Dirge to a Zambian Constitutional Amendment. When Religion Meets Politics (PDF)

Polemic Paper from the year 2020 in the subject Sociology - Religion, grade: 1.0, Kwame Nkrumah University, course: Religion and Politics, language: English, abstract: This paper examines the underlying motive why Zambia's ruling Party, Patriotic Front (PF) sponsored amending the Zambia Constitution through the now defunct Bill 10. Amidst a raft of sixteen amendments to the Constitution, was a Trojan Horse meant to give the President more power? The opposing United Party for National Development (UNPD) smelled a rat. Coming close to the 2021 General Elections it was feared that Bill 10 would allow the incumbent to run for an unconstitutional Third Term.

This essay argues that the real master stroke, which the opposition must have unmasked was to present the Constitution amendment in the manner of the Emperor's new suit - a wolf in the sheep's clothing of Zambia as a Christian Nation. Objective number one of Bill 10 is listed as, to "revise the Preamble in order to reaffirm the Christian character of Zambia." Right there was the Trojan Horse in plain sight which since 29 December 1991 has been used to pull the wool over the Zambian people. The Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops has been opposed to this declaration from its inception, precisely for one main reason: its potential to abuse religion for nefarious political ends when religion meets politics. Thankfully, Bill 10 is now dead, but is it really buried?