BLACKOUT ON BILL 7: WITHOUT THE MANDATE OF THE INQUIRIES ACT, THE ‘TECHNICAL COMMITTEE’ IS A LAWLESS CLUB – AND ITS PAYCHECKS ARE NOW PERSONAL DEBTS!
The Inquiries Act (Chapter 41 of the Laws of Zambia) is the statutory foundation for establishing commissions of inquiry. It grants the President power to issue commissions but strictly limits that power. Section 2(2) requires that every commission specify the subject, nature, and extent of its inquiry and outline key procedures, including appointment of a chairperson, quorum, timelines, and whether proceedings are public. Section 2(4) further mandates publication of the commission in the Gazette by statutory instrument, while Section 5 compels commissioners to act “in accordance with the terms of the commission concerned.”
These provisions are not optional, they define legality. A body purporting to act as a commission under this Act must be duly gazetted, have clear Terms of Reference (ToR), and operate within its mandate. Without these, it lacks lawful status.
By all available evidence, the Technical Committee on Bill 7 of 2025 fails to meet these statutory requirements. There are no publicly disclosed Terms of Reference, no statutory instrument gazetting its establishment, and no clarity on its scope, membership, or procedures. Without these, the committee has no legal authority to function. In effect, it operates outside the Inquiries Act, making it illegal rather than merely irregular.
This illegality carries direct fiscal consequences. Section 18 of the Inquiries Act ties remuneration, fees, and expenses to funds appropriated by Parliament under a valid commission. Without a lawful basis, all payments to committee members amount to unauthorized expenditure. Allowances, per diems, and reimbursements thus lack legal standing, and recipients may be personally liable to refund such sums to the national Treasury. Similarly, any reports, recommendations, or findings issued by the committee are legally void.
The absence of a valid mandate also undermines key safeguards, public oversight, procedural transparency, and accountability, creating fertile ground for misuse of public funds and executive overreach. The opacity surrounding the committee’s creation erodes public confidence in constitutional reform processes and signals a worrying disregard for the rule of law.
This is not a technical oversight but a fundamental breach of constitutional governance. Establishing a committee outside statutory limits sets a dangerous precedent, suggesting that the Executive can act without legal restraint. When those charged with reforming the Constitution disregard the very laws meant to guide such processes, legitimacy collapses.
At the heart of this issue lies a simple principle: no one is above the law. Without a gazetted commission and defined ToR, the Technical Committee on Bill 7 operates without legal authority. Its actions, expenses, and outputs cannot be shielded by political convenience. Every allowance and payment made under this shadowy mandate risks recovery, and those involved may face personal liability for benefiting from an unlawful process.
If tested in court or examined by oversight institutions, the likely outcome is clear—nullification of the committee’s work and claw-back of all unlawfully disbursed funds. The warning is therefore unequivocal: in Zambia, public authority derives from law, not discretion.
Transparency is not optional. Legality is not negotiable. And impunity, especially where public money and constitutional reform intersect, will not stand.
The Struggle Continues
Sensio Banda
Former Member of Parliament
Kasenengwa Constituency
Eastern Province
What was set up was a technical committee.
Not a commission of inquiry. We are not going to need a referendum to get stakeholder involvement.
So don’t use the legal tick boxes for a commission of inquiry. On a technical committee.
Here is what Mr Michael Chilufya Sata did when embarking on the Constitutional Review Commission in 2011.
If you Compare this with what Mr Hakainde Hichilema is doing on this Process, you become sick with Disgust.
It’s important to always be civil in discourse , but sometimes you just have to be angry when, as a citizen you see that you are being looked at as worse than Trash .
Mr Michael Sata in 2011 appointed 20 Members of a Technical Committee and IMMEDIATELY gave the committee the TERMS OF REFERENCE.
