LCK Freedom Foundation

We are focused on advancing constitutionalism, human rights, and the rule of law in Zambia through strategic and public interest litigation

[LCK Freedom Foundation @FreedomLck]

⚖️ LCK FREEDOM FOUNDATION FILES PETITION IN THE HIGH COURT OF ZAMBIA

LCK Freedom Foundation has filed a Petition in the High Court for Zambia at Lusaka,challenging the constitutionality of non-bailable offences created and expanded by the
Criminal Procedure Code Amendment Act No. 4 of 2026.

🔴 What is a non-bailable offence?
It is an offence for which no court in Zambia — not even the High Court — can grant bail
to an accused person, no matter what their circumstances.

🔴 Why does that violate the Constitution?
Because Article 18 of our Constitution guarantees that every accused person is presumed
innocent until proven guilty. A law that mandates pre-trial detention treats a person as
guilty before any verdict. It punishes without conviction.

We are not saying that every accused person should be released. We are saying that a
JUDGE must make that determination — looking at the individual facts of every case. That
is what natural justice demands. That is what the Constitution requires.

📄 Read our full press statement below

#ZambiaLaw #HumanRights #Zambia #RuleOfLaw #NonBailableOffences #LCKFreedomFoundation

[LCK Freedom Foundation @FreedomLck]

Joint press statement by LCK Freedom Foundation and 9 other CSOs on the violence being experienced ahead of the August 2026 general election.

"We, the undersigned Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) of Zambia, are alarmed at the disturbing and rapidly deteriorating state of political freedoms in our country. As Zambia prepares for the 2026 General Elections, we are witnessing a pattern of organised violence, intimidation, and systematic harassment mainly directed at opposition political figures and their supporters. This is an assault not merely on individuals, but on the democratic foundations of our Republic.
We issue this statement in fulfilment of our duty as guardians of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law, and in the firm belief that silence in the face of injustice is itself a form of complicity."

Read the full statement below:

[Linda Kasonde @LindaKasonde]

Episode 2 Season 3 of Women, Resilience, and the Will to Lead is now out! I speak to Temi Oseni about stepping off the career ladder to travel the world and find her joy. She also discusses her journey with losing her hair through the medical condition alopecia. She also encourages other women to find the courage to choose yourself. Hope you enjoy it!

https://t.co/vqpZpHK8HS

[LCK Freedom Foundation @FreedomLck]

LCK Freedom Foundation @FreedomLck Executive Director @LindaKasonde will appear on @diamondtvzambia tonight at 21:15 hrs to discuss the governance situation in the country ahead of the August 2026 general election. Please tune in!

[Farida Bemba Nabourema @Farida_N]

I’ve just published “ The Ideological Failure of Contemporary Resistance Politics.

One cannot reduce politics to the mere circulation of elites through elections every five years and call that liberation. Democracy cannot be reduced to procedural rituals emptied of social meaning. The existence of elections alone does not guarantee dignity, equality, justice, or freedom from exploitation…

The tragedy of our era is that many people have been conditioned to believe that authoritarianism is inherently socialist or communist because Western ideological narratives spent decades equating left-wing politics with tyranny. Yet for much of Africa, the reality has been the exact opposite. We have largely been governed by authoritarian capitalist regimes. Regimes where political repression exists alongside economic systems controlled by tiny elites and foreign interests. Regimes where workers remain disposable, where public wealth is privatized, where extraction is normalized, and where inequality becomes institutionalized(…)

Some activists oppose authoritarian governments because those governments nationalized resources previously monopolized by foreign corporations or domestic oligarchies. Some oppose regimes because they redistributed land concentrated in the hands of a tiny minority. Some oppose systems that attempted, however imperfectly or coercively, to reduce inequality and assert sovereignty over national wealth.

This does not mean authoritarianism should be justified. Repression remains repression. The imprisonment of dissenters remains wrong regardless of ideological orientation. But it is intellectually dishonest to erase the ideological content of political struggles entirely and reduce every conflict to a simplistic binary between dictatorship and democracy.

