Zambia’s Policy Landscape Faces Overlapping Functional Challenges
Zambia’s future policy trajectory currently hangs in tight balance, with several frameworks and instruments touching on social, tax, constitutional and economic governance.
The push for Bill 7 raises with a specific particular concern, as its provisions appear to lean more toward electoral interests rather than addressing broader national development priorities.
With just about seven months remaining right before the dissolution of Parliament in May 2026, it would be both costly and politically risky to embark on sweeping reforms such as the Bill 7 and other major policy shifts in an election year.
This clearly underscores the urgent need to avoid policy slippages that could easily derail economic stability and governance consistency witnessed so far.
On the fiscal side, the recently unveiled budget may also reflect an underestimation of Zambia’s potential factors, as this further raises a key question regarding a situation where there can be possibilities of budget expansions like supplementary budgets which usually come in between June and August each fiscal running year due to resource reallocation exercises, inflation patterns and other external developments.
I personally think that a more ambitious stance on aggregate budget figures could have demonstrated much greater commitment to meeting up with the country’s developmental perspectives and macroeconomic needs.
At this critical juncture, Zambia must exercise prudence especially ensuring that policy changes are timely, with transparent models and development-driven aspects rather than embarking on politically motivated goals.