– The Technical Committee shall be headed by 20 people with support of three draft persons from the Ministry of Justice
– In carrying out it’s functions , the Technical Committee shall refer to all previous Constitutional Review Commissions, namely
the Chona Commission, Mvunga Constitutional Review Commission, the 1991 Constitution of Zambia, the Mwanakatwe Constitutional Review Commission and Draft Constitution.
– The Technical Committee will review the Mungomba Constitutional Review Report and Draft Constitution.
– The committee shall review the Zaloumis Electoral Committee Report and National Constitutional Conference ( NCC) and draft Constitution.
– The Technical Committee shall review the Mungomba Constitutional Review Commission and use it as the basis upon which to develop the new Constitution of Zambia.
– The Technical Committee is expected to consult widely and take into account the submissions forwarded.
– The committee is expected to consult local and international experts on Constitutional Law and Practice, the members of the public at all Provincial Centers and incorporate in the new national constitution the views of the people as resolved in the provincial constitutional Conventions.
– The committee is expected to consult and take into account the Submissions of Sector Groups ( Women, Youth, Persons with Disabilities, Church, Traditional Leaders, Professional Bodies ( LAZ, EAZ, EIZ etc) , Minorities etc )
– The Technical Committee shall draft the National Constitution based on its findings from the Review Process and best International practices and Provisions of International Conventions on Human Rights.
– The Technical Committee shall also draft the Constitution of Zambia Bill to set the commencement date for the new Constitution, deal with transitional and other issues for the effective transition into a new Constitutional Regime under the Fourth Republic to be enacted by Parliament.
– The Technical Committee shall draw up it’s program of work and submit the same to the Secretary to the Cabinet within 7 days of it’s first sitting.
– The committee shall be composed of the following eminent experts:
1. Hon Justice Annel Silungwe SC – Former Chief Justice
2. Dr JB Sakala – Sakaka and Company
And a wide range of experts from Academia and Private Law practice , and those who had participated in previous Constitutional Reviews.
The list included people such as Professor Margret Munalula ( UNZA ) , Professor Patrick Mvunga, Dr Roger Chongwe, Willa Mungomba, Mwangala Zaloumis from Dove Chambers, Susanna Matale, Traditional Leaders, and many eminent experts.
This is what the Late President did in 2011. Who can fault such a clear and transparent process?
From the Composition of the team, to the Terms of Reference, you see professionalism , Transparency, Patriotism, Selflessness, and a desire to come up with a Constitution to stand the test of Time.
If you further go back to President Levy Mwanawasa ‘s approach to Constitutional Review in 2003, when he appointed the Mungomba Constitutional Review Commission, you see similar Professionalism, Transparency, adherence to law and Code of Conduct.
Enter Mr Hakainde Hichilema, and Hell breaks loose, with Mingalatoons let loose on the Country..Stealthy Manoeuvres and Misadventures begin.
One doesn’t know where we are coming from, where we are, and where we are going.
The Terms of Reference are not there. Top Secret.
The Time Line is not there. Top Secret.
People don’t know what is expected of them..
And the Technical Committee itself doesn’t know what it is supposed to do.
It’s just a Total Mess.
Meanwhile Praise Singers are busy with praises.
A serious thing like a Constitutional Review of the Constitution of a country, and some one starts playing games!
This is going to far. Let Mr Hakainde Hichilema know that the schemes and Manoeuvres will fall flat.
There’s a limit to what Zambians can accept.
Just like the Constitutional Court stopped his Bill 7 Scam, even this Scandalous Constitutional Amendment Technical Committee will be stopped.
You behind Sir. Im sure you are aware that the ToR have been given and all your concerns addressed. Kindly rewrite your trash post above. You fail to achieve because you want to be doing the same thing the same way all over all the the time even using the same players.
All those committees you mentioned formed by SATA and Levy did not give us the lasting constitution despite what you consider to be correct procedural way they were constituted. Please note that there is no formal legal procedure of giving term of reference to the committee. You insult the president on this without stated which law he has broken. Dont be clever for nothing and yet you are just old fashioned mangwamu.