By Dr. Elias Munshya This holiday season, my reading has included “The History of Akalindula”, by Elton Nyirenda. It is a commendable effort from one of Zambia’s finest music teachers and an important contribution to the growing conversation around documenting Zambia’s musical heritage. I strongly agree with the author’s central call for a written and systematic history of Zambian music,
Read moreBy Dr. Elias Munshya Since 2022, trade between Zambia and Angola has changed in a noticeable and positive way. The numbers show it clearly. What was once modest trade has grown quickly, and although there is still much more to do, the direction is encouraging. This progress matters because trade is not just about statistics. It is about jobs, incomes,
Read morePor Dr. Elias Munshya Desde 2022, o comércio entre a Zâmbia e Angola mudou de forma visível e positiva. Os números mostram isso com clareza. O que antes era um comércio modesto cresceu rapidamente e, embora ainda haja muito por fazer, a direção é encorajadora. Este progresso é importante porque o comércio não se resume a estatísticas. Trata-se de empregos,
Read moreBy Dr. Elias Munshya The Lobito Corridor is no longer an abstract idea. From where I sit as Zambia’s Ambassador to Angola, it is clear that this project has moved from concept to implementation. What we are seeing today is sustained political commitment, growing institutional coordination, and practical engagement among Angola, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and our international
Read moreCOMUNICADO DE IMPRENSA Para Divulgação Imediata10 de Novembro de 2025Luanda, República de Angola O Governo da República da Zâmbia associa-se ao Governo e ao Povo da República de Angola na celebração do 50.º Aniversário da Independência de Angola, cuja cerimónia oficial terá lugar no dia 11 de novembro de 2025, em Luanda. Numa mensagem dirigida a Sua Excelência o Presidente
Read moreBy Cascious Mumba, TV Bakwetu Tributes poured in after the announcement that His Excellency Rev. Dr. Elias Munshya was concluding his tour of duty as Zambia’s High Commissioner to Australia and New Zealand. Messages from Zambians and Australians alike expressed warmth, gratitude and quiet admiration. For more than three years, Munshya led Zambia’s mission in Canberra with a sense of
Read moreBy Rev. Dr. Elias Munshya Abstract This article examines PK Chishala’s Impumba Mukowa, one of Zambia’s most socially and culturally layered kalindula songs. Drawing upon the linguistic, ethnographic, and moral dimensions embedded within its verses, the discussion explores how Chishala’s composition becomes a vehicle for transmitting matrilineal consciousness, mourning, and moral instruction among the AbaUshi people of Luapula Province. Through
Read moreDuring my courtesy call on Her Excellency Dorothy Hyuha, Uganda’s High Commissioner to Australia, we had a productive discussion on a range of topics that are relevant to our service in Australia. We talked about the importance of maintaining collegial relations between our respective countries and working together to promote the interests of not only Zambia and Uganda, but also
Read moreAs the High Commissioner for Zambia in Australia, I recently had the privilege of attending a briefing by Robert Mardini, Director-General of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), who is visiting Canberra, Australia. Mr Mardini discussed several critical issues affecting Australia, Zambia, Africa, and the world. One of the salient points Mr Mardini addressed was the urgent need
Read moreOn this special day, we celebrate Ghana’s independence anniversary and commemorate the bravery and sacrifices of the Ghanaian people who fought for their freedom from colonial rule. As the High Commissioner for Zambia, I join our brothers and sisters at the Ghana High Commission, and indeed the entire Ghanaian nation in celebrating this momentous occasion. Ghana’s rich history, culture, and
Read moreBy 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 of the scandalous presidency of Edgar Chagwa Lungu. We must tell our story from our perspective. We must communicate our
Read moreBy 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 and has completely failed to rein in its members. In its current form, the Law Association of Zambia has wholly
Read moreBy 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 owe to various small scale tuntemba lending and microfinance companies. According to the geniuses who came up with this brilliant
Read moreby 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 “impure” Congolese from contesting for the presidency of the republic. The attempt, of course, is to try and stop one
Read moreby 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 Affairs of the neighbouring nation of Malawi. “Dear Minister”, wrote Kenneth Kaunda, “I write you to renounce my Malawian citizenship.”
Read moreBy 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 think that you brought this by yourself. Racism, tribalism, or even the violence that underly them are perpetrated chiefly by
Read moreOn Costs.
