By Elias Munshya When Justice Minister Given Lubinda announced efforts to amend the Constitution of Zambia, he did it with a great deal of arrogance and an inexcusable insult to the people of Zambia. My friend, the Attorney General, took… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya There comes a time in the life of a nation that citizens of all walks of life, of goodwill and bad will, tall and short, Tonga and Tumbuka, need to band together to resolve the ills afflicting… Read More ›
I wrote because I believe in Zambia. I wrote because those who claim to hold dear the rule of law, must act when the rule of law gets threatened by the acts of those who are entrusted to… Read More ›
On Saturday, January 21, 2023, the Zambian Mission virtually met leaders of the Zambian associations in Australia and New Zealand. At the beginning of the year, it is essential that we, as leaders, set an agenda and a general outlook… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya Where history is written by the victors, or rather, by a section of the victors, it becomes necessary for us to provide a little documentation of our role in the struggle that eventually led to the vanquishment… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya The most critical issue right now regarding lawyer regulation in Zambia is not about whether some lawyers have become kelenkas. The most egregious thing is that the regulator of lawyers in Zambia seems to have no plan… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya Just days before the general elections, the Patriotic Front government has suddenly got a brilliant idea. They will stop the public service division that administers payroll for most civil servants from deducting loan payments that government employees… Read More ›
by Elias Munshya A proposal is currently making its way through the Democratic Republic of Congo’s national assembly to change Congolese citizenship laws. The changes, if passed, will restrict Congolese citizenship to “pure” Congolese and ban those perceived to be… Read More ›
by Elias Munshya The Letter to Malawi One morning in 1972, that is at least ten years in power, first as Prime Minister and then President of Zambia, Dr Kenneth David Kaunda wrote a letter to the Minister of Home… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya Those who abuse power usually shift blame to the victims. Even as it is biting off your apple, the snake first demobilizes your ability to fight back so that once it bites or eats you, you will… Read More ›
Zambian Kalindula and Traditional Music: My Top 15 Songs By Elias Munshya I will highlight these top 15 songs in descending order beginning with song number 15, and then make my way down to the top Zambian traditional song. The… Read More ›
by Elias Munshya When President Lungu paraded the police command at a press conference informing us that the police is now working on reforming itself, we knew that the President was bluffing, lying, or did not mean any words flowing… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya In the book Zambia: The freedom struggle and the aftermath, Mrs Sophena Chisembele chronicles the personal story of freedom fighter and leader Sylvester Mwamba Chisembele. It is a fascinating story. But more than just being the story… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya In Muka Muchona, legendary Zambian singer and musician Peter Tsotsi Juma paints a picture of a woman in the village whose husband has temporarily left her to look for greener pastures in the mining towns. “Ama chona”… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya I wish to apologize to everyone who was offended when I posted that President Magufuli had died of COVID-19. In fact, the Tanzanian government has confirmed that he died of a heart failure occasioned by a cardiac… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya The state has access to all the resources one could ever think of when drafting a constitution. In its employ is the crème de la crème of the best legislative drafters and lawyers. Further, Parliament has famous… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya Bernard Mulopo Mulubwa was born on May 13, 1914. He died on March 12, 2016. Friday, March 12, 2021, will be the fifth anniversary of his death. Here is how I experienced his life and legacy. My… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya With his mouth dripping with poisoned mustard, it should not have taken rocket science to know that what President Lungu was saying, that he was going to reform the police, was just not going to happen. The… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya Customary marriages in Zambia are by their nature “tentative”. While the civil marriages give the impression of some permanence until they are dissolved by a positive order of a high court, this concept does not apply in… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya Last week, Zambia’s Justice Minister offered quite staggering statistics of divorces in Zambia. He said that in the four years between 2016 and 2019, Zambian courts recorded 61,000 divorces. Sixty thousand marriages were dissolved in Zambia’s local… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya In the early years of the Pentecostal movement – particularly the one under the US-styled prosperity preachers’ flavour – healing was widely believed to be the “children’s bread” (Matthew 15:26-28). This expression popularised by USA faith healers… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya The rise of Pentecostalism in Zambia marked a massive shift in the religious landscape of the country. Long dominated by traditional churches such as the Roman Catholic Church and the United Church of Zambia, Pentecostals renewed emphasis… Read More ›
By ELIAS MUNSHYA Of Zambia’s 8 ( or 9) neighbors, no country has had more economic, religious, educational, political, and cultural influence over Zambian than Malawi. First Republican President Kaunda was born from parents who came from modern day Malawi…. Read More ›
By Elias Munshya On December 23, 2020, the nation was awakened to the horror of two murders that had just happened in broad daylight in Lusaka. The armed Zambia Police service members had shot into a crowd on unarmed citizens… Read More ›
If Zambia prosecuted all NRC offences nearly the whole country will be in jail from the President to everyone of you with false information on your NRCs. False information includes the following: 1) false year of birth – bengi sana…. Read More ›
