We, the undersigned Civil Society Organizations wish to express our deep concern regarding the proposed amendments to the Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) Act, 2016, as announced by the Republican President, Mr. Hakainde Hichilema on the 8th of March 2025 during the commemoration of International Women’s Day in Kasama.
Whilst Civil Society understands and has repeatedly raised the need to amend the Republican Constitution in order to usher in a democratic constitution that promotes good governance, inclusiveness, citizen participation, accountability, and the separation of powers between the three arms of government, the judiciary, legislature and executive, it is our fervent belief that any well meaningful constitutional reform process should not be devoid of national consensus. We, therefore, are of a considered view that any rushed, piece meal amendment shall not deliver the durable, credible and relevant supreme law Zambians have craved for decades.
We draw the attention of the nation to the process undertaken during the Constitution of Zambia ( Amendment), Bill Number 10 of 2019 also known as bill 10 and warn against taking constitutional reforms that are not demand driven. We remain gravely concerned that the proposed amendment process will not be centered on the will of the people and as such will undermine a democratic process for delivering a national constitution.
Specifically, our concerns with the proposed amendment process as announced recently are as follows:
- Lack of genuine consultations for a people driven process
As Civil Society Organizations, we have always held the view that in constitution making, “Process protects Content” and the announcement for a constitutional amendment without a detailed and clear road map that provides clarity on the proposed scope of the amendment, proposed timelines especially for grassroot level consultations is unacceptable. CSOs hold the view that this approach will not deliver a comprehensive process to address current problematic clauses in the Constitution, including clarity for the review of the Bill of Rights, which is the “heartbeat” of our constitutional order.
- Lack of clear and transparent road map:
The announcement of a constitutional amendment process comes without a clear road map that provides clarity on the proposed scope of the amendment, proposed timelines especially for grassroot level consultations. The specific clauses of the constitution proposed for amendment are further not known. CSOs hold the view that this approach will not deliver a comprehensive process to address current problematic clauses, including clarity for the review of the bill of rights which is critical for guaranteeing a legal framework for economic, cultural and social rights for Zambian citizens.
- Proportional representation:
CSOs question if the government has a clear proposed model for genuine representation of women and other marginalized groups, aside the strategy to increase the number of constituencies through the proposed delimitation process. We hold the view that empowering women and other marginalized groups in decision making goes beyond undertaking a delimitation process through the national constitution but requires additional reforms to for example introduce a quota system across all political parties to ensure adoption of women and other marginalized groups is not just flaunted in areas where male candidates are seen to be weaker as has been the common trend. In addition, we recommend the consideration for the introduction of additional non-constituency-based seats through a mixed member representation system.
Further, we draw the nation to Article 68(2)(b) as read with Article 69 wherein the Republican President is empowered to nominate 8 Members of Parliament, necessary to enhance the representation of special interests, skills or gender in the National Assembly. As we now understand the exercise of this special power by the Constitution in its limited manner, the Republican President has nominated only 2 women out of the allotted 8 seats with no youth, differently abled or minorities nominated to the National Assembly via this power. perhaps demonstrative of lack of political will to seriously address the gender imparity of women representation and other special interests groups, even with the limited options that the current Constitution offers in addressing the advanced reasons for constitutional amendments announced by the President.
- 2025 Fiscal Constraints in the National Budget
The constitutional amendment process is a complex and large undertaking requiring significant resources for enabling strong citizen participation in the reform process. Given Zambia’s current fiscal position, it is our view that the National budget for 2025 will not be able to absorb this cost given the continued widening of its fiscal deficit beyond the 6.4% experienced in 2024.
The country is grappling with debt service payments and a high public wage bill which have continued to consume over 50% of allocated expenditure for 2025. Therefore, proceeding with this undertaking will mean realigning spending priorities amidst an already tight fiscal position. Considering the country has just come out of a drought situation which greatly affected our financial position, it will not be prudent for government to undertake this reform process at this time as this will come at a strain to the national resource envelope for 2025.
- Rushed Constitutional reforms
The undersigned Civil Society Organizations hold the view that the proposed reforms to the constitution are rushed given that the country has about 18 months until the 2026 general elections, a timeframe not sufficient to deliver a comprehensive constitutional review. Further, CSOs have repeatedly urged the government to initiate a constitutional reform process early in its term of office. This did not happen. It is now our considered view that a rush to amend the Constitution ahead of the next election will be politically motivated. The approach proposed is similar to the attempt made by the previous Patriotic Front government to amend the constitution for self serving political reasons which was roundly rejected by the people of Zambia.
During the campaign for the infamous Bill 10, Women and youth participation were used as a smoke screen for politically motivated proposed amendments. We the undersigned CSOs see the fronting of women in the President’s announcement as a repeat of what was done before. CSOs are left with the understanding that these proposed intentions may be politically motivated to support a delimitation process using women and youth engagement as a front.
- Civil Society wishes to categorically state that it understands the mounting pressure on politicians as the country moves to the next general elections but rejects being used to rubber stamp a flawed process that lacks public demand and broad-based consultations. Instead CSOs advance that if government is sincere, it will undertake an inclusive and transparent process and heed to advice to postpone this undertaking
- CSOs further advance that the country is facing significant economic hardships that have inflated the cost of living making unaffordable most basics needs for many Zambia. More recently, the World Bank Poverty and Equity Assessment Report of 2025 (covering the period 2015-2022) ranked Zambia as the 6th most impoverished country globally and 4th highest in Africa, competing only with countries in difficult contexts such as war. Given this, our view is that the priority and the focus of the government should be alleviating current economic challenges and making more affordable the cost of basic needs, particularly focusing on reducing food inflation which remains extremely high at 20%. The constitutional review process at this point is not a priority and can be undertaken at a later stage.
Based on the above, we demand that the government immediately halt this rushed process and instead commit to a post 2026 process that will ensure adequate resources are committed, a clear road map is developed and broad-based consultations are enabled for a participatory constitutional review process.
We call upon citizens, traditional leaders, faith-based organizations and other stakeholders to demand a transparent and accountable constitutional reform process that will also incorporate the Referendum process to adopt an expanded Bill of Rights.
As civil society Organizations, we remain committed to monitoring any proposed review of the constitution to ensure it reflects the will of the governed not the governor.
Signed by the following Civil Society Organizations:
- Alliance for Community Action- ACA
- Action Aid Zambia- AAZ
- Alliance for Accountability Advocates Zambia- AAAZ
- Advocates for Democratic Governance Foundation – ADEG
- Civil Society for Poverty Reduction- CSPR
- Centre for Trade Policy and Development- CTPD
- Chapter One Foundation- COF
- Transparency International Zambia- TIZ
- Women and Law in Southern Africa- WLSA
- Women for Change- WFC
- Women in Law and Development in Africa-WILDAF
- Zambia Alliance for Women- ZAW
- Zambia Council for Social Development- ZCSD
- Zambian Governance Foundation – ZGF
