LUSAKA, Monday 26 October 2026. President Hakainde Hichilema has formally asked the National Assembly to approve changes to the structure of government ministries. He says the move is meant to make government work more efficiently.
State House announced the request in a press release dated today and signed by Chief Communications Specialist Clayson Hamasaka. It says the President wrote to Parliament under Article 92(2)(d) of the Republican Constitution. He is asking lawmakers to approve the “proposed establishment, merger and dissolution of Government Ministries.”
Vice-President Mutale Nalumango will move the motion in the House. She will ask Members of Parliament to approve the plan, which would create new ministries, merge some existing ones and close others.
Why the changes are being made
State House says the restructuring will make sure “the machinery of Government fully supports the Grow Zambia Agenda.” It is also meant to improve how the public service delivers for Zambians. Grow Zambia is the economic message of the President’s second term.
The press release also includes a direct appeal to lawmakers. The President “has therefore called on Members of Parliament to support the realignment, which is in the best interest of the country,” it reads.
Which ministries are affected is not yet known
The press release does not say which ministries would be created, merged or dissolved. It also gives no date for when the motion will be debated. Those details are expected to come out when the Vice-President brings the motion to the House.
Until the list is published, civil servants, the private sector and development partners will be waiting to see how the changes affect departments, budgets and who reports to whom.
The request comes less than two months after President Hichilema was sworn in for a second term in early September, following the August 2026 general election. He had been expected to open the new Parliament on 9 October. That means this restructuring motion will be one of the first big government matters the new House deals with.
Presidents often reorganise ministries at the start of a term. It lets them shape the government around the priorities they campaigned on. The President’s recent public statements suggest growth, investment and the mining sector will be at the centre. On 19 October he warned mining licence holders who are not developing their concessions to “use it or lose it.”
This is not the first time President Hichilema has redrawn the government’s structure. Soon after taking office in August 2021, he created several new ministries and merged or dissolved others. The new ones included the Ministry of Green Economy and Environment, the Ministry of Technology and Science, and the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprise Development.
That 2021 restructuring caused a public debate. The question was whether ministries could be changed before the National Assembly approved it, and Parliament took up the matter in September 2021. Some commentators argued at the time that the President had not broken any law.
Today’s statement takes a different approach. It sets out the constitutional basis up front and asks for Parliament’s approval first, before any of the changes take effect.
The ruling United Party for National Development (UPND) is expected to have the numbers in the House to pass the motion. Opposition MPs, however, are likely to question the cost of setting up new ministries. They are also likely to ask what happens to staff in ministries that are merged or closed, and whether the changes will actually improve service delivery.
Once Parliament approves the changes, new ministries usually need ministers appointed, staff moved across and budget lines redrawn. Those adjustments will then appear in the national budget. More details will follow when the motion is tabled.
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