BILL 7 AN ATTEMPT TO TURN ZAMBIA INTO A ONE PARTY STATE – CATHOLIC
By NewsDiggers
The Archdiocese of Lusaka (ADL) has described the November 13, 2025 deadline set for submissions to the Technical Committee as grossly inadequate.
The Catholic Church argues that such a timeframe cannot allow for broad and meaningful public participation necessary to craft a truly people-driven Constitution.
In a statement issued through IHD Caritas Lusaka, the Archdiocese emphasized that there is no urgent need to amend the current Constitution, warning that the ongoing process is unlawful and appears to be a veiled attempt to entrench a de facto one-party state.
The ADL further expressed deep concern over the government’s continued disregard for sound legal counsel and established precedent regarding Bill No. 7, stating that the constitutional amendment process seems to be motivated by narrow political interests, with the state machinery seemingly captured to serve partisan ends.
Someone please educate me which clauses in the proposed amendment would bring about the one party state being claimed by these bishops. May be I will support those opposed to the amendment. Secondly, what should be the timeframe for consultations? Is it one year, 2 years, 3 years, etc? If we can’t finish consultations on a mere constitution making process within a year, then we are not serious as a nation. If straight forward matters like this should takes us more than a year, then there is no hope for serious things like industrial development for the country.
@Straight Forward
The Clauses in Bill 7 did not come from the People. They were prepared secretly without consultations.
And the Constitutional Court ruled that the Process was unconstitutional and Illegitimate. Then Mr Hakainde Hichilema constitutes a technical Committee, with Bill 7 as the Terms of Reference!
There is no way you can take the same clauses , a product of an Illegality , and then present them to the people to white wash them. It can’t just happen. It’s like climbing a tree from the leaves.
That’s Crooks Law. You start with the result, then you create the means so that you get that same result. It can’t work.
I laughed when I saw Chief Nalubamba making his submissions..He gave a complete extract from Bill 7. What kind of submission was this..A copy and paste exercise??
1. Who made submissions on Youth, Women and Disability proportional Representation ..And who said this is what the people of Zambia wanted.
2. Who desired the changes to the number of Nominated Members of Parliament
3. Who desired that Bye Elections should be abolished, and the Runner up or someone from the incumbent political party should take over in case of Resignation?
4. Why is the Delimitation Report being kept Secret? Where did the 55 additional Parliamentary seats come from? And how are these spread in the country?
5. Can you call a 10 day period, Broad Consultation of the people of Zambia on matters to do with the Constitution of a Country? Even a Club can’t do such.
My friend there’s everything wrong with this Constitutional Amendment Process.
There is only one thing Mr Hakainde Hichilema wants from this process…to skew the Power to 3 regions , and hold it in Perpetuity. To completely change the balance of power as we know it.
Who holds the Legislature, holds the Country. What ever Bills/ laws which will come on the floor of our National Assembly , including any future Constitutional Amendments, if the interests of the 3 regions are not taken care of, they won’t pass. It’s like the creation of a state within a state.
Power will be concentrated in 3 provinces at the expense of the other 7 , completely changing Zambia forever.
If this is not so let Mr Hakainde Hichilema release the Delimitation Report, the Spread of the 55 additional Parliamentary seats, and the Census Report.
The Catholic Church knows this, I know this, you know this , and Zambians especially those aggressively supporting this, know this.
Thank you my friend Straight forward.
You have still not answered the question. Which clauses in the proposals would bring about a one party system? So you don’t know that we have had more than 4 constitution review commissions in Zambia? The proposals in the said bill 7 came from the same submissions made by the people to these past commissions. Why should we reinvent the wheel if we already have submissions made in the past which were not implemented, but the gaps have been identified which can addressed by same gaps in the constitution by the past submissions? Even in academia, one does not need to redo the research if they can just use the material already done by others on the subject matter. It’s a waste of resources and time. It’s just that you seem not to follow events in the country. President HH mentioned at one of the press conferences that when doing the constitution amendments, government will use the submissions from the past commissions instead of restarting the process.
The Catholic Church in Zambia just seeks to be as disruptive as the most political parties.
Making noise without a proper cause. One asks in this disruption who will they serve?
The UAE supplies weapons to a faction in the Sudan war. Do the people of Sudan benefit from this disruptive behaviour by the UAE? Do the raped women in Sudan benefit from the factional war insitigated by the UAE?
