Attorney General Mulilo Kabesha has asked the Constitutional Court to set aside its earlier ruling that the initiation of the Constitution Amendment process was unconstitutional.
The ruling had stemmed from a petition by incarcerated former Lumezi Member of Parliament Munir Zulu and Tonse Alliance National Youth Chairperson Celestine Mukandila, in which the court held that constitutional amendments cannot be initiated without wide consultations with the people of Zambia.
Mr. Kabesha has urged the Court to vacate its position and instead conclude that the amendment process cannot be concluded and passed without public participation. He argued that consultations should not be restricted to replicating the Technical Committee of experts but may be conducted through other mechanisms prescribed by the National Assembly.
He further submitted that elected or appointed representatives, including the Republican President or Cabinet Ministers, have the prerogative to initiate constitutional amendments. Parliament, he added, can also initiate the process through motions or petitions by citizens.
Mr. Kabesha maintained that President Hakainde Hichilema did not breach his Oath of Office, but rather upheld it by defending the Constitution in line with judicial precedents.
The Attorney General’s cross petition consolidates arguments and authorities filed in response to the petition by Mporokoso Member of Parliament Brian Mundubile and Tonse Alliance National Youth Chairperson Celestine Mukandila, who are seeking an order to bar President Hichilema from contesting the 2026 elections for allegedly breaching the Constitution.
