ATTEMPTS TO AMEND CONSTITUTION RAISE CONCERNS OVER DEMOCRATIC SPACE
…as Muba’sa calls on young people to protest against an emerging dictatorship
Johannesburg… Friday March 14, 2025
Concerns over Zambia’s democratic space have resurfaced following the government’s decision to amend the constitution without adequate citizen participation.
Mr. Stanley Muba’sa, the National Youth Secretary of the Socialist Party, has strongly criticized President Hakainde Hichilema’s administration, stating that the move is a deliberate effort to consolidate power.
Mr. Muba’sa accused the President of following a systematic plan to weaken democracy and tailor the constitution to serve personal interests.
Referencing the failed Bill 10 in 2020, Mr. Muba’sa reminded the public that the President, while in opposition, had condemned similar constitutional amendments.
He argued that the same approach was now being taken by the very person who had previously opposed it.
He further alleged that President Hichilema was unreliable, accusing him of making false promises and engaging in rhetoric without concrete action.
The Socialist Party youth leader rejected key proposed changes, including extending the presidential term from five to seven years and removing the 50%+1 clause for presidential elections.
He questioned why President Hichilema now opposed provisions he had supported while in opposition and asked whose interests the amendments would serve.
Mr. Muba’sa dismissed the government’s justification that the amendments would enhance youth and women’s inclusion, describing it as a tactic to mislead the public.
He insisted that Zambians should not accept constitutional changes aimed at benefiting an individual leader, calling on the President to amend his party’s constitution instead of the national one.
He further stated that the government should prioritize addressing pressing national issues, such as reducing mealie meal prices, ending load shedding, lowering electricity tariffs, curbing corruption, and improving the supply of fertilizers to farmers.
“If this government had decent leaders, priority and focus should have been on:
1. Reducing mealie meal prices from K450 to K50 as promised.
2. Ending loadshedding
3. Reducing electricity tariffs
4. Stopping upnd single sourcing corruption
5. Stopping CDF looting in which money is given to cadres who can’t be traced.
6. Implementing and improving fertilizer supply to farmers.
The above should be the major issues taking centre stage in our public discourse.”
Finally, Muba’sa urged young people to protest within the confines of the law against what he described as an emerging dictatorship.