Had UPND Become So Unpopular That Only Bill 7 Can Save Them?
By Dr Mwelwa
Bill 7 was deferred on the President’s own word — announced in a formal statement from State House. What changed? Why are we suddenly hearing whispers of its return without the promised national consultation?
Had UPND become so unpopular that the only way to keep power is through constitutional manipulation? Is this the desperate fallback of a government that fears the people’s verdict in 2026?
Will MPs be so shallow as to forget the Orange Headed Paper that carried the President’s categorical promise of consultation? Do they not realize that if they pass Bill 7 now, they are merely being used to serve one man’s agenda?
Is Parliament, the supposed guardian of the Constitution, so weak that it will allow itself to be reduced to an extension of State House? Will MPs not see that they are trading their dignity for crumbs of political favor?
What magic is in Bill 7 that makes the President willing to risk his credibility, his integrity, and his legacy? Is it worth losing the trust of citizens to force through a law they rejected?
Will MPs ignore history? Did the one-party state not fall when it tried to bend the Constitution to the will of one leader? Did Zambia not rise in 1991 because citizens rejected manipulation of their collective destiny?
Will MPs go home to their constituencies and tell farmers, bus drivers, civil servants, and marketeers that they voted for hunger budgets and then amended the Constitution to tighten the noose further? What answer will they give?
If Bill 7 is alive again, then what was the point of the consultations with churches, civil society, and ordinary citizens? Were they just a performance to buy time? Is the President ready to be remembered as the man who made promises he could not keep?
Bill 7 is dead — the nation buried it when it was deferred for consultation. To force it back is to dig up the grave and mock the people. Will MPs be complicit in such mockery?
When the final vote comes, will our Parliament stand as patriots, or will it kneel as pawns?
You can try and twist the narrative any way you like, but bill 7 was not born out of desperation to stay in power. It was born our of a clearly stated constitutional guideline to review our constitution after a specified period of time. The delimitation of constituencies suggested by bill 7 was motivated by the need to take people driven decentralised development efforts to the new constituencies so that more people benefit from the 40 million CDF that will be available starting next year. The game changing, life transforming nature of CDF under the current government in those constituencies that have applied it is unmistakable. Only demon possessed imbeciles and sworn enemies of the people will fail to see the obvious benefits of the non-partisan application of CDF. Young people who had no hope of ever completing their education are now learning skills that will earn them an honest living. Modern classroom blocks, maternity wings, new police posts build with cement blocks are now replacing the grass thatched structures that previously existed.
The people twisting and demonising this narrative are career failures who failed to do what UPND are doing now. Shameless failures who think people must suffer for them to clock political mileage. This mindset has no place in the new Zambian political landscape. The current leadership model is one of servant leadership, not the expired self-serving, greed driven toxic model that is the legacy of ECL and PF.
This man is a doctor in what??
Such “doctors” are the reason why our universities are ranked among the worst in the world. People who are supposed to be logical, are the ones who sound illogical. Can the fake doctor mention the clauses which would allow the UPND to stay in power if the bill passed?