The Civil Society for Poverty Reduction CSPR has expressed shock at government’s statement that adopting a constitution through a referendum will be a costly exercise.
CSPR Provincial Coordinator, Maxson Nkhoma says that Zambians have already agreed that the draft constitution should be adopted through a national referendum.
Mr. Nkhoma also says that this was the position of government at the time when they were setting up the technical committee to draft the constitution.
He says that government must understand that the constitution making process is costly in nature and as such adequate resources must be put aside for the referendum.
Mr. Nkhoma says that government should not use the cost associated to holding a referendum as a scape goat to further delay the constitution making process.
He has also reminded government that over 150 billion Kwacha has already been spent on this process, while 65 per cent of the work on the constitution review process has also been done.
Vice-President Guy Scott on Friday told parliament that a referendum is a very costly and difficult undertaking to carry out.