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Chama North Patriotic Front (PF) Member of Parliament, Yotam Mtayachalo, has warned that the ongoing delimitation process is likely to fail due to vested political interests.
In a statement issued in Lusaka on Monday, Mtayachalo lamented Zambia’s long-standing failure to build consensus on constitutional reforms, dating back to 1972.
He noted that every constitution-making process had been marred by controversy.
He recalled that in 2011, the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) government introduced a bill to amend the Constitution, which would have paved the way for the creation of 100 additional constituencies.
However, both the PF and the now-ruling United Party for National Development (UPND), while in opposition, rejected the bill.
“In 2021, the PF government attempted to amend the Constitution through Bill 10, which proposed increasing the number of constituencies and introducing proportional representation. Again, the UPND blocked the bill,” Mtayachalo said.
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He criticized successive governments for launching their own constitution review processes instead of engaging stakeholders to build consensus on national interest issues.
“This is why when a bill reaches Parliament, it lacks broad support. Because of political selfishness, we have continuously failed the people on this matter,” he said.
Mtayachalo argued that it was unacceptable for Zambia to lag behind in constitutional reforms while other nations in the region had successfully adopted strong legal frameworks.
He urged Zambians to take charge of the process rather than leaving it to politicians, warning that no meaningful progress would be achieved otherwise.
“We politicians are selfish, and Parliament is not the best avenue to adopt a Constitution for obvious reasons. In my view, the only way to achieve a truly people-driven Constitution that stands the test of time is through a Constituent Assembly,” Mtayachalo said.
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