LUSAKA-(MaraviPost)-A push to scrap the presidential two-term limit has emerged in Zambia’s Western Province, where a local pressure group has announced plans to formally petition parliament.
According to ZNBC News citing Zambia News and Information Service, an arm of government, the group, known as Project 2090 and led by chairperson Suzyo Ng’uni, says it wants the Speaker of the National Assembly and Members of Parliament to consider removing the clause that restricts a president to two terms.
The pressure group is a brainchild of the ruling party United Party for National Development (UPND)’s Western Province.
Speaking in Mongu during the official launch of the movement, Ng’uni argued that the move was about consistency.
He pointed out that the Constitution Amendment Bill No. 7 of 2025 proposes to do away with term limits for mayors, council chairpersons, MPs and councillors, and therefore questioned why the presidency should be treated differently.
According to him, residents in the province will now seek a formal engagement with the Speaker and their elected representatives to push for the inclusion of the presidential term limit removal in the ongoing constitutional reforms.
Reacting to the development, the ruling party United Party for National Development (UPND) Deputy Media Director Sikwindi Situla said the ruling party has not taken a position on the proposal.
He said the party neither supports nor opposes the call from Western Province, stressing that every Zambian has a democratic right to air their views.
Situla noted that the UPND cannot stifle citizens who are expressing themselves within the law, and that the party will consider opinions coming not only from Western Province but from all parts of the country as debate around Bill 7 continues.
He added that the UPND values open democratic debate and believes citizens should be allowed to freely participate on issues of national importance.
How Harare Started It All: From Whisper to Resolution
The push to keep President Emmerson Mnangagwa in office beyond 2028 did not start in parliament.
It started in the provinces — and Harare Province, led by chairman Goodwills Masimirembwa, was the loudest.
In late 2024, it was just talk. At district feedback meetings in Highfield and other Harare suburbs, the idea was floated as a suggestion — that the President’s development projects needed more time, that Vision 2030 could not be abandoned mid-way.
Masimirembwa, a close ally of Mnangagwa, was the one who gave it political weight.
At a party conference feedback meeting he told supporters that according to Resolution Number 1 from the National People’s Conference in Bulawayo, Parliament should amend the Constitution to extend Mnangagwa’s term.
What had been corridor talk became an official position.
By early 2025, Harare Province convened a Provincial Inter-District Conference at the party offices.
The resolution was formalized: Harare reiterated its support for Resolution 1, that Mnangagwa, in recognition of his sterling service, should continue as President until 2030.
The province resolved that party and government structures must make the necessary constitutional changes.
Masimirembwa was careful with language. He said Harare was not advocating for scrapping term limits outright, but for postponing the election — moving the 2028 general election to 2031, so that Mnangagwa could serve until 2030.
The campaign was then taken to the people, amid reports of sidelining of those with opposing views. At rallies with affiliates like Masowe4ED in Glen Norah, at meetings where politburo member Omega Hungwe told Harare residents that a future referendum would be a loyalty test, and where businessman Kudakwashe Tagwirei said you cannot change a scoring striker, the message was repeated until it became the party line.
Other provinces followed. Mashonaland East, West, Masvingo, Matabeleland and the Midlands all adopted similar resolutions.
The template was set: start with a province, pass a resolution, take it to the National People’s Conference, then ask parliament to align the Constitution.
This is why the current move in Zambia looks so familiar to Zimbabweans.
In Western Province, Zambia, a pressure group called Project 2090 led by Suzyo Ng’uni is petitioning the Speaker to remove presidential term limits for consistency, because Bill No. 7 proposes removing limits for mayors, MPs and councillors.
In Zimbabwe, it started the same way — as a seemingly independent call from the grassroots, citing consistency and development.
For UPND Deputy Media Director Sikwindi Situla to say the party neither endorses nor rejects the call, but respects democratic expression, also mirrors the early stages in Harare — where the centre initially watched from a distance while the provinces did the pushing.
In Harare, what started as a mere suggestion ended with Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment No. 3 of 2026, postponing elections to 2030. And now, according to Masimirembwa speaking in Epworth after the passage of that amendment, Harare wants even more — Mnangagwa as Zanu PF President and First Secretary from 2030 to 2037.
The template is identical: a provincial idea becomes a national resolution, then becomes law.
As for Zambia it starting with a ruling party affiliated pressure group, for now how far it would go, nobody knows, only time will tell.
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