Contempt axe looms over Mutti, Kasune over Bill 7

Contempt axe looms over Mutti, Kasune over Bill 7

 By Mast Reporter

OPPOSITION Tonse Alliance national youth chairman and lawyer Celestine Mukandila and former Lumezi member of Parliament (MP) Munir Zulu have begun legal action against Speaker of the National Assembly Nelly Mutti and Minister of Justice Princess Kasune for contempt of court in connection with Bill 7.

Mukandila and Zulu are also today expected to file what their lawyer has described as the “Mother of All Petitions” in the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) aimed at blocking the resurrection of the outlawed Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) Bill number 7 of 2025, commonly known as Bill 7.

“We are commencing contempt proceedings against the Speaker of the National Assembly today [yesterday]. She will be the first Speaker to be sent to prison. We are also commencing contempt proceedings against the minister of justice,” lawyer for the petitioners Joseph Chirwa said in a statement yesterday.

“On top of the contempt proceedings against the Speaker of the National Assembly and the minister of justice, we are filing the Mother of All Petitions by Wednesday, 1st October 2025. This petition will be an Independence Day gift for all Zambians who have suffered so much for so long.”

Mukandila and Zulu successfully petitioned against the bill a few months ago leading to a declaration by the ConCourt that it was unconstitutional and therefore illegal.

The bill, which is aimed at amending parts of the Constitution, was hastily deferred barely a day before the judgment at the directive of President Hakainde Hichilema.

But the United Party for National Development (UPND) government, working through Mutti and Kasune, is bent on forcing Bill 7 back onto the floor of the House despite fierce opposition by key stakeholders, including the main opposition political parties, church mother bodies, the law fraternity and civil society.

Chirwa said the “dead” Bill 7 had been “resuscitated by a cadre of politicians bent on vandalism to the Constitution to sneak their wishes into the document”.

“They are doing it not for the good of the country but for temporary enjoyment: to cling on to power. The shocks in Malawi have scared them so bad that they want a document that will help them get their way: cling on to power,” he said.

Chirwa said Zambia did not need a new Constitution but a revived economy.

“Zambia needs jobs. Zambia needs to end poverty. Those are solutions that these cadres should be selling to Zambians. Bill 7 is not bad for what it says, Bill 7 is bad for what it doesn’t say,” he said.

“The UPND government does not need Bill 7 to give youths, women or the disabled to run for the National Assembly. The UPND can simply adopt youths, women and the disabled as a party policy and not to lie to us that Bill 7 is the answer.”

Chirwa accused the UPND of planning to create a one-party state through increased nominations by the President of unelected MPs.

“The UPND wants to obliterate the opposition by making it easy for rebel MPs to cross the flow. By allowing a party to easily fire and replace MPs, the UPND wants to capture the opposition and bring Rwanda into Zambia,” he said.