SILAVWE URGES UPND TO HALT CONSTITUTION AMENDMENTS, PRIORITIZE ECONOMY

SILAVWE URGES UPND TO HALT CONSTITUTION AMENDMENTS, PRIORITIZE ECONOMY

…..arguing that the process is ill-timed with the general elections less than a year away

Lusaka… Friday October 3, 2025 (SMART EAGLES)

Golden Party of Zambia (GPZ) President Jackson Silavwe has urged the UPND government to suspend its planned Constitution amendments, arguing that the process is ill-timed with the general elections less than a year away.

Speaking during a live social media broadcast monitored by Smart Eagles, Mr. Silavwe said Zambians are more concerned about the high cost of living, doing business, and persistent load shedding, rather than constitutional amendments.

While welcoming President Hakainde Hichilema’s decision to appoint a Technical Committee to oversee the amendments, he criticized the move as “a good idea at the wrong time,” stressing that such a process should have begun in 2023 instead of pushing Bill No. 7 of 2025.

He questioned how long the Technical Committee will sit, noting that the timeline overlaps with the 90-day campaign period expected to begin in May 2025.

Mr. Silavwe proposed that any constitutional reforms be deferred until after the 2026 general elections, possibly around 2027, when there will be ample time for broad consultation.

The GPZ leader further noted that State House has not provided clear terms of reference or a timeline for the amendment process.

Meanwhile, Mr. Silavwe welcomed the announcement by Home Affairs Minister Jack Mwiimbu that the passport office has gone digital, but cautioned that reforms should also extend to the NRC office and other institutions.

He warned against simply moving “physical queues to online queues” without addressing inefficiencies in service delivery.