By Mubanga Mubanga and Chinoyi Chipulu
Attempts by government to amend the Constitution a few months before general elections appear to be politically motivated, a group of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) has observed.
And opposition Socialist Party leader Fred M’membe said President Hakainde Hichilema’s plan to amend the Constitution was a clear indication that he wanted to manipulate it in order to prolong his stay in office.
Meanwhile, State House chief communications specialist, Clayson Hamasaka, announced yesterday that the draft Constitution was already in place and would be made public by next week latest.
Last week while officiating at the Women’s Day celebrations in Kasama, President Hakainde Hichilema announced that the nation had agreed to amend the Constitution before the 2026 general elections in order to provide for proportional representation and appointments of more women in decision making positions.
He also announced that the delimitation of vast constituencies needed the people’s to allow changes in the Constitution.
But speaking on behalf of the 14 CSOs at a press briefing held at Transparency International Zambia (TI-Z) offices in Lusaka yesterday, Zambia Council for Social Development (ZCID) executive director Leah Mitaba said the CSOs held the view that the process was being rushed, considering the fact that only 18 months were remaining before the country held the 2026 general elections.
Mitaba said the timeframe was little to deliver a comprehensive constitutional review, likening it to the one that was introduced by the PF under Bill 10. Mitaba said like the PF, President Hichilema was using women and youths to conceal his politically motivated amendments.
“We the undersigned CSOs see the fronting of women in the President’s announcement as a repeat of what was done before,” Mitaba said. “CSOs are left with the understanding that these proposed intentions may be politically motivated to support a delimitation process using women and youth engagement as a front.”
Mitaba said the announcement to amend the Constitution had been done without a clear and proper roadmap which was going to provide clarity on the scope of the amendments and the timeframe for grassroot consultations. She added that the current process would not address problematic clauses in the Constitution and was not going to provide clarity on contentious clauses in the constitution like the Bill of Rights.
Mitaba said the Constitution making process was an expensive undertaking, which the country could not afford to do now because of the many problems like debt repayments. She said proceeding with the undertaking would mean that the country had to realign spending priorities, notwithstanding its tight fiscal position.
Mitaba instead advised the government to prioritise alleviating the current economic hardships rather than the Constitution making process, which was not a priority.
And Women in Law and Development in Southern African (WILDAF) executive director Muzi Kamanga asked President Hichilema to name the CSOs that he met and agreed with to amend the Constitution.
Alliance for Community Action (ACA) executive director Laura Miti said the timing was “absolutely” wrong because Zambia was in a period of high tension and lowered trust associated with imminent general elections.
She said the CSOs proposed a comprehensive Constitution review just after the UPND came to power in 2021 but the UPND refused.
ACA, Tl-Z, ZSCD, Civil Society for Poverty for Poverty Reduction (CSPR), Center for Trade Policy and Development (CTPD), Chapter One Foundation and WILDAF, were among the 14 CSOs that jointly issued the statement.
And featuring on the Hot FM’s Hot Seat radio program yesterday, M’membe wondered how the President Hichilema secretly drafted the Constitution without consulting anyone. He said the President wanted to do away with some clauses in the Constitution because he knew he had lost popularity.
“The other day he was saying people have agreed to change the Constitution, who did he agree with? Who did he consult? He’s reminding me of the President of Central Republic who used to sit alone and say Cabinet has passed resolution and say Cabinet has approved this,” M’membe said. “He was himself alone saying Cabinet has approved things. But what Africa tolerated with Bokassa (Jean-Bedel) they cannot tolerate today.”
M’membe said President Hichilema wanted to change the Constitution for his political survival. He said if President Hichilema was confident of winning the 2026 general elections, he should not change anything.
M’membe said President Hichilema also wanted to manipulate the issue of the running mate because he wanted to have a running mate he could fire. He said if the President was concerned about women and young people, he should have appointed them in leadership positions in his government.
On the United States aid suspension, M’membe said Zambia had depended on foreign aid for a long time. He said Zambia “had been stupid” to leave 1.2 million people living with HIV/AIDS in the hands of a foreign agency.
And featuring on Hot FM’s Red Hot Breakfast show earlier yesterday morning, Hamasaka said the draft Constitution was already in place and would be made public this or next week. He said some clauses in the Constitution were not consistent hence government’s decision to clean them up.
Hamasaka said Cabinet had sat and agreed on the same, claiming that government had been having consultations with various stakeholders.
“I’m hoping there could be actual text of the same from the Ministry of Justice, and as you know, they are the ones in the process, probably even today or tomorrow they could issue a comprehensive statement or next week,” said Hamasaka. “… and soon government would be gazetted and consultations will continue. Consultations have been going on and the response has been good.”
And Human Rights activist Brebner Changala said it was suspicious to embark on Constitutional amendments at a time when the country was going to the polls because the ruling party could manipulate it. He said government should first tell people what they wanted to amend in the Constitution.
In an interview, Changala said amendments were easily discussed or broadly accepted when done at the beginning at a new government’s term. He said the UPND wasted four years discussing former president Edgar Lungu and the PF instead of attending to real issues in the country.
And Lukashya PF member of parliament George Chisanga said Zambians were questioning the real motivation of the UPND’s move to amend the Constitution.
In a separate interview, Chisanga said the timeline was too short between now and the 2026 general elections. He said UPND should address peoples’ concerns on the amendment process. Chisanga said chief government spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa had earlier announced that UPND had no plans of amending the Constitution.
He said there had been no public demand for Constitutional amendments in the country.
“We had challenges with the Electoral Commission of Zambia. You heard what happened at the ZAMSTATS when they were rolling out that program on the census. Dr. Beyani raised questions and people saw that there was something wrong,” Chisanga said as he wondered why Dr Beyani questioned a government department which was competent to roll out statistics on the country’s population.
“Already he was likening it to the elections because he dashed to the wards saying all those wards, the numbers are not correct. People have now established that there is a discrepancy between the real number in census and the number of people who vote,” said Chisanga. “PF wanted to enact the Constitution via Bill 10. When it came to enacting the Constitution, because of political conveniences, UPND stayed away from Parliament and Bill 10 collapsed. Now people are asking to say what is the motivation?”
PF secretary general Raphael Nakachinda said President Hichilema was pushing constitutional amendments to remove the Christian Nation clause in order to create a secular state. He stated the UPND also wanted to amend the Constitution to allow ministers to continue in office after the dissolution of Parliament.