By Elias Munshya Isn’t it the case? That the Patriotic Front government tries to insist that President Lungu should be respected because he is the “father of the nation”? Those who advance this theory shove on our throats this grandiose… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) has a very fancy and lofty leader in Justice Esau Chulu. Just a few weeks ago, the elections body claimed to have put together a body of eminent Zambians to advise… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya Power is easy to abuse. There is this sense endemic in those who wield guns and bombs to think that they are somehow invincible. To this theme, we must return. Daily. If not monthly. But frequently we… Read More ›
by Elias Munshya There is definitely a series of stories that can be told about President Frederick Chiluba’s privatisation program. It had its own positives and its negatives. It could definitely have been done better. But privatisation, we needed to… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya When you are broke as a country, it matters where you are directing your energies and efforts. It makes no sense that at the time that one dollar is trading at K20, we should be wasting our… Read More ›
by Elias Munshya Never have we, and neither should we, object to the Honourable Minister of Religious Affairs Rev. Godfridah Sumaili exercising her constitutional right to belong and campaign for her political party of choice. As a citizen of this… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya President Lungu’s trip to the Copperbelt this last weekend did not just end up spreading COVID-19 to the innocent masses that attended his rallies. Still, it was also the opportunity for the President to say the darndest… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya President Levy Patrick Mwanawasa (Zambian President from 2002 to 2008) was a controversial figure. Without a doubt, he has gone into history as one of the most controversial presidents. Several things about Mwanawasa are contentious. Just how… Read More ›
by Elias Munshya When I say that His Excellency, the President of our Republic, is spreading the COVID-19 virus, I do not mean that he has the virus. What I mean is that his current travel schedules expose the people… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya This past weekend His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Zambia Dr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu, flew to Monze to hand over Chinese constructed houses for officers of the Zambia Correctional Service. The Zambia Correctional Service is… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya Malawian Pentecostals must be very proud of themselves. They have managed to get one of them to become President of Malawi. What a great honour and privilege. Rev. Dr. Lazarus Chakwera is not only a member of… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya Our concern for the viability of our country is what drives us. It is never to be malicious. But to believe that our country can be and do better. We find no pleasure in assailing this President… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya Pan-Africanism has serious deficits, as a philosophy for the African. It has so far failed to help Africans imagine a future that goes beyond useless slogans. Pan-Africanism cannot spur African imagination any longer as it is deeply… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya Honourable Dora Siliya, the minister of information and broadcasting, issued a statement on May 17, 2020, condemning the behaviour of ruling PF cadres who had invaded several radio stations in Muchinga Province. The conduct of PF thugs… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya The two government ministers, based on their performance when announcing the COVID-19 deaths, seem to have acted so well for the camera that some of our people think that they are a couple made from heaven. I… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya Occasionally, law students from Zambian law schools do contact me for some “dissertation ideas”. Some find our blog very helpful in helping them narrow down a topic or two. While http://www.eliasmunshya.org is meant for the general audience,… Read More ›
Disclaimer: Elias Munshya and Munshya Law are not responsible for any inaccuracies of this draft report. This is a draft report which becomes official after the Committee presents it to the Zambian parliament using parliamentary procedure. Should any one require… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya When Justice Minister Given Lubinda announced efforts to amend the Constitution of Zambia, he did it with a great deal of arrogance and an inexcusable insult to the people of Zambia. My friend, the Attorney General, took… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya The commotion over Bill 10’s proposal to Christianise the Zambian constitution is in my opinion, wholly unnecessary and a waste of time. Zambia is already a Christian nation. It has been a Christian nation. White Christian missionaries… Read More ›
The Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (Bill 10) appears to have some footprints of the Pentecostal mindset in so far as the Declaration of Zambia as a Christian nation is concerned. Nevertheless, this footprint is not quite what it… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya Bill 10 is obviously a disaster. You cannot bring together hundreds of people for 14 days and expect that within that time frame, you can come up with anything sensible. That the NDF was a complete sham… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya Obliterating the Personal? One of the first things that get destroyed when a dictatorship is trying to entrench itself is personal responsibility and personal accountability. When a government wants to kill and maim its people, it first… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya Bill 10 proposes to abolish the multi-religious character of the Republic of Zambia that is enshrined in the Constitution of Zambia – in both the entrenched and the unentrenched provisions. With due respect to my vocal Pentecostal… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya Zambia has excellent legal minds. It has exceptional jurists. However, there is something fundamentally problematic within the Zambian legal system that continues to tolerate mediocrity. When ZCCM-IH obtained the ex-parte Order from the Lusaka High Court to… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya There comes a time in the life of a nation that citizens of all walks of life, of goodwill and bad will, tall and short, Tonga and Tumbuka, need to band together to resolve the ills afflicting… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya, LLM, MBA, M.DIV. The Constitution of Zambia (Amendment) Bill, 2019 has been published as Bill 10. Very soon, it will be presented to the parliament of Zambia for debate, consideration, and possible enactment. To say that Bill… Read More ›
