CONCOURT DISMISSES PETITION CHALLENGING GOVERNMENT’S HANDLING OF PROPOSED U.S HEALTH AID DEAL
The Constitutional Court has dismissed a petition by LCK Freedom Foundation Limited and Chapter One Foundation Limited challenging the government’s handling of the proposed five year, US$1.5 billion Zambia United States health aid memorandum, ruling that the matter lacks merit.
The petitioners, represented by Linda Kasonde, had sued the Attorney General and argued that the Executive was constitutionally required to submit the proposed agreement to the National Assembly for scrutiny and approval before continuing negotiations.
They further sought a declaration that Section 2 of the Ratification of International Agreements Act is unconstitutional for excluding certain bilateral agreements from parliamentary approval.
In a judgment read on behalf of a seven Constitutional judges bench by Fynold Mufwaafwi, Registrar of the Constitutional Court, the Constitutional Court held that the Executive is not constitutionally obligated to submit a prospective international agreement to Parliament before negotiations are concluded.
The Court stated that under Article 63(2) of the Constitution, Parliament’s role is to provide domestic approval before ratification or accession, and not at the negotiation stage.
The Court explained that while the Constitution requires international agreements to receive domestic approval before becoming bound by them, the approval contemplated by the Constitution comes after negotiations have produced a concluded agreement, and before the Executive ratifies or accedes to that agreement.
The judge further observed that no concluded agreement currently exists between the Zambian Government and the United States.
They noted that evidence presented before the Court showed that negotiations had stalled, meaning there was no final agreement capable of being submitted to Parliament for approval.
The petition stemmed from concerns raised by the two civil society organisations over the proposed Zambia United States health aid package, which they argued involved issues relating to public health, disease surveillance, access to citizen data, critical minerals, migration policies, transparency and public participation.
By Josphat Hamakala
