State asks court to dismiss Tasila Lungu’s review application on Chawama seat
THE State has asked the High Court of Zambia to dismiss Tasila Lungu’s application seeking a judicial review of Nelly Mutti’s decision to declare the Chawama parliamentary seat vacant, arguing that the matter was improperly brought before the court.
Tasila Lungu, daughter of the former President Edgar Lungu, currently in South Africa, challenged the Speaker’s decision to invoke Article 72(😎 of the Constitution, citing alleged breaches of parliamentary standing orders as the basis for vacating the seat on November 28, 2025.
The immediate past Chawama lawmaker named the Attorney General of Zambia and the Speaker as respondents, seeking leave for judicial review.
During the hearing before Judge Sharon Newa, Tasila’s lawyer, Leon Lemba, argued that the Speaker ignored the recommendation of the Committee on Privileges and Absences, which had been tasked with investigating her absence.
He described the decision as illegal, irrational and unreasonable and insisted that the court should examine the process followed rather than the declaration itself.
However, the State, represented by Kelvin Chipulu, told the court that judicial review was the wrong legal mechanism.
“The correct mode to approach this honourable court is not by judicial review but by petition as prescribed,” Chipulu stated, urging the court to dismiss the matter as improperly before it.
Lemba clarified that the application was not a challenge to whether the Chawama seat was vacant, but rather a request for the court to review the legality of the Speaker’s actions.
“The applicant is asking the court to examine the Speaker’s actions to determine if they were illegal, irrational, or unreasonable. This is the proper route under judicial review, not to contest the declaration directly, which would require a petition in the prescribed forum,” Lemba said.
The court reserved its ruling.
On January 15, 2026, Chawama went to the polls, where Bright Nundwe of the Forum for Democracy and Development, a former Patriotic Front official and ex-Copperbelt Permanent Secretary, won the Chawama seat and replaced Tasila Lungu.
Kalemba March 3, 2026