By Thandiwe Ketis Ngoma

The United Party for National Development (UPND), through its Media Director Mark Simuuwe, is advancing a dangerous and deceptive agenda, misleadingly packaged as constitutional reform. The Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) Bill No. 7 of 2025 is not a vehicle for progress. It is a calculated and strategic assault on the country’s democratic foundations. This proposed legislation is nothing less than a power grab, cloaked in the language of cost-cutting and inclusion, designed to entrench the ruling party and dismantle mechanisms of electoral accountability.

Undermining the Vote: A Direct Attack on Democracy

The most alarming provision in the proposed bill is the clause that allows political parties to replace elected officials without holding by-elections. This provision is being sold to the public as a cost-saving measure, but in reality, it is an insidious attempt to nullify the power of the electorate. It amounts to legalizing electoral fraud. It denies citizens their fundamental right to elect their leaders through the ballot.

Council and Ministerial Term Limits: A Cloak for Political Rigging

The proposal to fix five-year terms for councillors and to dissolve councils 90 days before elections is a strategic move to disrupt grassroots political accountability. It is intended to create a political vacuum that the ruling party can fill with its loyalists and proxies. Councils are crucial institutions for local governance and public service delivery. Disbanding them prematurely weakens citizen oversight and democratic engagement at the local level.

Empty Quotas: A Hollow Promise of Inclusion

The inclusion of quotas for women, youth, and persons with disabilities in the proposed amendment is being advertised as a bold step toward inclusion. But in the absence of political will and institutional change, quotas alone are ineffective. Inclusion cannot be legislated in a vacuum. It requires a political culture that values diverse voices and empowers marginalized groups with actual decision-making authority.

This clause is merely a public relations stunt aimed at winning international praise and distracting domestic scrutiny. It is not about justice. It is about buying headlines without delivering substance.

The Real Goal: Stripping Power from the People and Giving It to the Party

At its core, this Bill is about shifting sovereignty from the citizens to political parties. It seeks to replace the public mandate with internal party control. Such a change would erode vital checks and balances that are the cornerstone of any functioning democracy. By centralizing power in the hands of a few party elites, the proposed amendments weaken constitutional protections and pave the way for authoritarianism.

This Is Not Reform. It Is a Blueprint for Tyranny.

Civil society, religious leaders, opposition parties, students, and all defenders of democracy must reject this Trojan horse in its entirety. This is not the time for polite engagement or quiet diplomacy. This is the moment for absolute and unwavering resistance. The Constitution is not a political sandbox for those in power to manipulate at their convenience. It is the sacred contract between the people and the state, and any attempt to alter it for partisan gain is a betrayal of the highest order.

Zambians did not endure decades of struggle, sacrifice, and political evolution to create a multiparty democracy only to see it dismantled by clever legalese and deceitful spin.

We must not be fooled. We must not be silent. We must not surrender our hard-won democratic freedoms.

The UPND Must Be Reminded

Power in a democracy does not belong to political parties. It does not belong to State House. It belongs to the people. If the UPND continues down this path of undermining democratic principles, it will face the full wrath of the people at the ballot box in 2026.