WE DON’T NEED BILL 7 – Kabimba

WE DON’T NEED BILL 7

…Zambians need solutions to cost of living – Kabimba

 By Tony Nkhoma

ZAMBIA does not need Bill 7 but solutions to the high cost of living, Economic Front Party (EF) president Winter Kabimba says.

Kabimba said what President Hakainde Hichilema and the United Party for National Development (UPND) needed to do was address the high poverty levels in the country instead of bringing back the illegal Bill 7.

“So Bill 7 should not be a priority for UPND. The priority for UPND, for now, should be the high cost of living,” he said.

Kabimba said the top priority for Hichilema and the UPND was the suffering that Zambians had been subjected to and not Bill 7.

He was speaking when he featured on a live interview on Hot FM Radio yesterday.

Kabimba said priority number one for Hichilema and the UPND was the high cost of living.

He said even if Zambia today had the best Constitution, it would not change the suffering the people were being subjected to.

“Even if you had the best Constitution, assuming that you can give us the best Constitution between now and 2026, that is not what is going to change the fortunes,” Kabimba said.

He said the legal interests of the bill are only going to serve the interest of the UPND as a party.

“What is going to change the fortunes of the UPND is the legal interest of it. If it’s not legal, it’s not right,” Kabimba said.

Kabimba condemned the use of chiefs to push for the return of the bill to Parliament.

He said patronising chiefs on Bill 7 was killing the country.

Traditional leaders were not the only and sole stakeholders on Bill 7.

Kabimba said chiefs were a minority in the country and spoke one language like choir members to all the presidents out of patronage.

“You know, this issue of patronage is what is killing this country. This issue of patronage is the same language. The chiefs were doing the same to the late Edgar Chagwa Lungu and they are using it to Hichilema,” Kabimba said.

He challenged politicians to engage in issue-based campaigns ahead of the 2026 general elections and desist from personal attacks.

“That’s my appeal to everyone, UPND and my colleagues in the opposition. Can’t we go to the Zambian people and say to the Zambian people, what you are going to do if you elect me is this, and if you believe that this is correct, therefore vote for me,” Kabimba said.

He said the Zambia Army and the Zambia Police Service were not there to keep Hichilema in power but to serve the interest of Zambians.

Kabimba said the failure by the police to act in the interest of the public was because of the attitude and the behaviour of the appointing authority and the appointee.

“The problem is the attitude of the appointing authority and the attitude of the appointed. That’s where the problem lies. Not in the act of appointment. The problem is in the attitude. That’s one of the major problems that I have,” he said.

Kabimba said police officers were trained to protect the interest of Zambians first and not political interest.

“The problem is the attitude. You have heard people in the government, both current and in the past, telling police officers ‘if you don’t toe the line, we shall transfer you from Lusaka to Kaputa’. That’s the reason why you failed to develop the new area. So, these are attitudes,” Kabimba said.

The Constitutional Court has declared the foundational process of the Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) Bill No 7 of 2025 as unconstitutional because it had not been subjected to wide consultation of citizens.

This forced government to defer the bill in Parliament and has since been scheming to return it to the House.