SPEAKER of the National Assembly Nelly Mutti has ruled that the National Assembly will resume consideration of Bill 7 if Justice Minister Princess Kasune decides to proceed with the subsequent stages of the Bill.
Mutti stated that the Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) Bill No. 7 of 2025 remained validly before the House and that its deferment on June 26, 2025, was procedurally sound and in line with the National Assembly Standing Orders of 2024.
The speaker said this yesterday in response to a point of order raised on July 1, 2025, by Luena Member of Parliament, Mubita Anakoka who wanted to know whether the Constitutional Court was in order to describe the parliamentary process of amending the Constitution as unconstitutional.
She explained that the Constitutional Court or any other external body, cannot arrest a legislative process that has been set in motion and is under consideration in Parliament.
“I wish to reiterate that according to the National Assembly of Zambia Standing Orders 2024, the Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) Bill No. 7 of 2025 was properly before the House. The deferment that occurred on Thursday, 26th June, 2025, was in accordance with the procedures for deferring a Bill,” she said.
She stressed that the fate of the Bill now lies entirely with Kasune and if the Justice Minister chooses to continue with the Bill, the National Assembly will pick up from where it left off.
“It is important at this stage for me to be categorical that, in line with the doctrine of exclusive cognisance which I have
extensively traversed in the preceding paragraphs, if the sponsor of Bill 7, that is, the Honourable Minister of Justice, decides to
proceed with the subsequent stages of Bill 7, this House will resume consideration of the Bill,” she ruled.
Her remarks come in the wake of two major developments which happen to be a Presidential directive to pause the legislative process for broader consultations and a Constitutional Court ruling that declared the process leading up to the Bill as lacking legitimacy.
On June 26, 2025, President Hakainde Hichilema directed Kasune to defer the process of the amendment for broader consultation.
And on June 27, the ConCourt, in a judgment delivered by Court president Professor Margaret Munalula, ruled that the process used to initiate Bill 7 failed to meet the democratic standards of public participation and inclusiveness.
Yesterday, Mutti said the the court’s ruling did not render the legislative process inside the National Assembly unlawful.
“The court addressed the constitutionality of the process of Bill 7 prior to the presentation in the National Assembly,” she said.
“The Constitutional Court or any other external body for that matter cannot arrest a legislative process that has been set in motion and is under consideration in Parliament.”
By Catherine Pule
Kalemba, July 10, 2025
