Let Bill 7 be scrapped off for good
Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ) general secretary Father Emmanuel Chikoya has urged the government to withdraw Bill 7 of 2025, and create a clear roadmap away from the elections.
And human rights and governance activist Laura Miti says it is difficult for the country to have a constitutional amendment process that is consensus on content, because most governments want a constitution in their own image.
The duo said this during an appearance on Hot FM yesterday.
“The problem is that when you want to deal with constitutional matters around election time, the idea is to politically get into office especially if you come into office with promises that you will deliver like yesterday,” said Fr Chikoya.
We were of the view that this matter would disappear from the public space and be confined to the dustbin of history following the Constitutional Court ruling that it did not follow the proper procedure.
Clearly, if the process which was set up to establish Bill 7 was flawed, it follows that anything that speaks to that bill is flawed, no matter how appealing some clauses may be. The fact that those in government sat in their secret places and drafted a bill that they intended to give to the Zambian people as constitutional amendments, made the whole thing flawed as that is not how constitutional processes are done in this country.
President Hakainde Hichilema argues that the same bill has merely been deferred, views reinforced by Speaker of the National Assembly Nelly Mutti who argued that the same could still be tabled if Justice minister Princess Kasune wished
https://dailyrevelationzambia.com/let-bill-7-be-scrapped-off-for-good/
Those against the bill, what specific clauses are they against? I have not heard any of them specify the clause(s) that are bad in the draft bill, but they are busy condemning the whole bill. The reverend seem to be contradicting himself. On one hand, he says the bill did not follow the laid down procedure according to the concourt ruling, but isn’t that the reason the government has deferred the bill to allow for more consultations? Then on another hand, he says it should be discarded without citing any single clause that is bad. The claim of elections being close does not hold water because PF enacted the 2016 elections just a few months before elections but we are year away.