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comprising non- official and official players. Non-Official players have their
formal state positions prescribed by the political community and derive guidance
about the exercise of that authority from the country’s constitution. They ‘include
members of the executive, the Judiciary and the legislature.”1 This paper focuses
on the role of Zambia’s legislature in influencing policy formulation and its ability to
perform that task satisfactorily. The paper provides a condensed history of the
capacity for policy making, discusses factors affecting policy making capacity and
The historical development of the Legislature in Zambia dates back to the advent
between 1890 and 1924, and from 1924 to the present situation. During company
rule demands for the Advisory Council to govern Northern Rhodesia led to its
Government in 1924, the European settlers agitated for more political control over
the territory. The British Government conceded and replaced the Advisory Council
with the Legislative Council. After Northern Rhodesia attained self- rule on 24th
October 1964, the Legislative Council was renamed the National Assembly of
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The Current Legislature in Zambia
Between 1964 and 2005, the Zambian legislature has gone through stages of
one hundred and fifty (150) elected and not more than eight nominated members
and the Speaker as provided for under Articles 62- 71 of the Constitution of
Zambia. The National Assembly, known as Parliament when presided over by the
Capacity in policy- making in this paper refers to the institutional sustainable ability
process involves the activity of policy players to detect faulty reasoning and identify
inputs and the ability to foresee their prospective desirable and undesirable
outcomes are important aspects of capacity in policy making. Along these lines,
“effective direction and control over their polices”.2 It means to have the requisite
human resources, the physical infrastructure, the financial muscle and the national
political determination to motivate and inspire the whole process from the stage of
policies. Where it involves one institution in interaction with others, capacity will be
judged not only by the ability of the single institution to identify errors in other
institutions’ policy inputs, but also by the ability to suggest plausible policy
3
alternatives. The existence of such capacity depends on several factors to which
The composition of the legislature can determine the courage and frankness of its
members to debate freely and detect irrational ideas in the policies that fall under
its scrutiny. During the period of the single party system (1973- 1991) the Zambian
legislature was composed “of one hundred and twenty five elected members”.3
And the President was empowered to nominate up to ten persons- bringing the
total to one hundred and thirty five representatives. All of them were members of
the single political party- the United National Independence Party (UNIP). During
the early part of the 2nd Republic, checking the correctness of government policy
ideas before they could be issued in the form of Parliamentary Acts was done by a
during Question Time the role of Back Benchers in screening policy ideas from the
Front Bench was crucially important. Initially backed and protected by the National
Assembly Powers and Privileges Act Cap 17 of the Laws of Zambia, Back
Benchers were free to criticise the Government or vote the way they wanted. On
many occasions, Government Bills, which were seen to be inimical to the interests
of the majority of Zambians, were rejected. For this reason, Parliament was seen
by the UNIP Central Committee as a forum for an opposition group within the
single party system. The Government consequently worked out a plan, which
4
three quarters of legislators as District Governors, Ministers of State, Cabinet
1974 42 87
1977 45 86
1979 41 75
1985 39 64
1991 77 46
The above figures show that there was progressively a steady reduction of Back
Bench representatives between 1974 and 1991. Thus by July 1991, 77 Front
Back Bench. These could not defeat the Government on any motion. Even those
representatives appointed to state positions outside the cabinet felt bound by the
brought up in the legislature for discussion and approval. Thus in several instances
the Executive ignored the views of the fewer Back Bench representatives and went
ahead to make its own decisions. For instance in 1980 the Local Government Bill
member’s motion, which urged the State to reduce the price of fertilizers, the
5
The 1991 Republican Constitution which abolished the single- party system and re-
introduced political pluralism raised the number of seats in the Zambian legislature
from 135 to 150. The president was allowed to nominate up to (8) members. After
the polls of 1991, individual party representation in the legislature was as follows:
Five years later in 1996 the picture became even stronger for MMD in the
MMD 131
NP 5
AZ 2
ZDC 2
Independents 20
Summation 150
Following the birth of the United Party for National Development (NPND) and
several by- elections held in the country, by January 2001, the political parties’
6
Party Representation in the Legislature - 2001
The preceding figures indicate the overwhelming MMD majority in the national
legislature between 1991 and 2001. The MMD could therefore legislate on
anything within their interest. Scrutiny of their actions became seriously stifled by a
small presence of opposition parties in the legislature. For instance the opposition
parties were against the Government policy about the pace and whole-sale
privatisation of the parastatals. They also raised questions relating to the eligibility
for contesting the Republican Presidency, and the policy on the Electoral Process
(Amendment) Act, 1996”,4 that prevented Kaunda’s Deputy, Chief Inyambo Yeta
from contesting any state position unless he first resigned his position as chief. The
legislature also passed the Electoral (Amendment) Act 1996, which brought forth
In the same year the Public Order Act was also enacted. It was considered to have
7
Other pieces of legislation enacted by the overwhelmingly MMD representation in
the legislature were the Land Act of 1995 which evoked an outcry from traditional
rulers, NGOs and opposition parties. The Act was perceived as one that had given
the Head of State too much power over land. Added to these unpopular pieces of
legislation were the press- censorship laws such as the State Security Act,
Parliamentary Privilege Act which gives the Speaker judicial powers to imprison
journalists.
