CONSTITUTION Technical Committee provincial conventions have kicked off in some provincial centres with assurance that the final draft document will be ready by June this year.

Technical committee member Mwangala Zaloumis said in Mongu that the report would be ready within the stipulated time frame and would be handed to President Michael Sata and the public.

Scores of people yesterday turned up for the opening of the Western Province Constitution Convention, with area Permanent Secretary Bert Mushala urging delegates to put personal interests aside in their deliberations.

Speaking at Mongu College of Education yesterday, Mr Mushala advised participants to put the common good of the people before theirs as they deliberated.

In Luapula, Provincial Minister Benson Kapaya said it was necessary for delegates to represent the views of their communities and put aside their individual interests.

Brigadier-General Kapaya said the province should play its part by recommending changes to the first Draft Constitution that they deemed necessary if the Constitution making process was to maintain its legitimacy.

Vice-chairperson of the Technical Committee and Luapula Province team leader Julius Sakala said the contents of the Draft Constitution were entirely in the hands of Zambians.

In Muchinga, Provincial Minister Charles Banda said the Constitution-making process should be approached with the seriousness it deserved in order to maintain legitimacy.

Mr Banda said stakeholders should play a positive role in the Constitution-making process to ensure district resolutions and vernacular comments received were carefully considered.

He was speaking in Mpika during opening of the Muchinga Province Constitution-making convention yesterday.