HOUSE of Chiefs Chairperson senior chief Kaputa says members of parliament should debate the Constitution Amendment Bill Number 10 of 2019 to measure if the proposed piece of legislation is good or bad.

In an interview, Chief Kaputa said there was no need to stay away from debating the controversial Bill in Parliament.

“It is a good thing for people to discuss issues of governance. You don’t leave them in suspense. You debate, you point out the positive and negative things about the amendments. People have different opinions based on the environment where they are coming from. I would encourage everybody who is part of that process to debate the amendments. Instead of just saying, ‘it is not good’ what is not good? Is it all the proposals or maybe the majority of them? We want to hear the debates because the reason we elected our members of parliament is to be able to go and debate as lawmakers. You don’t stay away from debates. For me, it is a sign of maturity for people to debate,” argued chief Kaputa.

“If there are those who say, ‘they don’t want to talk about it,’ I don’t know what reasons they have. They should tell us the reason why they don’t want to debate because debating does not mean you have passed the amendments. I really support the way the government came out to publish the Bill so that people are able to read and understand what is at stake. The only problem I know is that Zambians are not very good at reading. People should be able to read. Walking away is a Parliament is a right, but debating is cardinal for an MP, who has been elected to go into Parliament. Before you come to the point of saying, ‘it is good, it is bad’ you must debate convincingly. You cannot say, ‘it is good’ or ‘it is bad’ before the Bill has been debated.”