There are people fighting authoritarian regimes whose ultimate vision is the deepening of neoliberalism, the dismantling of labor protections, unrestricted privatization, and the expansion of corporate capture over society(…)

The simple fact that someone opposes a dictator does not automatically make us allies. Because if the society they wish to build is one where wealth remains concentrated in the hands of a few, where workers are stripped of protections, where foreign extraction deepens, where human beings are reduced to labor inputs for global capital, then they are ultimately defending the same structures of domination we are resisting, merely under a different political form(…)

A democracy that leaves the masses at the mercy of corporations and oligarchies while celebrating the formal existence of elections is morally hollow.

This is why activists must recover ideological clarity. We must stop allowing international institutions to flatten every struggle into generic language about democracy promotion while erasing the material realities people are fighting for. We must ask harder questions. Democracy for whom? Freedom for whom? Development for whom? Who benefits from the economic order being defended? Who continues to suffer under it?

Full article: https://t.co/0aM7bSTe14

[Linda Kasonde @LindaKasonde]

Watch my interview on 'Simply Frank' with Ambassador Frank Mutubila where we discuss the governance situation in Zambia in the run up to the August 2026 general election. In the interview I touch on the following:

1. The rights and duties of a citizen
2. The effect of unlawful laws
3. Ambassador Gonzalez's remarks
4. The future of Zambia’s democracy

Hope you enjoy it!

https://t.co/TJ8qOfgXW4

[LCK Freedom Foundation @FreedomLck]

🚨 BREAKING: LCK Freedom Foundation @FreedomLck & @CofZambia have filed for judicial review in the High Court of Zambia, challenging the Government's decision to rush 77 Bills through Parliament in just 9 days before dissolution on 15 May. We are seeking an urgent stay of proceedings. 🧵

Article 89 of the Constitution requires Parliament to facilitate MEANINGFUL public participation in law-making. No one — not the public, not MPs themselves — can meaningfully engage with 77 Bills in 9 days. This is the appearance of participation, not the real thing.

We have asked the High Court to: ✅ Stay the tabling & processing of all 77 Bills ✅ Declare the compressed timeframe unlawful & irrational ✅ Declare the suspension of Standing Orders unconstitutional ✅ Declare any laws passed in violation of Art. 89 null & void

We are not opposed to legislation. We are opposed to the manner in which it is being enacted. The dissolution of Parliament and the approach of an election cannot justify bypassing the Constitution. Urgency is not an excuse for unconstitutionality.

Read our full statement here 👇

#ZambiaConstitution #JudicialReview #77Bills #Article89 #Zambia2026

[LCK Freedom Foundation @FreedomLck]

LCK Freedom Foundation @FreedomLck joins hands with other CSOs to condemn the move by the Zambian government to table 77 Bills before Parliament in the week before Parliament is due to be dissolved ahead of the August 2026 general election

[LCK Freedom Foundation @FreedomLck]

🔴 BREAKING | We have filed a landmark Petition in the Constitutional Court of Zambia.

The LCK Freedom Foundation is challenging the constitutional validity of the Constitution (Amendment) Act No. 13 of 2025 — and the process by which it was enacted.

The Constitution of Zambia belongs to the people. It cannot be changed by a government that ignores a court order, appoints a committee without legal authority, rushes consultations over 18 days, and suspends Parliament's own Standing Orders to force a Bill through in a single day.

In June 2025, the Constitutional Court held — in Munir Zulu and Another v Attorney-General — that the Government's approach was unconstitutional and directed that any future process must be people-driven, transparent, and led by an independent body of experts.

The Government did not comply.

We are asking the Court to declare Act No. 13 of 2025 null and void, and to affirm that the Constitution is not the property of any government — it belongs to the people of Zambia.

Read our full press statement below:

#ZambiaConstitution #ActNo13 #LCKFreedomFoundation #RuleOfLaw #ConstitutionalCourt

[LCK Freedom Foundation @FreedomLck]

LCK Freedom Foundation @FreedomLck
Executive Director @LindaKasonde was featured in this article by @guardian newspaper on the cancellation of the global RightsCon conference that was due to be held in Lusaka this week. In a statement released on 1st May 2026, the organizers of the event cited pressure from the Chinese government regarding presentations by Taiwanese activists as one of the reasons given for the cancellation.

https://t.co/rTP9KuvIxW

[Linda Kasonde @LindaKasonde]

Happy KK Day!

I believe that KK's greatest legacy was fostering a unified Zambia; a Zambia that put country ahead of kin. A Zambia that recognised the value of equitable representation in Government and a multicultural family at home. We were One Zambia, One Nation.

