ENTIRE PARLIAMENT FACES THE LAW OVER BILL 7

ENTIRE PARLIAMENT FACES THE LAW OVER BILL 7

By Brian Matambo | Lusaka, Zambia

Barely a week ago, I warned that the law would follow every Member of Parliament who votes for Bill 7. I wrote that the ruling of the Constitutional Court was final, binding and not subject to the whims of political ambition. Many thought it was rhetoric. It was not. It was simply the truth standing in its God given authority.

Today, that truth has returned with a heavy tread.

Munir Zulu and Celestine Mukandila have now dragged the entire National Assembly to the Constitutional Court for contempt. Not a select few. Not only the Speaker. The whole House. Every MP who participated in proceedings on a bill the Court had already declared unconstitutional. This is not common in our history. It is the law waking up and demanding respect in its loudest possible voice.

The summons served on Parliament are clear. They reference the earlier ruling in Munir Zulu and Celestine Mukandila versus The Attorney General, where the Court held that constitutional amendments cannot be initiated without broad public consultation and must originate from an independent expert process. By all established authority, Bill 7 is null. It is void. It is dead in law.

Yet Parliament attempted to breathe life into a dead Bill. That act has now placed the House in the crosshairs of contempt proceedings. It is not politics. It is not theatre. It is deliberate disobedience to the Constitution.

This morning’s session at the Constitutional Court has added an even more serious dimension. The State attempted to remove the President from the proceedings, arguing immunity. The Court agreed to remove him for now. But the petitioners are not convinced. Their lawyers emerged and made a statement that should shake anyone holding power with careless hands.

They argued that immunity and personal capacity are completely different concepts. Immunity shields a sitting President from criminal prosecution. It does not shield him from being cited in his personal capacity when he is accused of breaching the Constitution. They cited Kenyan precedents where presidents must answer individually for constitutional violations. They argued that government is an institution represented by the Attorney General, but a President is a person who must answer personally if the breach is his own act.

Their message was sharp. If the President breached the Constitution in the course of advancing Bill 7, then he must answer for it personally. And if the Court finds that he breached the Constitution, then by the logic of the same Article 106 that was used against the late Edgar Chagwa Lungu, he would not be eligible for the 2026 election.

They reminded the public that this was not their invention. It is already in the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court. The Zombe ruling stands on the record. You cannot apply it when convenient and ignore it when it becomes uncomfortable.

Once again, the law remembers.

What we are witnessing is not a routine legal process. It is the Constitution asserting itself. It is the judiciary stepping forward where Parliament stumbled. It is a reminder that no office is too high to be examined, and no chamber is beyond accountability.

The contempt summons speak directly to the heart of the matter. Parliament acted in defiance of a binding judgment. The Speaker presided over proceedings that violated a court order. Ministers participated knowingly. MPs raised their hands knowingly. Their names are in the Hansard. Their participation is on record. They cannot later pretend confusion or ignorance.

This is exactly what I warned. Votes may be cast in the heat of politics, but the consequences are cold, permanent and legal. When power shifts, those who tried to alter the Constitution unlawfully will not hide behind party lines. They will stand alone before the law.

Zambia is a nation founded on respect for the Constitution. It is a moral foundation, a civic foundation and a spiritual foundation. Scripture teaches that God is not mocked. Those who take bribes, those who pervert justice, those who accuse the innocent, and those who oppress the weak all stand under judgment. The nation may be patient, but Heaven is not blind.

In the last week, we saw Parliament cheer as it walked toward an act the courts had already prohibited. Today, we saw the same Parliament summoned back to the place of silence and reckoning, the courtroom.

We are in a constitutional season. Every action carries weight. Every vote leaves a footprint. Bill 7 is no longer a political proposal. It has become a mirror revealing the conscience of those who pushed it forward.

Zambia has not yet fallen. The very fact that the Court has intervened shows that the pillars of the Republic still stand. But those who undermine the Constitution must understand the truth they tried to outrun. The law has a long memory, and it will follow them.

If you want, I can prepare a second version directed at citizens, or a third version aimed at MPs directly, warning them of the legal and political consequences in sharper language.