THE EXECUTIVE

3.1 The Presidency - Executive /Titular

The commission recommends that:

1. Appointments to constitutional whose independence is guaranteed by The Constitution should be subject to parliamentary scrutiny and ratification, but that ratification should not be unreasonably withheld;

   This is ACCEPTED.

    

2. The President’s power of veto Defence, Security and Foreign affairs should only be exercised with the consent of the Houses of Parliament to ensure that the President does not act arbitrarily.

   This is NOT ACCEPTED. It is contradictory in that it gives powers to the House to exercise veto on the President’s veto.

3. The declaration of a state of emergency should be as at present, subject to parliamentary approval and periodic review;

   This ACCEPTED.

    

4. The President should have the power to dissolve the National assembly if the latter makes it unmanageable for him to govern;

   This is ACCEPTED.

5. Contrary to the view expressed by a few petitioners who submitted on this subject, it is desirable and common practice that a head of state be Commander-in-Chief of the Armed and Security forces in order to enhance stability;

This is ACCEPTED.

3. Terms of Office of the President

The commission recommends that:

1. The President’s term of office be limited to two five-year terms;

   This is ACCEPTED.

    

2. The Presidential term of office be co-terminous with that of the National Assembly.

This is ACCEPTED.

3. Election of the President.

The commission recommends that:

1. Election of the President be by direct popular vote and if any candidate gets an absolute majority (51 percent) he should be declared the winner;

   This is ACCEPTED.

    

2. If no candidate gets such a majority then, after a second poll, the issue should be referred to a joint session of the two Houses of Parliament where the candidate who receives the greatest number of votes is elected. In the event of a tie, such a tie should be resolved by the President of the Chamber of Representatives;

   The principle of referring the matter to Parliament is ACCEPTED. In the event that the tie occurs, the incumbent President shall summon Parliament for purposes of resolving the tie.

    

3. The incumbent President remains in office until the in-coming President is declared elected.

This is ACCEPTED with the addition of ‘and assumed office.’

3.5 Qualifications of a Presidential Candidate.

The commission recommends that:

1. The present qualification of a presidential candidate are by and large satisfactory as no major deficiencies have been revealed and such should be retained;

   This is ACCEPTED.

    

2. The minimum age of a presidential candidate should remain at 35 years without an upper ceiling;

   This is ACCEPTED.

    

3. Each presidential candidate must declare assets and liabilities verified in an appropriate manner and this declaration be made public and available for public inspection before elections;

   This is ACCEPTED.

    

4. A presidential candidate should be a Zambian by birth or by descent;

   This is ACCEPTED.

    

5. A presidential candidate who is a natural born Zambian should be domiciled in Zambia;

   This is ACCEPTED.

    

6. Moral and spiritual suitability or otherwise should not be a criterion for candidature because it is not an easy area for prescription and should be left to the best judgement of the electorate

   This is ACCEPTED.

    

7. As for being a believer in God or a Christian, this requirement is inconsistent with the freedom of choice of an individual and accordingly should not be a pre-requisite to presidential candidacy;

   This is ACCEPTED.

    

8. Since the basic tenet of multi-parry democracy is optional programmes offered by political parties to the electorate, a presidential candidate should be sponsored by a political party;

   This is ACCEPTED.

    

9. The present requirement on education should be retained;

   This is ACCEPTED.

    

10. On minimum national support, a presidential candidate should secure a nominal support of 200 registered voters as is the case at present;

    This is ACCEPTED.

     

11. The suggestion that a presidential candidate should not be blind be rejected as an insignificant view and discriminatory in nature.

This is ACCEPTED.

6. Removal of the President from Office

The commission recommends that:

1. Existing grounds of removal as reflected in the submissions, namely violation of The Constitution, gross misconduct and mental or physical incapacity be retained in the new constitution

   This is ACCEPTED.

    

2. The president should not be removed from office on account of a scandal or criminal conduct in which a member of the family or close relative is involved. Removal on such grounds would not be consistent with, and indeed would be repugnant to, universally accepted principles of criminal liability by which a person stands guilty for his own actus reus (the act) and mens rea (the intention). Criminal liability or otherwise is not transferable;

   This is ACCEPTED.

3. The president can only be removed from office for the criminal conduct or scandal involving a member of the family or close relative if the president personally participated in the misconduct or tacitly approved the same or if the said scandal and misconduct directly compromises the office of President;

   This is ACCEPTED.

