Technical committee’s work must be independent of Bill 7

By Daily Revelation Editor

President Hakainde Hichilema has appointed a Technical Committee to lead nationwide consultations and draft proposed amendments to Zambia’s Constitution.

The committee will be chaired by retired Supreme Court Judge Christopher Mushabati, with Dr. Landilani Banda serving as Vice Chairperson and Spokesperson.

According to State House Chief Communications Specialist Clayson Hamasaka, the appointments follow extensive engagement with civil society, religious leaders, traditional authorities, and other stakeholders. He emphasized that the committee reflected Zambia’s rich diversity—comprising legal experts, academics, faith leaders, traditional leaders, and civil society.

This is a positive move in the right direction by the President in that he has appointed a technical committee to draft the amendments rather than the government drawing up amendments and forcing the same on the Zambian people. The move follows the total rejection of Bill 7 by the Zambian people, which was reaffirmed by a Constitutional Court judgement annulling the process under Bill 7.

The Constitutional Court was alarmed by the ongoing constitutional amendment process that had not demonstrated the mandatory consultative requirement and stakeholder participation.

The Court concluded that the government had not adduced any evidence to demonstrate that the ongoing constitutional amendment has been consultative.

The court declared that the ongoing Constitutional Amendment Process was not consultative, has not been broad based and therefore unconstitutional.

The court ordered that the Respondent halts the congoing constitutional Amendment process and embark on rather more consultative and broad based approach.

That is what the court guided. And now that the President has appointed a new technical committee, we hope by that action he is also indicating that the government has discarded the narrow self-serving approach they have been pursuing through Bill 7.

By the very action of appointing a new committee, our expectation is that the much derided Bill 7 will be withdrawn not only from Parliament, but from the whole schemes of government’s works on the constitution.

The newly appointed technical committee must embark on a completely new work, as opposed using them as a rubber stamp to endorse the rejected Bill 7. We further demand that the committee must be accorded reasonable time to effectively discharge the sacred work attached to their mandate, and that their work will in no way be connected to the 2026 general elections.

We are hopeful that those appointed will be driven by the greater interest of the country, as opposed to any partisan affiliations they may hold.

We all have a duty to participate effectively in this constitutional process in order to have a constitution that serves the greater aspirations of Zambians.