Let Bill 7 be scrapped off for good

By Daily Revelation Editor

Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ) general secretary Father Emmanuel Chikoya has urged the government to withdraw Bill 7 of 2025, and create a clear roadmap away from the elections.

And human rights and governance activist Laura Miti says it is difficult for the country to have a constitutional amendment process that is consensus on content, because most governments want a constitution in their own image.

The duo said this during an appearance on Hot FM yesterday.

“The problem is that when you want to deal with constitutional matters around election time, the idea is to politically get into office especially if you come into office with promises that you will deliver like yesterday,” said Fr Chikoya.

We were of the view that this matter would disappear from the public space and be confined to the dustbin of history following the Constitutional Court ruling that it did not follow the proper procedure.

Clearly, if the process which was set up to establish Bill 7 was flawed, it follows that anything that speaks to that bill is flawed, no matter how appealing some clauses may be. The fact that those in government sat in their secret places and drafted a bill that they intended to give to the Zambian people as constitutional amendments, made the whole thing flawed as that is not how constitutional processes are done in this country.

President Hakainde Hichilema argues that the same bill has merely been deferred, views reinforced by Speaker of the National Assembly Nelly Mutti twho argued that the same could still be tabled if Justice minister Princess Kasune wished to proceed, clearly shows the determination to force this whole process through the throats of the Zambian people that have rejected it.

The best Hichilema and those in government could do is simply listen to the voices of the majority on this process, which has been augmented by the court judgement, by abandoning the whole process and then start afresh once the elections are done. That will give Zambians ample time to handle the process.

Both Fr Chikoya and Miti have observed the disturbing tendency by governments in this country to seek to enact constitutional amendments in the lead up to the general elections. The very act usually creates suspicion in the minds of Zambians who  question the sincerity of those in government in carrying out such a sacred process, usually through a rushed processes.

In the current scenario, Hichilema and those in government had all these years since 2021 to have come up with a truly people driven constitutional process that they had promised to Zambians before they were elected into government. Why they waited all this long to start such an important process a year before the 2026 general elections, only they know. But it definitely is not for genuine purposes.

The process they insist on pushing through has been clearly rejected. Let them acknowledge the fact and move on towards a process that will be acceptable to the wider majority. Let them permanently abandon Bill 7!