Hichilema Assents Bill 7; Regional Clout Rises As Opposition Chaos Frays
Mulungushi International Conference Centre was a hive of gravity in Zambian politics on Thursday as President Hakainde Hichilema formally assented to the Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) Bill No. 7 of 2025, closing one of the most divisive constitutional chapters in recent history and opening another that now shifts from debate to implementation.
The ceremony drew hundreds of attendees from across the country, dominated by students, young people, government officials, Members of Parliament, and a scattering of opposition figures. Their presence was politically loaded.
Earlier in the day, the Patriotic Front leadership had issued instructions barring its mayors and councillors from attending the event. Several defied the directive and showed up anyway, a visible sign of internal disobedience that mirrored the party’s parliamentary split during the Bill 7 vote.
President Hichilema used the occasion to draw a firm line under the constitutional fight. He framed the amendments not as a partisan victory but as an intergenerational project.
“These reforms are for you, your children, your grandchildren and those yet to be born. They are the true owners,” the President said, urging Zambians to see the law as a national asset rather than a political trophy.
Hichilema acknowledged resistance to the Bill but insisted the country could not remain trapped in permanent contestation.
“I am also aware that some people have not moved on since the 2021 General Elections. They still think this is a dream. No, it is real. It is real. It is real. Let us move on,” he said.
The President declared the constitutional debate closed and redirected national attention to economic pressures that have dominated public conversation, particularly electricity shortages.
He cited small businesses in high-density areas such as Mandevu, Chipulukusu and Manyinga, and the need for reliable power in health centres where lives depend on electricity.
“They want electricity in all health centres so that a premature child on oxygen can survive,” he said, adding that government was accelerating diversification into solar and other sources.
Justice Minister Princess Kasune, speaking earlier, underlined the parliamentary scale of the Bill’s approval, noting that 135 MPs voted in favour, representing more than 82 percent of the House.
She described the outcome as unprecedented in Zambia’s constitutional history.
Beyond Lusaka, the political reverberations widened. On Wednesday night, the Southern African Development Community elected President Hichilema as its interim chairperson until August 2026, elevating Zambia’s regional standing at a moment when domestic opposition forces were pressing claims of democratic backsliding.
This development landed as a sharp counterpoint to earlier correspondence by PF-linked figures to SADC, alleging human rights abuses and political repression in Zambia.
Within the last 48 hours, the opposition narrative continued to fracture. The Oasis Forum’s last-minute legal attempt to halt the Bill collapsed at the Constitutional Court, which ruled there was “nothing to conserve” after the Technical Committee had already submitted its report to the President. This ruling effectively ended judicial avenues to block the law before assent.
Inside the PF, the aftershocks intensified. Several MPs who voted in favour of Bill 7 publicly defended their positions. Kanchibiya MP Sunday Chanda and Mulenga Kampamba both said their votes were anchored in constituency interests rather than party instructions, a stance that cut directly against PF leadership claims of betrayal.
Their statements sharpened an uncomfortable reality for the party: a significant bloc of its lawmakers chose policy calculus over party discipline.
Meanwhile, PF presidential aspirant Makebi Zulu held a press briefing reiterating that he would reverse the constitutional amendments if elected in 2026. His remarks kept the legitimacy argument alive, even as the legal and legislative processes moved decisively beyond contestation.
Constitutional lawyer John Sangwa added further fuel during a Diamond TV appearance, describing the parliamentary handling of Bill 7 as “abnormal” and warning that Zambia’s constitutional order had suffered damage.
His critique reinforced concerns among sections of civil society that procedure, not just substance, would remain a live fault line.
President Hichilema, however, struck a tone of finality. In a message released after the ceremony, he framed the assent as the start of a new constitutional era centred on inclusion of women, youth and persons with disabilities, and called for unity over recrimination.
“This landmark document belongs to you, the people of Zambia. It is not the property of any single group,” he said, urging the country to replace division with collective purpose.
As night fell over Lusaka, the political map looked altered. The UPND base was visibly energised by the passage and assent of Bill 7 and by the President’s growing regional profile. The PF base, by contrast, showed signs of strain, marked by public accusations, internal defiance and unresolved leadership questions.
Bill 7 is now law. The argument has shifted from whether it should pass to how it will reshape representation, governance and the 2026 electoral battlefield.
The noise has not disappeared, but the centre of action has moved decisively from resistance to consequence.
© The People’s Brief | Co-reported by Mwape Nthegwa & Ollus R. Ndomu