty Reduction CSPR Provincial Coordinator, Maxson Nkhoma has described the statement as malicious and baseless.
Mr Nkhoma charged that Mr Sichone is a product of the civil society movement and was supposed to be the last person to issue what he described as misguided statement to Zambians regarding the role of CSOs in the constitution making process.
He says that it is unfortunate that Mr Sichone has decided to abandon the same cause he previously stood for in the civil society movement, before joining government.