Milupi’s 2/3 remarks on Constitutional Amendments

By Daily Revelation Editor

Infrastructure and Housing minister Charles Milupi says the ruling UPND has the two thirds majority needed to pass the 13 articles that have been presented for amendment in the Constitution.

It’s fair to say that the opposition PF, the PF part that is not aligned with the UPND, has indicated that they also have the numbers to shoot down any bill from the government that will be presented to Parliament to amend the Constitution, in the same manner the UPND defeated the infamous Bill 10, and just like the PF itself under Michael Sata’s leadership defeated the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) under the MMD administration.

While not dismissing the opposition’s claims, those who have opposed the latest amendments need to pay particular attention to the remarks by Milupi, who is indicating that the UPND will not only rely on their numbers to pass the amendments, but have also amassed enough numbers from the PF and independents to achieve their stated goals.

“So, the point we are making is that, if you look at the numbers in Parliament right now, what do we have? We have the opposition, PF mainly. I think there will be a number of those supporting that (amendments). We have independents, there will be enough supporting that,” said Milupi in a recent interview with Daily Revelation. “We would not be pushing things if we knew that it cannot go through. We are aware of the two thirds majority (needed to pass constitutional amendments). And we think we have the numbers for that.”

We wish to urge Milupi that constitutional making must be about consensus building. The moment anyone begins to raise the issue of numbers; it simply entails that they are sending a message to society that with or without consensus, they have the numbers to effect whatever change they have embarked upon, using the arrogance of numbers. Many can draw conclusions from what Milupi is saying, including bringing up assertions that the government has been on a drive to obliterate the opposition in order to have more numbers in Parliament to enact self-serving laws that suit them at will.

Milupi went further to state that those in government believed that they had the will of the people on their side, as the same things they were proposing also came up in all the constitutional amendments processes that had been conducted in this country previously.

The determination by Milupi seems to be no different from the other UPND administration officials to achieve the goals they have set out for themselves in the constitutional making process.

This is an attitude that seems determined to overlook the calls from the other stakeholders in the country, including the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ), the Church, opposition political parties, and those from the wider spectrum of society, who have urged the government to apply breaks on their moves until wider consultations have been conducted on this process, conveniently after the 2026 general elections.

Those who are opposing the amendments now are not necessarily saying that all the proposals from the government are wrong. However, even on some noteworthy proposals, there are others who may hold contrary views, which views also need to be heard, as LAZ argues, almost everything that has been proposed is contentious.