Dear Honourable Attorney General,
Re: Law Association of Zambia v Speaker of the National Assembly (Petition No. 2025/CCZ/0015) – Presidential Commentary on Bill No. 7 of 2025
As you are aware, the effect of the Constitutional Court’s Judgment in Munir Zulu & Celestine Mukandila v Attorney General (2025/CCZ/009) on the Speaker’s Ruling of 9 July 2025 is currently the subject of the above-captioned petition and is therefore sub judice.
We write to express our serious concern regarding the President’s repeated public characterisation of the Constitution (Amendment) Bill No. 7 of 2025 (“Bill No. 7”) as “deferred,” rather than null and void ab initio, which is the clear effect of the Constitutional Court’s Judgment.
On 26 June 2025, Parliament deferred Bill No. 7 on the assumption that it had been lawfully introduced. However, on 27 June 2025, the Constitutional Court, in Munir Zulu & Celestine Mukandila v Attorney General (2025/CCZ/009), held that the entire legislative process undertaken under Articles 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 61, 90, 91 and 92 of the Constitution, and was therefore unconstitutional, null and void ab initio, and of no legal effect whatsoever.
Despite this binding Judgment, on 12 July 2025, during a meeting with the United Nations officials and again at the LGAZ Annual Conference, the President stated that Bill No. 7 “has not been discontinued but only deferred,” thereby implying that the legislative measures voided by the Constitutional Court remain in force or may be revived.
By characterising Bill No. 7 as merely “deferred,” notwithstanding the Constitutional Court’s Judgment, the President’s remarks:
(a) Undermine constitutional supremacy (Articles 1(3) and 2) by suggesting that an act or omission declared null and void by the Constitutional Court may be revived by executive fiat;
(b) Breach the separation of powers by implying that Parliament may resurrect a legislative process invalidated by the Constitutional Court;
(c) Contravene Article 128(4) of the Constitution, which provides that decisions of the Constitutional Court are binding on all persons and authorities; and
(d) Erode public confidence in the rule of law by signalling that judicial determinations may be disregarded or reinterpreted by the Executive.
Requests:
Accordingly, we respectfully request that your office:
1. Advise the Presidency to cease any commentary inconsistent with the Court’s Judgment and to acknowledge unequivocally that Bill No. 7 is null and void, having been declared unconstitutional, null ab initio, and of no legal effect;
2. Reaffirm that any future attempt to amend the Constitution must commence de novo under Article 79, and comply fully with all procedural safeguards, including public consultation, public consultation, and parliamentary process; and
3. Ensure that all Executive communications are consistent with the binding effect of the Constitutional Court’s ruling pursuant to Article 128(4), and that no suggestion is made, explicitly or implicitly, that a process declared void may be revived.
We are mindful that under the principle of constitutional governance, all organs of the state, including the Executive, are bound to give full effect to decisions of the Constitutional Court.
We trust that, in light of the Court’s definitive Judgment, you will counsel the President to align his public statements and internal processes with the principle of constitutional supremacy.
Kindly acknowledge receipt of this letter by signing a copy of the letter, which is attached.
Yours faithfully,
Cc: The President – Law Association of Zambia
LAZ takes this matter like its personal. Be objective.
Was the Edgar Lungu matter argued from different points of you? When Chizombe went to the same court and his arguement of the same laws but a different perspective he won and Edgar Lungu was barred as he had sought to circumvent the law.
As we speak you base your position on one prespective of the arguement; and I dare say for a Legal Professional are rather dogmatic about your position. Is that a position a professional body should take? You withdrew on a recent matter in the same court. Have you bothered to explain to the nation (a stakeholder) the reason for your withdrawal and the terms you agreed with the state or you convienently kept quiet?
Your positions dont set an objective point of view and seem personal. Why? As an executive do you own LAZ? Or now carry on like a Political party? The tone of this article is not befitting of a professional body that should speak from the public interest point of view.
I reiterate a matter is still in the Constitutional court. The court is yet to rule. And the executive of LAZ should not speak like the law is an imperical science its a social science. More subjective in an objective manner for you to be dogmatic.
If the Constitutional Court will again rule against it self like it did in the Edgar Lungu eligibility case, it will completely lose its credibility..That will be the end of this Court.
Bill 7 is Dead. Let Mr Hakainde Hichilema know that his Stealthy Schemes to change the Constitution , ALONE , without the involvement of the people was deemed unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court. We don’t know where articles in Bill 7 came from..Where the 55 Additional parliamentary seats came from, and how these are spread in the country. We don’t have information on the delimitation report, and the National Census full Results haven’t been released.
Surely how do you run a country like this? We are not a secret society. We are a Democracy, and citizens have a right to participate in the Constitutional Making Process. How does Parliament even debate this Bill 7 when you are hiding critical information from Citizens and their Members of Parliament?
The Constitutional Reviews will be done after 2026 General Elections. We will then have Bill 8 or Bill 50.
We are in August in a few days time. Parliament is supposed to be dissolved in May 2026. There’s no time ba Kateka for Another Bill.
Bill 7 is DEAD.. Completely DEAD. It can never be resurrected. PERIOD.
We need bill 7. It is Zambians who need it not law association of Zambia where Zulu the Umodzi kamawa member and piefu die hard is always fighting government. Even after meeting the President of the Republic of Zambia; His Excillency President HAKAINDE HICHILEMA as CSOs where the president agreed to their (your ) demand and deferred it before the Corncort also cited inclusivenes of stakeholders not stopping it, you still open your small mouth to paint white black. Mwabashani imwee bantu imwee. Everywhere mufwayafye imwee bene ukulateka- aweeeeee mukwayi. Buloshi ubo. By the way mwalishika lungu nomba. Because bose imwee bakandile you went in large numbers to escort the snake in a dove skin. But kwena kuti wasekaaaaa! Yabaaaaaaa!