State House has requested the signatories of a consortium of opposition political parties to submit their detailed, clause-by-clause objections to Constitutional Amendment Bill No. This follows the delivery of an open letter to State House on Tuesday by a group of opposition leaders, calling on President Hakainde Hichilema to withdraw the Bill and warning that the process is fueling political and ethnic tensions. In a statement, State House Chief Communication Specialist Clayson Hamasaka said State House has now studied the letter.
He urged the signatories to move from political grandstanding to genuine engagement, noting a lack of specific criticism in their submission. āFor all its dramatic presentation, the oppositionās letter delivers an astonishing omission: it condemns Bill 7 without pointing to even a single clause that they claim to oppose,ā Mr. Hamasaka stated.
He contrasted this with President Hichilemaās past opposition to Bill 10, where he openly identified specific democratic threats. Hamasaka challenged the consortium to demonstrate similar clarity, posing specific questions about their objections. āIs it the delimitation provisions that strengthen fair representation and equitable resource distribution?
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Or is it the Mixed-Member Proportional Representation system that finally opens guaranteed spaces for women, youth, and persons with disabilities?ā State House has formally requested the signatories to submit their clause-by-clause objections by the Sunday deadline, stating that anything less would confirm public suspicions about the letterās intent. Hamasaka concluded that if the objections are real, specific, and constructive, the government will give them due consideration. However, he warned, āif, after all the public posture and noise, they remain unable to identify a single clause in dispute, Zambians will be left with an unavoidable conclusion: that the letter was never about Bill 7, but about spectacle.ā
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