CSOS URGE HH TO ASSURE NATION OF INCLUSIVE CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS AHEAD OF PARLIAMENT REOPENING
A consortium of Civil Society Organizations has urged President Hakainde Hichilema to use the reopening of Parliament tomorrow to assure citizens of broad-based constitutional reforms in line with the pronouncements of the Constitutional Court ruling on Constitution Amendment Bill no. 7 of 2025.
On 27th June, 2025, the Constitutional Court declared Bill 7 unconstitutional due to inadequate public consultation, a day after President Hichilema directed Justice Minister Princess Kasune to have the controversial bill deferred for wider stakeholder consultation.
But the CSOs are concerned after Speaker of the National Assembly Nelly Mutti and Parliamentary Chief Whip Stafford Mulusa have been quoted suggesting that Bill 7 will be introduced in the upcoming session of parliament.
The concerned CSOs include ActionAid, LAZ, Chapter One Foundation, Alliance for Community Action, AAAZ, Zambia Council for Social Development, CSPR, TI-Z, ADEG, FPI, OYV, PANOS, NGOCC and PAAGGZ.
Speaking on behalf of the consortium, Chapter One Foundation Executive Director Mwamba Milambo said any efforts to revive the bill without remedying the defects identified by the court goes against the law and Zambia’s democratic foundation.
Mrs Milambo has therefore urged the Executive and the Legislature to publicly commit to implementing the ConCourt judgement and to desist from any action that would override or neutralize judicial authority.
She notes that a stakeholders meeting at State House and the ConCourt judgement gave society the view that a healthy environment had been created for wider and inclusive citizen participation in the constitutional amendment process to include transparency and genuine consultation.
Mrs Milambo says any approach perceived as circumventing proper procedure or lacking broad-based engagement may undermine the trust of the people.
She has warned that fast tracking constitutional change when the country has already entered the competitive electoral season results in partisan interests in forming constitutional change and public trust being corroded.
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Mrs Milambo says the CSOs are also concerned with the multiple provisions that the government suggests as non-contentious which when interrogated are so complicated that they require sober consensus building.
She further notes that the proposed amendments are being made in such a manner that they do not make any substantive change to the problem they seek to resolve hence the CSOs are opposed to any efforts to introduce Bill 7 in its current form.