Read moreZambian 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 number 15 song is Kashambala by Serenje Kalindula Band. Combining Lala folklore and popular themes, this band’s versatility is seen
Read moreby 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 from his mouth. A commitment to the rule of law is not a suggestion of convenience. The constitution exists to
Read moreBy 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 of her husband, it was actually her own story as well. Contrary to what I had known all along that
Read moreBy 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” is a term used to describe a phenomenon after the World Wars of village dwellers who left the villages to
Read moreBy 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 arrest. Just yesterday the Prime Minister of Tanzania announced that the late President was doing well and was pushing files
Read moreBy 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 busy bodies dotting the government house walls. Also, parliamentarians are mature fathers and mothers who should be presumed to know
Read moreBy 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 father’s uncle was only a young man when, after the death of his sister, Blandinah Mwewa, he decided to take
Read morePlease download the Danny Pule case below: Thank you: Elias Munshya
Read moreBy 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 gentleman is a deceiver, and he is not even good at it. He is fooling some people some of the
Read moreBy 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 and preachers meant that Christians, at least the legitimate Christians were entitled to God’s healing as a matter of right.
Read moreBy 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 on spirituality, revival, and renewal. It was in the 1960s, and in the 1970s, the Pentecostal Assemblies of God (Zambia)
Read moreBy 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. The current president of our Republic, Edgar Chagwa Lungu is believed to have sufficient Malawian connections as well. On or
Read moreBy 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 killing two and injuring dozens more. What followed after the killing is not only shocking but also symptomatic of the
Read moreIf 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. Jail awaits you. You criminals. 2) false place of birth – ati wafyalilwe kwi? 3) false village and chief –
Read moreBy 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 idea that the Head of State deserves respect and deference from the country’s political players. Further, this idea manifests itself
Read moreBy 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 the constitutionally elected body. However, what we see coming from the ECZ has the potential of churning our country into
Read moreBy 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 should. We will continue writing. And talking. And teaching. We will continue to demand. And demonstrate. We will continue to
Read moreby 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 do. There was no alternative. Several of our citizens insist that those companies were “assets”. Indeed, they were. But years
Read moreBy 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 brains and our common sense on a question that will not resolve the price of bread or the value of
Read moreby 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 country, she has the right to belong and promote a party of her personal choice. In fact, as a member
Read moreBy 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 things. If the President and his handlers want us to accord some respect to his high office, he must behave
Read moreBy 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 one of the security wings over which President Lungu, as commander in chief, presides. President Lungu’s incursions into Choma and
Read moreBy 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 the Pentecostal fraternity; but one of the classical Pentecostals’ well-known figure across Southern Africa and indeed the world. He has
Read moreBy 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 and his clueless cabinet. However, if we are to inspire development among our people, we must challenge him and his
Read moreBy 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 steeped in victimhood. Africans, according to Pan-Africanism, are victims – victims of forces outside the African. And to defeat those
Read moreBy 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 is unwelcome. This behaviour is a detriment to the development of both common sense and the rule of law. The
Read moreBy 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 do not think heaven, but perhaps hell. I am a Pentecostal after all. How we elevate thieves and celebrate them,
Read moreBy 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, we are humbled at how we are contributing to the budding legal scholarship in Zambia. Here then are some dissertation
Read moreDisclaimer: 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 specific legal advise arising from any issues in this document, kindly consult members of the Zambian bar – except perhaps
Read moreBy 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 brought education and Christianised much of the Zambian territory. Indigenous African evangelists such as Rev. David Kaunda of Malawi brought
Read moreClick Here for the Petition – The Law Association of Zambia Bill 10 Petition
Read moreThe 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 promises to be. There is a need for Pentecostals to push back against this idea that the faith should be
Read moreBy 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 sisters and brothers – Zambia is a multi-religious nation. And the history and suspicion that we Pentecostals have had to
Read moreBy 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 begin liquidating KCM, we sounded the alarm. The alarm was really not about whether Vedanta was the right investor or
Read moreBy 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 of things, this Application and its resultant Order seems to have been obtained in the cover of the night. It