    

4. On methods of removal, except for resignation which is self enforcing, the existing impeachment provisions be retained with the deletion of the proviso to Article 41(5) of The Constitution as the proviso tends to frustrate the impeachment procedure, but in circumstances where, despite the president finds it unmanageable to govern because he can not get the required co-operation from the National assembly then, in the interest of good government, both the president and the National assembly must submit themselves to the people and this can only be achieved by giving the president power, for this purpose only, to dissolve the national assembly and call for presidential and parliamentary elections;

   This is ACCEPTED but without the explanation which starts with the words"…but in circumstances…"

    

5. A vote of no confidence cannot be used as a method of removing a president who has been elected by a direct popular vote.

This is ACCEPTED.

7. Protection of the President from Legal Proceedings.

This is ACCEPTED.

8. President’s Advisory Council.

   The commission recommends that:

   The proposal of the Advisory Council be abandoned.

   This is ACCEPTED.

    

9. The office of Vice-President

The commission recommends that:

1. There be established, under the new constitution, the office of Vice-President;

   This is ACCEPTED.

2. The functions of the Vice-President be to:

1. Act as president, when the incumbent is incapacitated or absent from office or has died, in which latter event, he may act as President for a period of not more than six months until elections are held;

    

2. Advise the President.

This is ACCEPTED and the Vice President shall perform such functions as shall be assigned to him by the President.

8. Election or Appointment of the Vice- President

The commission recommends that:

1. The president should appoint the vice president subject to parliamentary ratification;

   This is ACCEPTED.

    

2. The vice president so appointed shall act foe a limited period of six months should the incumbent president die or be incapacitated.

This is ACCEPTED. In the case of incapacitation of the President, the Vice President shall act as President for the duration of the incapacitation in there is medical evidence that that condition is temporary, notwithstanding that the period of incapacitation exceeds 6 months.

8. Office of The Prime Minister.

The commission recommends that:

Consideration should not be given to the establishment of the office of the prime minister.

This is ACCEPTED.

3.12 Cabinet.

The commission recommends that:

1. A cabinet may be appointed from either outside and/ or inside parliament, provided that if such cabinet is appointed from outside parliament, it should be subject to parliamentary seat;

   This is NOT ACCEPTED. The Constitution for the Third Republic shall provide for a cabinet appointed from outside parliament and shall function outside parliament. A member of parliament who is appointed to cabinet has to relinquish his parliamentary seat. The members of cabinet so appointed shall not be subject to parliamentary ratification.

    

2. The size of the cabinet be determined by the president, but should be within the range of between twelve (12) and eighteen (18) members;

   This is ACCEPTED.

    

3. In this latter regard, the president should also have the power to create public offices as need arises subject to parliamentary ratification;

   This is ACCEPTED but without Parliamentary ratification.

4. A cabinet minister should not be subjected to a vote of no confidence by parliament because properly exercised, a vote of no confidence should relate to the government as a whole and not to an individual minister;

   This is ACCEPTED.

    

5. The authority to remove a cabinet minister is the prerogative of the president who is the appointing authority and as such, only the president should have power to remove a cabinet minister;

   This is ACCEPTED.

    

6. The power to appoint cabinet ministers is the prerogative of the president and he alone can decide which persons will serve him better, although relevant qualification or experience may be an added advantage.

This is ACCEPTED.

The commission recommends that:

1. The Cabinet be individually and collectively responsible, accountable and answerable to parliament as this is the basis of parliamentary democracy;

   This is ACCEPTED.

    

2. Opinions of Cabinet on any issue or subject will be merely advisory to the president.

This is ACCEPTED.

The commission recommends that:

1. The cabinet cannot be dissolved on a two-thirds parliamentary vote of no confidence and that there should be no express provision in The Constitution on the vote of no confidence;

   This is ACCEPTED.

    

2. The cabinet cannot be dissolved on dissolution of parliament because it is in existence until a new Cabinet is sworn-in.

This is ACCEPTED.

14. Minister of state/Deputy Minister.

The commission recommends that:

1. The Office of Deputy Minister be established where necessary;

   This is ACCEPTED.

    

2. The president shall appoint Deputy Ministers from inside or outside parliament as is the case with the appointment of Cabinet Ministers, and such appointment of Cabinet Ministers, and such appointments shall be subject to parliamentary ratification as necessary;

This is ACCEPTED but without Parliamentary ratification.