Zambia, well known as Africa’s oasis of democracy as it is one of the very few African countries that has never experienced a military rule, not dictatorship with Keneth Kaunda being its longest ruling president, has been embroiled in a constitutional controversy. This is because the ongoing efforts by the President of Zambia Edgar Lungu to make adjustments to several parts of the country’s Constitution in what observers allege as a quest for dictatorial powers has drawn criticisms within and outside the country. The Constitution reforms will among other things strengthens the powers of President Edgar Lungu with less than two years to go before the general elections.
The new law which will soon be tabled before the National Assembly has become a target for criticism from the opposition and civil society fearing that with an absolute majority in the National Assembly held by Mr. Lungu’s Patriotic Front (FP) they can tow with the law to favour the president. If voted as it stands, Bill 10 extends the President’s powers to appoint judges and ministers, allows him to change the electoral map alone and transfers the responsibility for monetary policy from the Central Bank to the government.
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Speaking on the development Prof. Sishuwa Sishuwa Sishuwa, one of Zambia’s most respected academic and critic, and professor of political science at the University of Zambia said that this text (Bill 10) will dig the grave of democracy in Zambia, warning that “it is designed first and foremost to consolidate the FP’s hold on the country and make it impossible to dismiss President Edgar Lungu.”
Political observers note that the political climate in Zambia has deteriorated considerably since the disputed re-election in 2016 of Mr. Lungu, who was accused of authoritarian drift, and has so far been rather calm. Coming in second place, his main opponent, the leader of the United Party for National Development (UPND), Hakainde Hichilema, has always refused to acknowledge the victory of the incumbent, claiming massive fraud. He paid for his insolence of four months’ detention in 2017 for obstructing the presidential convoy, a “crime” qualified by the courts as “treason” and punishable by death.
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The charges against him were dropped, but Mr. Hichilema then denounced a “political” imprisonment. Suspicions of authoritarianism against Edgar Lungu were rekindled when he was allowed by the Constitutional Court last year to stand for re-election in 2021. Zambia’s Basic Law stipulates that the Head of State may run for two five-year terms. First elected in 2015 to succeed Michel Sata, who died in the line of duty, Mr. Lungu was re-elected in 2016. As a result, members of the opposition therefore considered that he could no longer be a candidate in 2021, but the country’s highest judicial body ruled that he could. To convince them, Mr. Lungu publicly urged the judges not to “plunge the country into chaos”.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.