A Polygamous President
By Dickson Jere
I have read through, once again, the Benefits of Former Presidents and Former Vice Presidents Bill’ of 2026 that is before Parliament. This time around, I read it with critical lenses of a trained Legislative Drafter. My lecturer – Mrs Doris Mwiinga – had a mantra for students in Legislative Drafting Course. She always recited that “a drafter is a critical thinker”. So, every legal draft person is not ordinary lawyer and must always think deeply.
Now, the Bill does not clearly define the “spouse” and it looks like it was drafted based on the assumption that Zambia will always have a Monogamy President and Vice President with only one legal wives. So, it provides benefits for the wives in case of death of their spouse (off-course men included in spouse).
The spouse will receive 50% salary of the incumbent, one vehicle and one driver as well as maintenance of the said vehicle. A retirement house or cash in lieu can be provided to the spouse of the deceased President or Vice President.
But what will happen in case Zambia has a polygamous President or Vice President? Will each wife be entitled to that 50% salary or they will be one to be shared among the wives? Will the State only provide one vehicle or each wife will be entitled to a vehicle since they are wives?
These are drafting grey areas I have spotted that needs further refining. We must be certain. A drafter must look into the future and provide possible certainty. Since Zambian customary law allows men to marry more than one wife, it follows that there is possibility of having a President who will have more than one wife. So the law must be certain as to how such will be dealt with.
Now, South Africa has gone through this phase. President Jacob Zuma had more than one wife. It will be interesting to benchmark South Africa and see how the retirement system of former President works that side. How are the wives being treated?
Lastly, what is the rationale behind these retirement perks. One consideration is that the former President and vice President should never live in squalor. It will be an embarrassment to see former President or wife live in shanty compound. So, the State comes in with that descent four bedroom house at the place of his choice.
But then, you can have a situation where the person who served as First Lady in State House is divorced after husband leaves office. The new wife, who never performed the functions of First Lady takes over benefits. Former First Lady is thrown out while the new wife takes over the salary and the Presidential retirement house. You see why laws needs a lot of consultation and wisdom when being drafted.
Anyway, I am preparing my presentation to Parliament but thought of sharing my thoughts on these few concerns I have with this Bill. Laws must be drafted with clarity and futuristic approach. I still believe we need to enhance this Bill with a lot of things.
Thank you ba Jere. Not only are you educating us, you are also making us aware of what is going on in the legal world.
My view on this retirement benefits issue is that there are far too many people covered by this State retirement benefits arrangement. Why can’t we have an appropriate pension scheme to which they can contribute during their tenure and then live off that when they retire like all of us?
It would be interesting to know how much we are spending on such benefits. Instead of trimming the numbers, we are enthusiastically adding more like we have a bottomless pit of gold. Does it make sense to build Mr. Hichilema a house after he retires? Or the Speaker of the National Assembly, Ms. Nelly Mutti?
This is total madness!
So ba Jere, what are your suggested solutions to these problems you anticipate?? Prudence would suggest that in case Zambia has a polygamous president or vice president, these remaining wives or husbands should share the 50% of the salary of the late president or vice president. The same solution should be for provision of a vehicle.. transform the provision of a vehicle into money and let the surviving wives or husbands share the money. Zambia has to decide if they want to manage public finances using customary laws or not. We should avoid encouraging an elected president or vice president to marry more wives in order to milk public finances!! Anyhow the chances of voters electing a polygamous president is very slim in Zambia!!
I think the suggestion by JMC of having an appropriate pension scheme for a president and vice president is worth pursuing. From their pay the president and vice president should be contributing to this scheme while the state also contributes. It is this scheme which should then be accessed by the surviving spouses and children. This can also take care of a situation where a president has had only one term of office compared to another who may have two terms of office. Why should a president who has just been a president for one term have the same benefits with a president who has served as president for two terms? Only an appropriate paid for pension scheme can address this issue!!