Bill 7 has more evil than good, Oasis Forum says
By Tony Nkhoma
ZAMBIANS must rise up and reject BILL 7 because it contains more evil content than good, the Oasis Forum, a consortium of non-governmental organisations, has said.
And the forum has accused Minister of Justice Princess Kasune of betraying the people of Zambia by aligning herself with a selfish agenda.
Speaking on behalf of the coalition in Lusaka yesterday, Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ) executive director Bishop Andrew Mwenda urged members of Parliament (MPs) not to betray the collective wisdom of citizens.
The MPs should resist the temptation to abuse their privileged elective positions to side with the arrogance of numbers to tamper with and amend the Constitution without consent from the people of Zambia.
Bishop Mwenda said Kasune had betrayed the people of Zambia by choosing to align herself with a selfish agenda.
He said Kasune’s countrywide meetings over the call for Constitution amendments had delivered falsehoods and blackmail suggesting to the people that if the bill failed then Zambia would have lost good things.
“We also disagree with the minister of justice that if the current process fails, Zambia would lose a lot of good things. In fact, the contrary is true. Very little good will come out of this process,” Bishop Mwenda said.
He said Bill 7 was illegitimate and not supported by Zambians.
The proposal was only being supported by a political party.
“We note that the purported consultations being undertaken by the minister of justice is being done behind closed doors and with selected traditional leaders and other unknown stakeholders,” Bishop Mwenda said.
He said the noble intention of Bill 7 of including women, youth and persons with disabilities in key governance institutions was too little and ineffective.
“At a time government is announcing that it does not have enough resources to employ volunteer doctors, to buy more maize from farmers, a blotted legislature intended to be introduced by the bill will also serve to rob citizens of resources for the much-needed healthcare and other critical needy areas requiring urgent attention,” Bishop Mwenda said.
He noted that the rest of the proposed clauses that needed changes targeted elections, making it untimely and unwise considering the difficulties of garnering consensus among political stakeholders and citizens on such provisions just before general elections.
“It is our position that the country will benefit more from holistic reform of the Constitution, which includes the expansion of the Bill of Rights to include economic and social rights based on a broad-based stakeholder consensus both on the reform process and the substance of the Bill of Rights,” Bishop Mwenda said.
He said it was shocking that the amendments were a narrow partisan benefit for those in power, urging the UPND government to listen to the voices of the citizens, civil society organisations, the Church, traditional leaders and the legal profession by abandoning and withdrawing the Constitution (Amendment) Bill No. 7 of 2025.
