Minister of Information and Media, Cornelius Mweetwa, has backed President Hakainde Hichilema’s call for constitutional amendments, asserting that the President’s reference to lacunae and ambiguities in the Zambian Constitution is grounded in law.
Speaking during a media briefing in Choma today, Mr. Mweetwa, who also serves as Chief Government Spokesperson, clarified that President Hichilema’s remarks during his recent address to Parliament about the need for constitutional reforms were made in good faith. He emphasized that the President’s concerns regarding gaps in the constitution were not aimed at manipulating the law but rather ensuring its smooth application.
“President Hichilema did not err when he pointed out that the Zambian Constitution contains certain lacunae that need to be addressed. His comments were not an attempt to adulterate the application of the constitution but to safeguard its integrity,” Mweetwa explained
He specifically highlighted Article 52(6) of the Zambian Constitution as a major concern. The article grants the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) discretionary powers to cancel an election and call for fresh nominations, but it lacks specific guidelines on the timeframe within which those nominations should be held.
Mweetwa described this legal gap as “dangerous,” adding that it could negatively impact the electoral process, particularly in the event of a presidential election cancellation. He urged legal experts such as prominent lawyer John Sangwa and the Law Association of Zambia to carefully consider the legal ramifications of this article, especially if a presidential election is canceled while the general election proceeds.
“The President raised valid points on non-contentious issues that can be amended with minimal cost and meet a national consensus,” Mweetwa noted, underscoring that the government remains fully committed to holding elections in line with the current constitutional mandate, which sets the date for elections as the second Thursday of August.
Mweetwa’s remarks are seen as a response to concerns raised by some sections of society regarding potential constitutional amendments. He reassured the public that the government has no hidden agenda and is focused on addressing legal gaps to ensure a more transparent and reliable electoral process.
The debate over the constitution comes at a critical time, with legal and political stakeholders now urged to review the possible implications of Article 52(6) and other areas highlighted by the President.
There’s no constitutional crisis so why even bring to parliament? The president should have stuck to the present crises facing the nation and explain how this can be tackled. Please we don’t want civil strife in the country. Face the people at the ballot box and they will either ” extend” your mandate or reject you. Once you are rejected, pack your bags and go back to whatever you were doing before.
Loadshedding is a more serious threat to our nation at this juncture than the so-called lacunae. In fact, lawyers like to plant lacunae in the constitution to enable them continue going to the bank laughing!
Yeah how about some Cabinet amendments? This cabinet is too big for nothing. Lets do away with unneccessary portfolios like Ministry of Information and Media.
Yeah! In a democracy this is a moribund ministry. It’s only there for control of freedom of speech! I’ll start a campaign to dump it!
Next it will be another useless lawyer who is the home affairs minister to issue threats of arrest.Sort load shedding than trying to cling to power
Okay we have heard but what is urgent for now is the energy crisis and food shortage. Those are the serious ‘lacunas’ government needs to look at urgently
Why has this lacuna just come up when we have some very urgent problems to sort out?
At the moment loadsheding is every Zambians
Concern.We all want to know when it will come
To an end.lets
Its because your welfare is he last thing on their minds
This shows that Politicians have their own agenda…they worried about staying in office for an extended period of time whilst majority of poor Zambians are worried about loadsheding and high costs of living …..am told even bread has now become ‘gold” in Zambia….Politicians don’t care because they have electricity 24/7
We can NOT afford these goons to be in power any longer, please!!!!!!!
These chaps upnd are a failed project, imagine how they have failed & they want to cling to power.. ohhhhh my God!!!!!
If there is a set of useless people are politicians really, this mweetwa guy so drunk with power, you chaps muzalila one day, lwenu
They arrest a boy for standing next to the freedom statue with a poster! FREE MWANZA!!
FTJ changed the constitution to spite KK, today if your parents are not from Zambia but you & your siblings are born & bred in Zambia you cannot stand as a president, you are deemed a foreigner.. imagine the wickedness
Zambia has gone to the dogs – village dogs for sure!!!!!
Bafikala sort out loadsheding and stop exporting Electricity….i thought Zimbabwe had no electricity but my friend in Harare said they only have just a few hours of loadsheding a day…..not more 4 hours loadsheding and we use the same Kariba….HH and his minions are exporting Electricity and putting money in their pockets
The world can survive without lawyers because we can automate their services through a computer question and answer software. Lawyers are liabilities to society. What we need are practical science and engineering skills to meet our electricity, food, shelter, medical and business needs. WE DONT NEED LAWYERS. just make law a mandatory minor major at degree level so that everyone can defend themselves during legal arguments
LOADSHEDDING
and we worried about 2026
I suggest we get expats from whatever country to come and take over
These chaps are digging a deeper hole for us and our grandchildren by increasing debt burden
This latest move by UPND exposes them to be only interested in political power. At a time Zambians are grappling with load shedding, food shortages and food poisoning etc, they only want more power and extended misrule. Well, history will judge this bunch harshly at this rate.
[52 (6) Where a candidate dies, resigns or becomes disqualified in
accordance with Article 70, 100 or 153 or a court disqualifies a
candidate for corruption or malpractice, after the close of
nominations and before the election date, the Electoral Commission
shall cancel the election and require the filing of fresh nominations
by eligible candidates and elections shall be held within thirty days
of the filing of the fresh nominations.]
Zambians will save themselves from a lot of trouble by impeaching this president now. What sort of president spends all his time plotting against his own citizens? I promise you that drama queen in State House has just started his shenanigans. This is just the start of trouble. Prepare yourselves from more hardships.
It’s awful to be a psychotic vuvuzela, because you will parrot your puppet master’s verbature and even swallow his excrement or urine anytime and anywhere. This is not a life yebo Mweetwa, you are a suntwe, wakasondoka yebo!
Mweetwa’s behaviour is a typical example of why real technocrats are reluctant to join mainstream politics. These guys reduce themselves to shameless levels. If one compares the statements that Garry and cornelius have been making both in opposition and now in Govt, it really makes sad reading and it does not inspire any level headed Zambian. But this does not end there it is reflected in the economic activities of the UPND over the last three years which according to these guys (UPND) has been “superb.” Zambia needs divine intervention to deliver us from these Mafias. If only they would acknowledge that they don’t know how to Govern. And that they are just there solely for their bellies.