MATTERS ARISING | 12-Party Letter, Oasis Forum & The Battle to Internationalise Bill 7The fight over Bill 7 has moved from courtrooms and church altars to the desks of foreign diplomats. Within forty-eight hours, Oasis Forum announced plans to “possibly engage the international community” over what it calls an “illegal” constitutional process. Twelve opposition parties have now written a joint rebuke to President Hakainde Hichilema, copied to the United Nations, African Union and SADC, warning that “the nation is boiling” and urging external vigilance.
For a domestic amendment bill, the escalation is striking.The language of the letter is deliberate and loaded. The presidents of Citizens First, PF, Socialist Party, NAREP, UNIP and others accuse the Head of State of using “reckless” claims about tribal hatred to shield Bill 7 from scrutiny. “It is an attempt to weaponize regional sentiment and sow seeds of tribal mistrust for personal political gain,” they write, insisting that Zambia “does not belong to any tribe or region.” The charge is a direct response to Hichilema’s own complaint at his press conference that “the level of hatred for me is shocking” and that some critics oppose him because of where he was born.
On Oasis Forum, the opposition leaders choose moral vocabulary, not legalese. They praise the Forum as a “principled defender” of democracy that walked “shoulder to shoulder” with Hichilema against Bill 10. They now accuse him of “hypocrisy” for allowing allies to ridicule the same body at State House.
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The letter claims the Monday 1 December livestream became a platform where invited guests used “chaotic, patronizing, divisive and insulting” language against Oasis Forum and Catholic bishops. It argues that this tone revealed the President’s “mindset” on Bill 7 more clearly than any official statement.The Church occupies a central part of the text. The letter reminds Hichilema that it was the Catholic Church that “stood by you when you were incarcerated and charged with treason.” It condemns attacks on bishops as “hypocritical, disrespectful, and a betrayal of the moral voice of our nation,” citing recent statements from ZCCB, CCZ and EFZ that call for Bill 7 to be withdrawn and delinked from the 2026 election timetable.
Here the opposition borrows Oasis Forum’s core argument that a rushed, election-timed process cannot pass the test of inclusivity, regardless of how many technical submissions have been counted. History is used as a warning shot. The authors invoke Kenneth Kaunda’s past remarks that “anyone was better placed to lead this nation except one person” who would divide it, then claim that this prophecy is “fast materialising.” They link Bill 7 to a wider pattern that includes the suspension of Constitutional Court judges and alleged “weaponization” of the Public Order Act.
To external readers, the message is clear. The opposition wants to frame Bill 7 not as a normal amendment cycle but as part of a drift toward “authoritarian tendencies” that deserves early regional and international attention. Yet the letter is also revealing for who is signing it.
Citizens First, PF, Socialist Party, New Heritage, PAC, UNIP, NAREP and several small parties have spent years failing to build a viable electoral alliance. Some have split. Others have competed for the same narrow base.
On Bill 7 they have finally found common language. The letter becomes the clearest joint platform this group has produced since 2021. It positions Oasis Forum as their institutional shield and moral reference point, even though they themselves will ultimately need MPs in Parliament to block the bill if it reaches the floor.
On the other side, government and its allies are building a different story. Chief Government Spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa says dialogue with Oasis Forum collapsed because it arrived with a “fixed position” and “no alternative proposals.” UPND media director Mark Simuuwe insists that “those opposed to it have lost the debate,” pointing to over 11,860 submissions to the Technical Committee and arguing that Bill 7 deals with thirteen targeted clauses, not a wholesale rewrite.
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