• PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu chats with Chief Justice Ireen Mambilima (centre) and Constitutional Court president Hildah Chibomba at State House yesterday. Picture by EDDIE MWANALEZA/STATE HOUSE

By JAMES KUNDA –
PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu has appointed six and sworn-in five prominent lawyers to serve on the Constitutional Court of Zambia, which is expected to start sitting soon.
The Head of State has tasked the court to interpret contentious constitutional clauses such as the Grade 12 certificate or equivalent requirement for political office seekers and to increase awareness of the law among members of the public.
Those appointed to serve on the court are Supreme Court judge Hildah Chibomba as president, Mugeni Mulenga, Anne Sitali, Margaret Munalula, Enoch Mulembe and former Zambian ambassador to the United States Palan Mulonda.
The new appointees, apart from Professor Munalula, were sworn in by Mr Lungu at State House in Lusaka yesterday.
Mr Lungu implored the court to explain the Grade 12 certificate requirement for people wishing to contest presidential, parliamentary, ward and mayoral elections.
He was speaking during the event witnessed by Chief Justice Ireen Mambilima, among other dignitaries.
“If matters become contentious of the law, and in this case the Constitution, we’ll come to you,” President Lungu said.
“You will be the one who will tell us what Grade 12 certificate is, what the equivalent is. The others who are talking are merely speculating. For the politicians we are just politicking, it’s you who will tell us.”
The President said he was amused every time he read in the media how various people were trying to interpret the law.
He said the Government comprised the Legislature, Judiciary and the Executive as relevant authorities which should collaborate to explain the law to the people.
“I laugh every time I read in the media people trying to interpret the law. So I have kept quiet because Zambians want Grade 12 certificate and equivalent – your first task! The others are human rights and others, those will keep coming,” the President said.
He said Zambia was a constitutional democracy where the supreme law of the land reigned above everyone else, including the President and the courts of law.
Mr Lungu said the judges, whose competencies in the field of law he was fully aware of, were taking up a challenging office at a time when the expectations of Zambians, in as far as the dispensation of justice was concerned, were high.
He congratulated and assured them that the Executive would do its best to ensure that the Constitutional Court was operational in good time.
“As we go towards elections, obviously your court will be very busy because you will be the anchor court, so to speak,” Mr Lungu said.
“We want you to do your utmost, you have taken oath. You are learned men and women, so I have got no reason to spend sleepless nights about justice in the constitutional context.”
After the swearing-in ceremony, the judges, along with their family members, posed for photos with President Lungu who afterwards congratulated Ms Justice Mambilima for ensuring that the court had favourable female representation.