By CHARITY MOONGA –

THE Government has presented the Referendum Amendment Bill to Parliament.
Justice Minister Ngosa Simbyakula presented the Bill in the House during proceedings on Tuesday evening.
The Bill, which aims to amend the Referendum Act of 1967 in tandem with the Zambian Constitution, went through first reading in the House.
Speaker of the National Assembly Patrick Matibini has since referred the Referendum Amendment Bill to the Committee on Legal Affairs, Governance and Human Rights.
The committee will be expected to present the report on the Bill on June 26.
Last week, Dr Simbyakula said the Government had proposed the amendment of the Referendum Act to correct the inconsistency between the Constitution and the Act which are conflicted in the criterion and eligibility for persons to vote in a national referendum.
The current Referendum Act is not in conformity with the Constitution of Zambia in so far as the eligibility and criterion for voting in a national referendum is concerned.
Dr Simbyakula said Cabinet had approved the introduction of the Referendum Amendment Bill.
The minister said the inconsistency between the Constitution and the Referendum Act rendered Section 3 (1) of the Referendum Act void and it was, therefore, important to have it amended.
He said Cabinet had also approved the introduction to Parliament of a Bill to amend the Constitution to increase the number of elected members of the National Assembly to 156 from the current 150.
“This Bill had been necessitated by the increase in the number of districts which had resulted into some of the constituencies belonging to more than one district,” Dr Simbyakula said.