The Editor Zambia
Whilst some current serving members of parliament and aspiring candidates are jostling to contest in the yet-to-be-created constituencies, Zambians need to understand the benefits that come with the delimitation exercise.
President Hakainde Hichilema officially signed the Constitution Amendment Bill No. 7 of 2025 into law on December 18, 2025, during a ceremony in Lusaka, following the landmark passing of Bill 7 in parliament. 
Interestingly, even those that campaigned vigorously against bill 7, are jostling and positioning themselves in yet-to-be-created constituencies.
Others are even complaining because their constituencies will not be delimitated, lamenting that its unfair because people in those areas will not receive development. The majority of those complaining are opposition MPs.
One of the fundamental areas that necessitated the amendment of the constitution was to bring equitable distribution of resources and elected representation.
The primary goal of this exercise is to fulfill requirements of article 68 (1) (a) to ensure fair representation and better resource allocation, such as the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), across vast or densely populated areas.
The new constituencies mean more resources will be sent to the grassroots to decide which priority areas receive the much needed development.
Some sections of the society have questioned why traditional rulers are endorsing President Hakainde Hichilema and predicting for his landslide victory on August 13, election.
The answer is simple. There is no any alternative to development being delivered across the country. People have witnessed 2.5 million children going back to school. They have witnessed 2,800 classroom blocks being constructed and completed using CDF as of the end of September 2025.
The endorsements are not political or stage-managed, as some opposition claims. They reflect and translate the impact of development on the ground across the country.
The endorsements reflect the positive impact of the government’s decentralisation policy, where development is being driven by the grassroots themselves.
Districts where new constituencies are created will mean they will have more CDF. For example, Kasama has two constituencies, namely Kasama Central and Lukasha. In its current form, the district will receive K80 million in CDF.
Should recommendations for two additional constituencies in the same district be approved, the district will get K160 million.
Another example is the Lusaka district. The district has seven constituencies. Lusaka, before the delimitation, it gets K280 million. Should submissions for four more constituencies created in the district, the allocation will increase to K440 million.
The CDF is structured into three main components:
- Community Projects (infrastructure development),
- Youth, Women,
- Community Empowerment (grants and loans for income-generating activities),
- Secondary Boarding School and Skills Development Bursaries.
What this means is that the uptake of Community Projects, Community Empowerment, and School and Skills Development Bursaries will triple benefitting more vulnerable in communities.
This means more children will acquire skills. This means more youths and women will be empowered. This means more community infrastructure projects such as police stations, classroom blocks, roads, bridges, and water reticulations centres will be constructed.
What this means is that funding for infrastructure projects such as schools, health posts, roads, bridges, boreholes, and market facilities will increase. The districts will have more schools, more markets, and more sanitary facilities.
It also means, grants, and revolving loans intended for cooperatives, clubs, and individuals to boost income-generating activities, and entrepreneurship will increase. It further means a good number of youths will alleviate from poverty.
The financial support for vulnerable learners in boarding schools and youths seeking vocational or technical skills training will increase. More life skills for vulnerable people.
This is what the opposition political parties, including some members of parliament, were fighting against. They were fighting the government for prioritising increasing social programmes that would alleviate Zambians from poverty.
The opposition was fighting against equitable distribution of resources and elected representation. They fought the government for being inclusive, recognising women, youths, and persons with disabilities to be represented in parliament.
