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GEN GODFREY MIYANDA MUST TAKE TIME TO UNDERSTAND THE NAREP BLUEPRINT
General Godfrey Miyanda has weighed in on the debate that has been generated by the publication of the NAREP blueprint for an interim government. We welcome such debate and are pleased to provide a direct response to General Miyanda.
The fundamental assumption that General Miyanda relies on is that the interim president will not be the commander in chief of the armed forces. He is wrong in that assumption. The interim president will be sworn in just like any president who has won a general election and as a result will be the commander in chief of the armed forces and will have all the powers that are accorded to a sitting president.
The concept of an interim president is just that – to manage all the functions of government during an “interim” period while a new constitutional framework is out in place which is guided by that very person. The interim president would have an interim cabinet and would perform all executive functions until his handover date (which would be set in place by an amendment to the existing constitution after the 2016 elections).
Pretty much all of the objections by General Miyanda, given that they are premised on the belief that this interim president would not be commander in chief (which as pointed out is an incoherent assumption), fall away.
There will be no lacuna or vacuum in respect of any and all the functions of the head if state and the government during the interim presidency. Even the national budget has to be passed and appointments to various official positions have to be made and the very interim president will perform these roles.
Finally, when we said that this was “part of our campaign”, we were simply pointing out that this was something we would be spreading to the Zambian people as we campaign for our Party all around the country. Note that this was in response to the question during the press conference as to whether we were now suspending our campaigns as NAREP in order to promote this idea. We further call upon every well-meaning citizen to dismiss Gen Miyanda’s calls for the Zambians not to support this idea.
National Restoration Party
Bishop Jevan Kamanga
General Secretary
20th May 2014
