By Lovemore Lubinda
Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema and his administration’s move to amend the country’s Constitution has divided the nation.
The Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) Bill No. 7 of 2025 (commonly referred to as Bill 7) was a proposed constitutional amendment introduced in May 2025 by the Ministry of Justice in the National Assembly of Zambia.
The Bill sought to expand the National Assembly from 156 to 211 elected members, introduce a mixed-member proportional representation system for reserved seats, remove two-term limits for local government leaders, and revise nomination and electoral procedures.
Bill 7 was tabled for first reading in May 2025 but faced widespread opposition from civil society organizations, opposition political parties, and legal associations.
On 26 June 2025, debate in Parliament grew heated as critics accused the government of seeking to consolidate power and bypass constitutional safeguards.
On 27 June 2025, the Constitutional Court declared the Bill unconstitutional in a landmark ruling, citing a lack of “wide public consultation” as required under Article 79 of the Constitution.
President Hichilema responded by setting up a Constitutional Amendment Technical Committee to hear the views of Zambians, which recently produced its findings.
Hichilema sent the Constitutional Amendment Technical Committee report to Parliament for it to proceed as required by the law.
Recently, the Speaker of the Zambian parliament Nelly Mutti announced the setting up of a Parliamentary Select Committee to look into the report and carry out further consultations.
The Committee continues to receive written and oral submissions from institutions, experts, civil society organisations, citizens, among others.
Meanwhile, in its submission to the Committee on the proposed Bill 7 today, the Law Society of Zambia said the State cannot lawfully proceed with the Bill, if the process that gave birth to it was declared unconstitutional.
The lawyers body questioned how can a product of an illegal process become lawful, calling for its total withdrawal.
According to the Zambian Constitution, when a Bill is deferred, it is re-introduced in the same form in which it previously stood, once re-introduced, it proceeds to the next stage of parliamentary procedure.
And in the case of Bill No. 7, that stage is scrutiny by a Select Committee, which is mandated to receive submissions, examine the Bill clause by clause, and prepare recommendations for the House.
Be that as it may, critics are calling on the public be attentive to both the Bill before scrutiny and the Select Committee Report, each for important and distinct reasons.
They say public scrutiny at this point enhances transparency, ensures accountability, and alerts citizens to provisions that may carry risks, omissions, or positive reforms deserving public support.
Some of the contentious provisions of the Bill include a proposal to reduce by-elections.
Those opposed to the Bill say while this saves money, it takes the power to choose a representative away from the voters and gives it to the party leaders.
The general opposition is that if the President gets to appoint more MPs in Parliament after doing away with by-elections, it means the ruling party gets the majority of Mps in Parliament.
Meanwhile, since the delimitation of Constituencies is also not known as to which Constituencies to be delimitated, if the govt decides to delimitate Constituencies in their strongholds, gives them again more seats in Parliament.
However, the government is maintaining that there is nothing wrong about the Bill.
Minister of Information and Media and Chief Government Spokesperson, Cornelius Mweetwa, accuses the opposition and some members of civic society of trying to use the courts of law to stop the Constitution of Zambia amendment Bill No. 7 from proceeding in Parliament.
Speaking during a press conference recently, Mweetwa urged the opposition and civil society to make formal submissions before the Parliamentary Select Committee instead of filing repeated court actions.
He insisted that the National Assembly, which holds exclusive legislative authority under Article 76 of the Constitution, remains the only lawful forum to determine the fate of the Bill.
Governmnet wants to address pressing electoral concerns ahead of the 2026 General Election, including the management of presidential petitions, nominations, and enhanced representation of women, youths and persons with disabilities.
He accused those opposing the Bill of attempting to keep the nation perpetually distracted from other important national issues.
Mweetwa said the government hopes that by the time Bill No. 7 returns to the House for debate and voting, contentious issues will have been resolved through broad consensus.
He appealed for national unity, saying the current constitutional process must be allowed to proceed lawfully and without unnecessary obstruction.