Over the past 15 years that legacy has come under attack with some Zambians feeling that they are not fully partaking of the national cake - to their detriment. As we commemorate our founding Father's birthday, let us recall a time when we were Zambians first and look forward once again to a time when we are strongly united with one objective; to do what is best for every citizen of our country.

https://t.co/zNHs1kOaxL

[LCK Freedom Foundation @FreedomLck]

Rising HIV/AIDS infection and death rates need an urgent solution that will put the people at the centre of the HIV pandemic first. We call on the Zambian and US Governments to exercise compassion for those affected above all else as they consider whether to enter into a health aid deal that ties the provision lifesaving drugs to the exploitation of Zambia’s mineral wealth.

@nytimes @snolen @usembassyzambia

[Linda Kasonde @LindaKasonde]

@nytimes journalist @snolen has written this very moving piece showing the human face of rising HIV infection rates and AIDS deaths in light of @StateDept_RBX cuts in HIV/AIDS funding in Zambia. As the deadline for signing a new onerous health aid deal looMs, we can only hope that the US and Zambian governments put the lives of HIV/AIDS sufferers first.

@usembassyzambia

https://t.co/zGz0oTEAtH

[LCK Freedom Foundation @FreedomLck]

Zambia heads to the polls in August 2026 — but are its democratic foundations still intact?

LCK Freedom Foundation @FreedomLck , @LindaKasonde breaks down the legal reforms, constitutional changes & institutional pressures threatening Zambian democracy.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

👇 Read the full piece:
https://t.co/3kvBJ2c9OC
#Zambia #Democracy #HumanRights #ZambiaElections2026

[LCK Freedom Foundation @FreedomLck]

ON NON-BAILABLE OFFENCES
Recently, the Zambian Government has added to the list of non-bailable offences, including rape.

The LCK Freedom Foundation Executive Director @LindaKasonde
Writes:

"I believe all cases should be bailable. This means that the decision whether or not to grant bail is in the discretion of the court looking at the circumstances of each case. Conditions of bail should also be in the discretion of the court. I also believe that there should be a statutory guideline guiding courts as to the appropriate cases in which to grant bail or not.

Allowing all offenses to be potentially bailable eliminates the risk of falsely accused persons rotting in jail for a crime they didn't commit. We saw how the non-bailable offence of 'theft of motor vehicle' was weaponised against political opponents in the past. The same can happen with these new non-bailable offences.

Making an offence bailable doesn't mean that you will automatically be granted bail. The Prosecution has to argue that, in the circumstances of the case, the accused should be locked up e.g. aggravating circumstances of the crime, the accused is a flight risk etc. I have long argued that making offenses non-bailable is in contravention of Article 18 of the Constitution, the right to a fair trial and to be considered innocent until proven guilty."

[Alice M. Simushi @applechews_]

Years ago, I lost a family member to commercial sex work. She contracted HIV and couldn’t accept it. Within two years, it progressed to AIDS. I nursed her for three weeks before she died. I had her phone throughout and it kept buzzing 🧵

[LCK Freedom Foundation @FreedomLck]

🚨 BREAKING: LCK Freedom Foundation @FreedomLck & @CofZambia have filed a joint petition in Zambia's Constitutional Court.

The Government cannot sign international agreements affecting citizens' health data & mineral resources in secret — without Parliament's approval.

Article 63(2) of the Constitution says so. 🧵

[ActionAid Zambia @ActionAidZambia]

Our Country Director, Faides TembaTemba, yesterday afternoon delivered opening remarks at the public forum on the proposed Zambia–United States Health Aid Agreement, convened by the @FreedomLck and the @CofZambia.
Watch the Live Session Here: https://t.co/31Ri7XC2IY
@LindaKasonde

[Linda Kasonde @LindaKasonde]

Thank you @diamondtvzambia for broadcasting the LCK Freedom Foundation @FreedomLck , @CofZambia and @ActionAidZambia public forum on the pros, cons, and way forward for Zambia regarding the proposed health aid agreement with the US Government. To watch, please click on the link below:

https://t.co/H2bJ4AM9Sz

[Chapter One Foundation @CofZambia]

Restructure deals that will benefit citizens -Dr Chitalu Chilufya

[Chapter One Foundation @CofZambia]

The secrecy behind the US Health deal is what brings mistrust, no one is denying that we need the aid - Linda Kasonde