Africa-Press – Zambia. With Constitution Amendment Bill No. 7 now signed into law, constitutional lawyer John Sangwa says the national conversation must shift from stopping the bill to confronting its consequences through elections. He argues that presidential assent closes one chapter of the debate and opens another, one that is no longer legal but political in nature. Once a constitutional amendment becomes law, courts may interpret it, but repeal or alteration lies only with a future Parliament. That reality, Sangwa contends, leaves citizens with a single remaining lever: the vote.
The signing of Bill 7 has deepened frustration among critics who opposed both its content and the manner in which it was passed. For Sangwa, that frustration is understandable but dangerous if it turns into withdrawal. He warns that disengagement does not weaken a law already in force; it hardens it. Silence, apathy, and low turnout, he argues, are not acts of protest but acts of surrender that allow contested legislation to settle into permanence.
Sangwa frames the next phase as one of organisation rather than outrage. Opposition to Bill 7, he says, must now be expressed through voter registration, mobilisation, and clear electoral demands. Candidates seeking office should be pressed to state plainly whether they support retaining, amending, or repealing the law. Ambiguity, in his view, is no longer acceptable now that the amendment is operative.
He also places responsibility on civic institutions, including churches and civil society groups, to recalibrate their messaging. The task is no longer to stop a bill, but to explain how laws are undone in democratic systems. That requires patience, persistence, and participation, especially among younger voters whose political engagement will shape future Parliaments.
For Sangwa, Bill 7’s enactment does not mark the end of constitutional struggle but the beginning of a longer contest. Laws endure not only because they are passed, but because citizens stop contesting them. Whether Bill 7 remains in force, he argues, will ultimately be decided not in protest alone, but in polling stations.
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