The likes of Bishop Banda have become a tool of PF and allowed to perpetuate their vocal disruptive voice by the Vatican. And the fact that the Vatican is silent over this. Makes one wonder why? Local Bishops have been very firm on the use of the pulit by the priests. The pulit is not to be a means to preach politics. But the Partisan Bishop Banda persists. Why? Should blood spill before the Vatican realises that what Bishop Banda is doing is against the message of the Church? Will it take a civil war to remove him? The silence of the Church is cancer growing among us.
And it’s not the whole Constitution mind you, it’s just some selected clauses which need to be made clear. A Constitution needs to be well understood by Citizens but with the Zambia Constitution, that’s not the case. People need further explanation or interpretation in order to understand certain parts, for example, if the 14 day presidential is given clarity, how can that lead to one party state? To the contrary, it gives more clarification to the people especially the opposition who in most cases lodge petitions. We don’t want a repeat of 2016 incidence where 14 days included weekends. Delimitation will simply broaden the participation base among the political players and give room to the allocation of more resources to the people. How that one can bring about the one party State, may be the Bishops can explain.
@ citizen
Read my Post in which I have answered ” Straight forward ” , and dispute what I have said.
The Catholic Church knows what this whole Constitutional Amendment is All about…. I KNOW IT, and you know this too.
Power and holding it forever.. Now that we have it , we should now change the balance of power so that we keep it forever.
The other clauses are mere decorations.
Thank you.
It is funny that praise singers think they are more clever than Catholic Bishops, Churches (except SDA), LAZ, NGOs, Chiefs (except those from Southern province).
REJECT TRIBALISM, CORRUPTION AND OPPRESSION.
VOTE FOR CHANGE IN 2026.
The government must consider forming a powerful department like the National Guidance which was in Kaunda time with the view to guide the nation as well as to advise government on actions to take and what to avoid doing.
There is a lot of misinformation from some political players and some clergy.The department could stop lies, and expose wrong characters.You can see this headline from catholic doesn’t mean well.It is important to have very quick response to expose these lies.These misleading headlines are capable of discouraging the public from making meaningful submissions.The national guidance was capable to pick information from the public at any place, whether good of bad and act on it promptly or send the information to a responsible ministry or department for swift action.The levels of thinking are not pleasing of late.Some people can listen to lies and believe in them.What shall we tell children if big people or the clergy can be involved in this bad business.It is very easy to mislead but extremely difficult to make people understand certain things correctly.You look at the issue of load shedding, people in the compounds must be explained to accordingly.
* The basic science of electricity.
* The importance of rains
* The badness of drought
* What causes load shedding.
The people may know but it is important to explain well so that they stop blaming government for that.
There are a number of things that need to be explained to the people to silence these gifted demagogues.
Career criminals have hijacked so called Catholic bishops to push their fake agenda. In fact these should more correctly be called the Brown Envelope Extortion Gang. One of the gang members even criminally received a vehicle from incarcerated former ZRA boss. Such is their greed.
There is absolutely nothing in the content of bill 7 that even vaguely suggests the formation of a one party state.
Genuinely aggrieved citizens will attend the meetings being held by the bill 7 Committee and air their concerns. Rushing to social media with unverified information and mere speculation is a very dangerous position to take. When the benefits of bill 7 start manifesting, what will these shameless grown up clearly pushing a partisan agenda have to say to the people?
Laughable Praise Zealots! What a group!
When confronted with facts, they seek sanctuary in Insults.
They lack the Intellectual capacity to debate issues , and rush to insult.. and hide in strange accusations of Hatred , bitterness, envy and Tribalism.
These are the only things they know.
May JMC or Gunner dispute what I have stated in my post answering my friends Straight forward and Citizen about this whole Constitutional Amendment Process, and what Mr Hakainde Hichilema wants from it. I have clearly presented the facts.
The Catholic Bishops know, I know and even the Insulting Praise Zealots know.
Let Mr Hakainde Hichilema make public the Delimitation Report, the Full Census Report, and the distribution of the 55 additional Seats.
You think you can fool a “Corleone” ?
That all you can do. Insult and denegrate. Yet when a critical question is posed. You fail to answer just like the assertions you make daily are just your illussions in your mind…
The church is no saviour but an agent of Judas Iscariot and the PF.
When the church was in power it murdered millions in Europe and now they show their double faces in Zambia
Go and join CHIKALA lungu