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The Constitutional Court has declared the government’s constitution amendment process unconstitutional, ruling that it lacked public participation and posed a serious risk of confusion ahead of the 2026 general elections.
Delivering the majority judgement, Constitutional Court President, Professor Margaret Munalula, along with Judges Martin Musaluke, Mathew Chisunka, and Judy Mulongoti, ordered government to align with the spirit of the Constitution by facilitating a people-driven process.
The court further directed that such a process be led by an independent body of experts to ensure broad consultations with citizens.
“There is no evidence on record of any process involving a structured engagement with the general public leading to the articulation of the proposals in the impugned Ministerial statement,” the court stated.
The judgement followed a petition by National Youth Chairperson, Celestine Mukandila, who challenged the legality of the amendment process. The petition was based on concerns that the government had bypassed the public in generating proposed changes to the Constitution.
The court noted that the impugned Ministerial statement, which outlined the proposed amendments, originated solely from government without citizen input.
One of the contentious proposals involved a delimitation process that would create an unspecified number of constituencies an action the court warned could lead to electoral chaos in 2026.
The bench ruled that constitutional amendments, even if labeled as “non-contentious,” could still fundamentally alter the Constitution.
The only safeguard, it held, was a wide, inclusive consultation process initiated from the outset.
“Having considered the Constitution as a whole, in particular Articles 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 61, 90, 91, 92 and 118, we came to the inescapable conclusion that the amendment process cannot be initiated without the participation of the People of Zambia through wide consultations,” the judges stated.
Citing Zambia’s constitutional history, the court referenced previous successful reviews, such as the Mungomba Constitutional Review Commission and the Technical Committee Drafting the Zambian Constitution (TCDZC), which were marked by widespread and structured public engagement.
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The court firmly held that the absence of such a process in the current amendment efforts undermined both the legitimacy and legality of the exercise.
However, a dissenting opinion from Judges Arnold Shilimi, Mudford Mwandenga, and Kenneth Mulife held that the process was not unconstitutional.
The dissenting judges argued that wider public consultations, while desirable, are a matter of practice rather than a legal requirement under Article 79 of the Constitution.
Despite the dissent, the majority ruling now compels government to restart the process, this time ensuring citizen engagement through an independent, expert-led body.
“We order that the respondent complies with the spirit of the Constitution by ensuring a People-driven process led by an independent body of experts in conducting wide consultations with the People,” the court ordered.
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