Don’t amend the constitution before polls—HARRY KALABA
09.03.25
We are very surprised with the manner President Hakainde Hichilema is single handedly trying to champion and change the constitution of Zambia without involving all the stakeholders. We urge him to immediately halt his plans to rape the constitution for expediency and against the will of many Zambians as he risks throwing this country into conflict and turmoil. With 15 months remaining before dissolution of parliament and finalizing the 2026 election process, there is little time for engaging Zambians on the amendments to the constitution.
Furthermore, Zambia is not in a constitutional crisis. Zambia is in a leadership crisis. It is in a poverty and resource management crisis. It is in a governance crisis with stifled and gaged voices hindering free expression and association.
We therefore urge the president to quickly work on resolving the triple crises by first dissolving himself and calling for early elections.
President HH should focus on reducing hunger and poverty levels which are increasing every day under his poor policies. Cries that President Trump has given us a double slap is very undiplomatic and goes to show that Zambia is in leadership crisis.
Zambia continues to lag in development with the World Bank’s rating of Zambia as the sixth poorest nation, even behind countries that are in conflict situations.
We are hungry with a 25 kg bag of mealie meal costing K400, while the Zambia National mealie meal under government is rationalized to 1 bag per family per month, regardless of the number of people at home. The JCTR monthly basket for barest survival for a family of five in Lusaka is now at K11, 600. These are the urgent things we expect you to work on before retirement in August 2026.
Mr. President, we shall not allow you to rape the constitution of Zambia so you can continue having your bottom glued to the chair. We have heard of how you want to increase the adherence of your bottom to the chair by:
- Extending the term of office from five (5) to seven (7) years.
- Remove the 50 plus one requirement for presidential election to first past the post.
We refuse all these machinations of raping the constitution and robbing the Zambians of good leadership for 2026 and beyond.
We urge you Mr. President instead to urgently institute corrective measures for the 3 crises of your poor leadership, increasing hunger, poverty and poor governance.