Country plans new constitution in 2008

Zambia will have a new Constitution by December 2008 if the proposed roadmap by the Zambia Centre for Inter-party Dialogue (ZCID) is followed, ZCID board spokesperson, Newton Ng'uni, has announced. "We have presented a roadmap which has specific date and time and if followed, President Mwanawasa should by December 25, next year give the Zambian people a Christmas present which will be a new Constitution," he added. According to him, under the proposed time frame, all interest groups would submit their submissions to the Constitutional Conference Working Committee (CWC) by the end of August 2007 and that by September the committee would have completed consolidating its position. The constitutional conference would then take place in October. Ng'uni said the full census report should be completed by April 2008 and that by November, Parliament should pass the Constitution as approved by the referendum. (The Times of Zambia, Ndola)