by Elias Munshya, LLM, MBA, M.DIV. Munshya Law (www.munshyalaw.com), is a Canadian immigration law firm based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Elias Munshya is the principal of the law firm. Munshya is a member of the Law Society of Alberta. He… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya, LLM, MBA, MDIV. Amid a barrage of attack on our democratic institutions, it is crucial that we as a people do not succumb to the feeling of hopelessness and pessimism. I have an abiding faith in the… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya, LLM, MBA, MDIV. The Senate of the University of Zambia has, in its wisdom, or most appropriately, foolishness decided to confer upon President Edgar Lungu an honorary doctorate. Typically, universities around the world have a specific choice… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya, LLM, MBA, M.DIV. It is strange that ZCCM-IH went ex-parte to the Lusaka High Court to apply that Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) be placed under liquidation, or to be technically correct, under “provisional liquidation”. From the look… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya, LLM, MBA, M.DIV. President Lungu knows or ought to know, that Honorable Margaret Mwanakatwe MP is struggling with an apparent illness requiring urgent treatment. However, I am wondering why despite this notorious fact, the president still maintains… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya, LLM, MBA, M.DIV. She who comes to tribalism must come with pure tribal hands. You cannot be an impumba mukowa and yet choke our nation with useless, baseless, and senseless tribal nonsense. What is even more concerning is… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya, BA, MA, LLB, MDIV., MBA, LLM We doubt whether this Chifire contempt case will help restore faith or respect for the Zambian Supreme Court, the respect which it deserves and desperately needs. This Chifire decision, particularly the… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya, BA, MA, LLB, LLM, MBA, M.DIV. A discussion of this nature places a demand upon us to situate this issue within elementary concepts. Zambia’s administrative law is developing very quickly. As should be expected in a burgeoning… Read More ›
E. Munshya, LLM., MBA, MDIV The shortage of lawyers in Zambia is catastrophic. The country of 15 million people currently has only 1,500 members of the bar. This is a diminutive 1 lawyer per 10,000 citizens. For the sake of… Read More ›
This is the media statement issued by the Law Association of Zambia The Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) has followed with keen interest the public debate that has raged following revelations of a piece of land granted to President Edgar… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya, LLM, MBA, MDIV. (of the Alberta Bar) In April 2018, Zambia Institute of Advanced Legal Education (ZIALE) will unleash over 300 new lawyers in Zambia which will bring the total number of Zambian legal practitioners to 1,400…. Read More ›
President Trump has declassified the Nunes’ Memo. Please find it below. Download it read it and let us know what you think. -Elias Munshya 370598711-House-Intelligence-Committee-Report-On-FISA-Abuses
We reproduce below a statement from Hon Harry Kalaba. We got the statement from his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/honharrykalaba/posts/1960172744231785 I HAVE RESIGNED – Harry Kalaba There comes a time in a person’s life when it becomes necessary to die to self for… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya, LLM, MBA, M.DIV. The Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC) is now requiring that its licensed lawyers and paralegals create and abide by an individual Statement of Principles that acknowledges their obligation to promote equality, diversity, and… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya, LLM. MBA, MDIV. A lot has been said about this case. I will try to make it as plain simple as possible. Magistrate Benjamin Mwelwa was hearing a criminal case. The parties were as follows: The People… Read More ›
I wrote because I believe in Zambia. I wrote because those who claim to hold dear the rule of law, must act when the rule of law gets threatened by the acts of those who are entrusted to… Read More ›
E. Munshya, LLM. MBA, M.DIV. We really do not know all the facts surrounding Mr. Mumba Yachi’s arrest. From the public domain, we understand that he has been arrested for obtaining a Zambian passport and identity documents on false pretences…. Read More ›
E. Munshya, LLM, MBA, M.DIV. In Chiwempala It was a bright sunny Chiwempala morning in 1992. Some looked extremely old, but they all appeared exhausted. I cannot quite remember seeing the young or the children among them. I can vividly… Read More ›
E. Munshya, LLB, LLM, MBA, M.DIV. When a president declares a state of emergency, or as we are now calling it, a state of a situation which, if allowed to continue, “may lead to a state of emergency”, he needs… Read More ›
E. Munshya, LLB, LLM, MBA, MDIV. Zambia’s minister of religious affairs and national guidance, the Honourable Reverend Godfridah Sumaili spoke with the Zambia Blog Talk Radio on Saturday, May 20, 2017. I found her sentiments in that interview to be… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya, LLM, MBA, M.DIV. Dictatorships rise not by the deliberate acts of its perpetrators, but by the silent ambivalence of its tolerators. No one truly lives and plans to become a dictator. Mobutu never planned to be one,… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya, LLM, MBA, M.DIV. Professional regulation of lawyers must be undergirded by several principles. First, the legal profession must be self-regulating. Self-regulation in the context of lawyers means that lawyers license themselves, assess the ritual fitness of practitioners,… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya, MBA, LLM, M.DIV. Now that the Zambian parliament could be debating ways to revamp the way lawyers are regulated in Zambia, it is prudent to investigate how the Zambian statutes regulating legal practitioners compare with those in… Read More ›
By Elias Munshya, LLM, MBA, M.DIV. I commend parliament for considering changes to the Law Association of Zambia Act (LAZ Act). I agree that the LAZ Act needed reform to make it more responsive to present realities. However, the proposed… Read More ›