Mwanawasa exempts civic coalition from registration

In an effort to ease tensions between the government and civil society, Zambia's President Levy Mwanawasa this week exempted an influential coalition of civic and religious groups from having to register. The permanent secretary for home affairs, Peter Mumba, confirmed on Tuesday that Mwanawasa had issued the instruction when he addressed a public rally at Kapiri Mposhi, some 200 km from the capital, Lusaka. "The president has not only said Oasis Forum would not have to register as an organisation but also extended an invitation to [them to come to] State House to discuss some of the contentious issues that seem to be troubling the group regarding the constitutional review process," Mumba told IRIN. Last month the Forum, an umbrella group comprising the Law Association of Zambia, the Roman Catholic Church and several women's organisation, among others, refused to register with the registrar of societies, arguing that by law "loose alliances" were not required to register and, since its member organisations were all registered, there was no need for it to enlist as a separate entity. The government threatened that failure to register would result in the group being banned, but in what appeared a as reconciliatory gesture, Mwanawasa was quoted by the local Times of Zambia on Monday as saying, "We have important issues to address in the country and I am not prepared to allow this quarrelling between the government and NGOs to continue." Oasis Forum spokesman Reverend Japhet Ndhlovu said the coalition welcomed the President's invitation to State House and said the group "would definitely ensure that concrete issues" were discussed. "We hope that from this meeting all the stakeholders will agree on a roadmap that charts a more transparent process in reviewing the constitution," he told IRIN. The Oasis Forum opposed Mwanawasa's decision to have the Zambian constitution reviewed for the fourth time by using a Constitutional Review Commission (CRC). The rejection of the CRC was largely due to concerns that most of the commissioners were presidential appointees, and that Mwanawasa could decide whether or not to accept the commission's recommendations. "We will not negotiate on certain aspects, such as the appointments to the commission," said Ndlovu. "We also want the final recommendations to be a public affair, so that all Zambians may respond to the findings."