“Two terms are not enough?” — Mwamba challenges growing calls for Hichilema to stay beyond 2031

LUSAKA – Debate over Zambia’s presidential term limits has resurfaced, with one of the Tonse Pamodzi Alliance leaders Emmanuel Mwamba questioning growing calls for President Hakainde Hichilema to remain in office beyond the constitutional two-term limit. Mwamba says the argument that a president needs more than two terms to deliver development risks reopening a constitutional […]

President Hakainde Hichilema

LUSAKA – Debate over Zambia’s presidential term limits has resurfaced, with one of the Tonse Pamodzi Alliance leaders Emmanuel Mwamba questioning growing calls for President Hakainde Hichilema to remain in office beyond the constitutional two-term limit.

Mwamba says the argument that a president needs more than two terms to deliver development risks reopening a constitutional debate Zambia confronted more than two decades ago.

“They are now campaigning for a third term even if he didn’t win this new term claiming two terms are not enough,” Mwamba said.

“A good President targets the first 100 days to achieve momentous development in five years.

“They are now saying he needs more than two terms.

“A good President appoints his cabinet usually in his first 10 days. He takes three to six months to finish appointing key officials.

“These will be lost years for Zambia.”

Mwamba’s comments come as other voices, including within the ruling UPND camp, have publicly raised questions about the current presidential term limit.

Calls for Hichilema to go beyond 2031

UPND proportional representation MP Florence Chileshe Chama has said that women in Zambia want development and supporting President Hichilema to remain in office beyond 2031. Chama was speaking in the context of calls for Hichilema to continue beyond his second term.

“As women in Zambia, we want development, we don’t want democracy,” Chama said in her thanks statement to President Hichilema for appointing her.

Meanwhile, politician and social commentator Chilufya Tayali has called for the presidential term limit to be scrapped, arguing that frequent changes in leadership can interrupt continuity and development.

Tayali has said the ten-year ceiling is “counterproductive” and that voters should be able to determine whether a president remains in office.

These comments have brought the constitutional question back into public discussion just weeks after President Hichilema began his second term.

Under the Constitution, a person who has twice held office as President is not eligible for election as President.

The Chiluba precedent

The debate has a significant historical precedent.

In 2001, then-President Frederick Chiluba faced a campaign within his ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy to change the constitutional framework and enable him to seek a third term.

The proposal encountered resistance from opposition parties, civil society and members of Chiluba’s own party. His Vice-President Christon Tembo publicly opposed the third-term campaign, while several senior MMD figures and ministers also resisted it.

Chiluba eventually announced in May 2001 that he would not seek another term and stepped down at the end of his second term.

The episode remains one of the defining moments in Zambia’s post-1991 political history because it demonstrated that changing presidential tenure was not simply a matter of political support within the governing party.

What does the Constitution currently provide?

The constitutional position is clear under Article 106: the presidential term is five years, and a person who has twice held office as President is not eligible for election as President.

The Constitution was amended in 2025, but the amendments did not remove the presidential two-term limit. Parliament’s official description of the 2025 constitutional amendment specifically lists changes to the electoral system, parliamentary composition and other provisions, including removal of the two-term limit for mayors and council chairpersons—not the President.

That distinction is important as the current debate develops.

Is Hichilema himself seeking a third term?

There is currently a difference between public calls by supporters or political commentators for the term limit to be changed and an announced decision by President Hichilema to seek a third term.

The President has just begun his second term following the August 13, 2026 election. Current reporting describes it as his second and final term under the existing constitutional framework.

The question now being raised publicly is therefore whether the Constitution should remain as it is, or whether the country should reopen the issue of presidential term limits.

For Zambia, the debate is not entirely new.

It touches on a much older question: Should political stability and continuity be achieved by allowing leaders to serve beyond existing limits, or through institutions and succession within the constitutional framework?

As the discussion grows, the words and positions of political leaders—and any formal constitutional proposal that may emerge—will be important to watch.

Zambian Eye will continue to follow the debate and separate calls for constitutional change from any formal process to amend the Constitution.