Wynter Kabimba tells Hichilema to silence third-term push, says it started only two months after the election

Economic Front leader Wynter Kabimba has asked President Hakainde Hichilema to tell people pushing to remove the presidential term limit to stop, warning that such calls will harm him. Speaking on Diamond TV's COSTA programme on Sunday, Mr Kabimba said the debate has come too soon. "It's a pity that this debate is coming hardly two months after UPND has won an election, hardly two months," he said. He argued that the President has more pressing matters to deal with than whether he can stay beyond his term. Mr Kabimba also turned to land. He said he was surprised that the UPND government, and earlier governments, see nothing wrong with the Lands Act of 1995, which he says has given foreigners control of Zambian land. ## Background The Constitution limits a president to two five-year terms. Mr Hichilema won re-election this year, so he is now in his second and final term. The question of a third term has been raised in recent weeks. In September, a call was made for the limit to be scrapped, and civil society groups warned the UPND against a third-term agenda. Activist Laura Miti urged Zambians to resist any such push. On 26 October the Attorney General said it was too early to say whether the limit needs to be removed, with the words that time will tell. ## Why it matters Any change to the presidential term limit would mean amending the Constitution, which is a long process involving Parliament and the public. Mr Kabimba served as Attorney General and Justice Minister in an earlier government, and he is now speaking from the opposition side to the President directly. For ordinary Zambians, the debate decides whether the rules on how long a president can serve stay as they are, and whether the government's attention goes to that question or to prices, jobs and land. ## What happens next The term-limit debate is expected to continue. The Attorney General's remark and Mr Kabimba's call both put the question to the President, and any move to change the Constituti