Women Shut Out Again

....  NGOCC Slams Constitution Bill

By Francis Maingaila ♥️ 

Lusaka, Zambia – June 2, 2025 – The Non-Governmental Gender Organisations’ Coordinating Council (NGOCC) has strongly rejected the Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) Bill No. 7 of 2025, calling it a betrayal of democratic principles and a calculated attempt to sideline women, youth, and persons with disabilities from national governance.

Speaking during a media briefing this morning at the NGOCC Secretariat in Lusaka, Chairperson Beauty Katebe condemned the bill as exclusionary and politically motivated. 

She said the government’s approach has failed to uphold the transparency and inclusiveness it promised at the outset of the constitutional reform process.

“While we welcomed the government’s commitment to constitutional reform, it was with the expectation that the process would be transparent, consultative, and inclusive,” Katebe said. 

“What we are witnessing instead is a closed-door process that shuts out critical voices and undermines public confidence.”

She pointed out that the bill only provides for about 14 percent representation for women and marginalized groups—a figure she described as “deeply inadequate” and far below the regional benchmark of 50-50 representation set by the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

“This is not reform; it is regression,” she said. 

“Fourteen percent representation is a mockery of our regional and international commitments. It sustains the status quo and blocks any real path to inclusive governance.”

Katebe also raised alarm over the government’s continued withholding of the Electoral Review Technical Committee (ERTC) report, which informed many of the proposed amendments. 

She said the lack of public access to this report raises serious questions about the legitimacy of the bill.

“How can citizens trust a process when its foundation is concealed?” she asked. “Transparency is not optional—it’s a democratic obligation.”

Although the NGOCC acknowledged that some aspects of the bill appear progressive—such as measures to reduce by-election costs and a proposed 90-day restriction on ministers before elections—Katebe said these minor adjustments are being used to mask deeper flaws in the document.

“These token reforms cannot distract us from the fact that the bill fundamentally fails to deliver on inclusion and representation,” she said. 

“You cannot dangle a few concessions while entrenching structural exclusion.”

Calling on Members of Parliament to reject the bill, Katebe warned that any attempt to pass it without broad national consensus would be met with organized resistance.

“Parliament must not become an accomplice in undermining democracy,” she said. 

“We demand a Constitution that reflects the diversity and aspirations of all Zambians—not one designed to serve a privileged few.”

NGOCC has since urged the government to halt the current amendment process and initiate a fresh, transparent, and inclusive national dialogue. The organization also pledged to mobilize its national network to increase public awareness and mount civic pressure against what it described as “a dangerous assault on Zambia’s democratic gains.”