ZAFOD Calls For Adoption Of 10 Percent Of Seats In Parliament To Persons With Disabilities

By Patricia Mbewe

The Zambia Persons with Disabilities Federation –ZAFOD- has called for the adoption of 10 percent of all seats in parliament to persons with disabilities through the adoption of the mixed member proportional representation.

Announcing its position on the shift to a mixed member electoral system proposed in the 2019 Constitutional Amendment Bill Number 10 during a media and stakeholders breakfast in Lusaka, Federation Chairperson, Josephine Shinaka has called on all Members of Parliament and stakeholders to support its call for the allocation of 10 percent of all seats in parliament to persons with disabilities.

Mrs. Shinaka says this proposal would implement the SADC and African Union protocols on inclusivity in politics and public life which prescribe that African states must reserve 30 percent of all seats in the house for marginalized groups, being women, youths and persons with disability.

She says ZAFOD is confident that the mixed member proportional representation will usher in a new era for the inclusion of these marginalized groups by replacing the current system with a mixed member electoral system with the allocation of seats for marginalized groups.

At the same event, Goodwill Ambassador for the hearing impaired, Mackenzie Mbewe noted that although the present system provides for nominated candidates, the appointed candidates that go to parliament are aligned to the agenda of their appointing authority or political party and not to the concerns of the disability movement.

PHOENIX NEWS

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