Tasila seat case conference set for Friday
By Esther Chisola
THE Constitutional Court has set Friday for status conference in the case in which constitutional lawyer Tresford Chali is challenging the decision by Speaker of the National Assembly Nelly Mutti to declare the Chawama seat in Lusaka vacant.
The status conference will hear whether Chali has served the Attorney General and possibly set timeliness on when and who takes certain steps before the case is set for trial.
These steps may include when the Attorney General will file his answer and when Chali may reply to that answer.
Chali has petitioned Attorney General Mulilo Kabesha seeking an order to declare illegal the ruling issued by Mutti to declare the Chawama parliamentary seat vacant.
He has cited Kabesha as the respondent and wants an order for the court to quash the ruling of the Speaker.
Chali also wants an order to stay the ruling until full determination of his petition and any other relief that the court shall deem fit.
In the petition filed on Monday the constitutional lawyer argued that in her ruling dated November 28, 2025 the Speaker failed to show which provision of the Parliamentary and Ministerial Code of Conduct Act Chapter 16 of the Laws of Zambia Tasila acted contrary to.
“The Speaker in her ruling did not even refer to the parliamentary and ministerial Code of Conduct Act Chapter 16 of the Laws of Zambia,” he states.
Chali says Article 128(3) (b) and (c) provides that a person who alleges that an act or decision taken under law or by an authority contravenes the Constitution may petition the Constitutional Court for redress.
He submits that in line with Article 1 [2] of the Constitution 2016, an act or omission that contravenes the Constitution is illegal.
“Article 1(1), makes the Constitution 2016 the supreme law of Zambia. Article 1(3) of the Constitution 2016 binds all persons in Zambia, State organs and State institutions including the National Assembly of Zambia,” he submits.
He outlines the Code of Conduct for Parliamentarians contained in the Parliamentary and Ministerial Code of Conduct Act Chapter 16 of the Laws of Zambia and not in the Standing Orders, 2024.
“The Standing Orders are not in themselves the code of conduct 19. Article 72 (2) (c) refers to a prescribed code of conduct. Article 266 defines prescribed as follows: ‘prescribed’ means provided for in an Act of Parliament. The Parliamentary Code of Conduct is provided for in an Act of Parliament. The Standing Orders are not provided for in an Act of Parliament,” Chali states.
Last Friday, Mutti declared Tasila’s seat vacant on grounds that she has not been present since the death of her father in June this year.