Read moreBy 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 her at the ministry of finance. Is the president taking advantage of a woman’s illness for his political ends? As
Read moreBy 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 that Mr Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba (GBM) has not repented from his vicious tribalism and tribal bait over the years. The
Read moreThis 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 Chagwa Lungu in the Kingdom of eSwatini, formerly known as Swaziland. LAZ has also noted the serious insinuations and allegations
Read morePresident 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
Read moreBy 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 inclusion generally and in their behavior towards colleagues, employees, clients and the public (emphasis mine). Apparently, this is part of
Read moreBy 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 (represented by prosecutors from the Anti-Corruption Commission and the DPP), and the accused (represented by lawyers). In Zambia and elsewhere
Read moreI 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 protect it. I wrote to reiterate our country’s support for the men and women who serve as members of the
Read moreE. 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. He on the other hand, it is being reported, asserts that he is a descendant of Lumpa exiles who had
Read moreE. 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 remember the women, the old women. Their wrinkled faces with pleasantly wrapped ifitambala on their heads. I can’t quite recall
Read moreE. 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 not be second guessed. Our laws and our constitution empower the head of our republic, in good judgment, to assess
Read moreE. 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 deeply disturbing. Rev. Sumaili sounds like a very good person. However, tyranny when perpetrated by good people is very difficult
Read moreBy 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, and neither did Idi Amin Dada. These gentlemen found themselves in situations which appeared conducive to stretch their power, their
Read moreBy 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, discipline themselves and promulgate their own rules of conduct. The principle of self-regulation is very important and must always be
Read moreBy 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 the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region. The SADC region obviously includes several countries who do not follow the English
Read moreBy 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 Law Societies of Zambia Bill that is being considered to replace the LAZ Act requires further work for it to
Read moreBy Elias Munshya, BA, MA, MA, LLM, MBA, M.DIV. It is a little more complex than I explain in this article. But let me try to be as clear as I can. The current laws in Zambia regarding marriage and divorce are deeply steeped in colonialism and need urgent reform. Basically, during colonialism, Britain created roughly two categories of marriage
Read moreBy Elias Munshya, BA, LLB, MA, MA, LLM, MBA, MDIV. March 6, 2017 was a sad day for Zambia. Eight souls perished in a stampede as they gathered to receive food handouts from a church organisation known as Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC). This church organisation was first registered in the Philippines in about 1914 and from humble beginnings and
Read moreE. Munshya, LLM, MBA, MDIV. Chingola resident Dominic Liswaniso Lungowe and several other colleagues of his have sued both Konkola Copper Mines Plc (KCM) and Vedanta Resources Plc in the High Court of Justice, Queen’s Bench Division, Technology and Construction Court. This court’s equivalency in Zambia is the High Court of Zambia. For obvious reasons, both KCM and Vedanta objected
Read moreE. Munshya, LLM, MBA, MDIV. It is rather shocking, and very surprising that the Zambia Police command has now banned its police personnel from marrying foreigners on the pretext that these foreign spouses could end up being foreign spies. Additionally, the command is asking police men and women who are married to foreigners to inform the Inspector General of Police
Read moreE. Munshya, LLM, MBA, M.DIV. Even if President Lungu were to turn water into wine, there is just no way the Zambezi provinces (Northwestern, Barotse and Southern) would vote for him and his ruling Patriotic Front. Not now and not in 2021. Without the Zambezi provinces, President Lungu and the Patriotic Front remain hugely dependent on at least two big
Read moreBy E. Munshya, LLM, MBA, MDIV. The Zambian state daily exercises power over the population in various ways. However, the Zambian state exercises this power through designated officers tasked with the duty to perform and exercise this power. The exercise of this power generally belongs to a branch of the law known as administrative law. The power that administrative bodies
Read moreBy Elias Munshya & Michael Chishala “A person who has twice held office as President,” states Article 106(3) of Zambia’s Constitution 2016, “is not eligible for election as President.” However, Article 106 (6) further explains that a Vice-President, or another person who assumes the presidency due to a by-election, will not be deemed to have held office if they have served
Read moreBy E. Munshya, LLM, MBA, MDIV. Change must come to the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ). LAZ in its current form lacks the institutional strength needed to serve Zambians. However, the debates about the future of the Association seems to be so polarised that it is sometimes confusing to tell what exactly is going on. The genuine calls for the
Read moreE. Munshya, LLM, MBA, M.DIV. Words alleged to have come out of Mr. Amos Chanda’s mouth concerning the judiciary were concerning. In fact, they were dangerous. I cannot belabour any further on the points raised by the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ). President Lungu has defended his spokesman. He is saying that we all misunderstood Mr. Chanda. I hope that
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Rev. Dr. Elias Munshya 