NATION REPORTER
THE UPND should not attempt to bring its Bill 7 to Parliament or they should be ready to face the embarrassment and humiliation of getting defeated because the opposition is determined to defend and protect the Constitution from being adulterated at the altar of political expedience, Miles Sampa has said.
Mr Sampa, the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament says the UPND does not command the two-thirds majority in Parliament required to pass the contentious Constitution Amendment Bill No. 7 of 2025 and that is why the governing party has been creating by-elections to increase their numbers.
Mr Sampa, who is also the Patriotic Front (PF) Matero Member of Parliament has warned that any attempt by the UPND to table the bill before the House would result in failure and political embarrassment.
He said the opposition alliance was prepared to block the bill from its first reading even if it meant defeating it by a single vote.
“They (UPND) do not have the two-thirds majority. If they don’t want to embarrass themselves, they should not bring it. Otherwise, we will fail it and we are confident we have the numbers,” Mr Sampa said in an interview. “We are determined with our hearts that we will fail it even if it be by one vote.”
The Matero lawmaker accused the UPND of having been quietly enlisting the support of some Independent Members of Parliament in a desperate push to meet the required threshold for amending the Constitution.
He however said he could not name principled Independent MPs who had refused to be bought or compromised by the UPND citing concerns for their safety because the governing party had developed the propensity of harassing those who reject their kind of governance.
Mr Sampa, said the ruling party’s aggressive push for by-elections in Lumezi and the pending one in Mfuwe was part of its broader strategy to secure a numerical advantage in Parliament.
“They have been pushing for by-elections. Starting with JJ (Emmanuel Jay Banda), coming to Munir, to Mabunga, and they’ve calculated on the independent MP of Chienge. Even if we give them all those seats, they still won’t have two-thirds,” Mr Sampa said.
Mr Sampa said the opposition alliance would begin its resistance on the ground in Lumezi, where he pledged to lead a campaign to ensure UPND suffered a serious electoral defeat. “We’ll start teaching them a lesson from here (Lumezi). By making them lose. That is the solution. We are on the ground and we’ll campaign hard to make sure the opposition wins,” Mr Sampa said.
He also suggested that the recent conviction of Chienge Independent MP Reverend Given Katuta was being used by UPND as another means to create parliamentary vacancies, but insisted that those manoeuvres would ultimately be futile. “They may think they are gaining numbers, but we will show them that they have gained nothing. It is an exercise in futility,” he said.
