Zambians Have Always Rejected Removing Presidential Term Limits, Says William Harrington

Former transport and communications minister William Harrington has said Zambians have consistently rejected proposals to remove presidential term limits, pointing to submissions made to the Chona, Mvunga, Mwanakatwe and Mung’omba constitutional review commissions. He spoke while the ruling United Party for National Development (UPND) pushes for a constitutional amendment to remove the limit, which would allow President Hakainde Hichilema to continue ruling beyond 2031.

William Harrington’s insights on governance resonate strongly with the public’s sentiments regarding term limits.

The push has come from within the party’s own ranks in Parliament. UPND proportional representation MP Florence Chileshe Chama, one of 17 women the party nominated to the 20 seats reserved for women, said in a video shared on 20 September that women in Zambia “don’t want democracy but development”. She suggested this could be achieved by supporting Mr Hichilema beyond his final term, and other UPND members have made similar calls in recent days.

Civil society has pushed back hard. Civil rights activist Brebner Changala warned that “if there’s something Zambians will not tolerate even in their collective docility, it is a third term,” and said the UPND should not take the public’s silence after the disputed August elections for granted. Governance campaigner Mulenga Kapwepwe asked: “What is wrong with the Constitution for people to start pushing a narrative that the Constitution should be changed?”

Mr Harrington took the argument back to the historical record. In an interview, he said citizens who took part in successive constitutional reviews overwhelmingly supported limiting a president to two five-year terms, because they feared unlimited tenure would concentrate power and undermine democratic succession.

He said the Constitution guaranteed freedom of speech and conscience, but that citizens on either side of the amendment question had a duty to reach their positions through education and research rather than political expediency. Such research, Mr Harrington said, would point in only one direction.

“If citizens cared to take time to study the submissions made to various constitution review commissions such as the Chona, Mvunga, Mwanakatwe and Mung’omba commissions, they will discover that the overwhelming number of citizens consistently and persistently rejected unlimited or ‘freehold’ presidential terms, insisting that the presidential term of office must be limited to only two five-year terms,” he said.

The main case for term limits, he said, had always been the need to prevent dictatorship and the prolonged concentration of power in one individual. Mr Harrington recalled that the Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ) and various political commentators had warned that removing the limit risked breeding a dictatorial leader or creating a life president, undermining the country’s democratic process.

Term limits also protect orderly change at the top, he said, allowing a country to experience regular and peaceful transfers of leadership. “Presidential term limits serve as a critical mechanism to ensure periodic, peaceful political succession,” Mr Harrington said.

He spoke directly to leaders who believe a decade in office is too short. Where a president felt that 10 years were not enough to achieve their objectives, Mr Harrington said, the answer lay in strengthening institutions and developing future leaders, not in changing the Constitution to extend tenure.

Zambians, he said, had rejected constitutional changes before when they saw them as driven by self-serving political interests. The country’s own history offered the clearest lesson, and he cited the failed third-term bid by former president Frederick Chiluba in 2001.

The amendment question is now open inside the ruling party. Mr Harrington says the answer has already been given four times, by citizens before four commissions: two terms of five years, and no more.

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