Strict separation of power or functions between major institutions has never been
in practice in Zambia since the advent of self-rule in 1964. This largely has been
the result of inheriting the British Parliamentary system, which was modified into
the presidential system after the attainment of independence. During the second
Republic, state and party organs were fused. The Cabinet, a state organ, held joint
meetings with the Central Committee members. Cabinet members were also
members of the legislature. The fusion was extended to provinces in 1976 when
The preceding fusion in some cases strengthened the capacity of the legislature to
the legislature in the cabinet learned something from members of the Central
8
Committee. The Cabinet- Central Committee Interface portrayed the image akin to
the bicameral legislature where the mistakes made by one chamber were identified
and corrected by the second chamber. The government policy of support and
commitment to the political liberation of the rest of Africa and Southern Africa in
implemented as a result of inputs that came from the fused structure. Also the
policy to establish the National Service Scheme that taught all school leavers
military skills and skills for production after high school went through the scrutiny of
the fused structure. Although compulsory military training was removed from the
upheld the component of skills training particularly in the field of agriculture. This
The fusion of the Executive and the Legislature during the Chiluba government
also gave rise to a number of policies that did not reflect rational capacity. The
responsibility of the decisions or actions they took, did not criticise the policy about
the sale of Government Houses. The president was ardently interested in the
policy and any member of his party in power- whether in Front Bench or Back
Bench, could offend the President by criticising his policy opinions. The policy on
conceived by the fused state institutions. Similarly, the hiring of an Israel company,
NIKUV, to register voters for the 1996 elections was a policy decision which some
members of the legislature and the executive (Cabinet) could not criticise for fear
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of negative sanctions which would have been imposed by the Chief Executive, the
President. The same observation goes for declaring Zambia a Christian Nation.
The fusion of state and part organs policy in the second Republic, as already
observe, titled towards the interests of the United National Independence Party
(UNIP) because of the application of the concept of the Supremacy of the Party in
the single party political system. In the Third Republic practising the plural political
culture, particularly under the Mwanawasa Presidency when MMD has had a week
representation in the legislature, the power policy equation has skewed towards
the Executive. The Executive appears to have become so strong that policy inputs
from the legislature seem to have little effect to change the position of the
Executive Illustrative in this case was the decision to establish the Constitutional
Review Commission. This was the initiative of the Executive. Opposition members
in the legislature had rejected the idea, pointing at the huge financial cost that the
programme would attract. But the Executive still went ahead and appointed the
in the Report and the time for implementing the new constitution are policy issues
where it looks the Executive is likely to prove to be stronger than the Legislature.
Physical infrastructure
The need for relevant information to enable the legislators make reasoned
the existence of office accommodation for legislators, data banks for collation,
storage and perusal of researched facts. The current situation in Zambia is that
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legislators have no official office accommodation in Lusaka or in their respective
debates have to be done from their homes or hotel rooms during the period of
parliamentary sessions.
museums established in the country, five are along the line of rail and only one is
Museum Location
Archive Location
Although the National Assembly has a library, it can be used optimally by all
legislators when the National Assembly Sessions are on. When off session, the
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Lusaka based legislators do have easier access to the facility, not those
the National Institute for Scientific Research (NISIR). The University of Zambia and
Copper belt University can provide similar research support services. But the two
Mount Makulu and International Airport, both suburbs of Lusaka and Kitwe
respectively. Even if the preceding data banks were available for the rural based
legislators, there would still be need for easier mobility. But the current national
It covers up to 30, 285 km, part of which comprises trunk roads such as the Great
East Road and Great North Road. A bigger part of the main road network was
constructed between 1965 and 1975 when the economy was performing very well.
From 1984 till today, the condition of the road infrastructure in rural areas has
worsened, making mobility for consultation and data collection for parliamentary
debates by rural- based legislators very difficult. This situation has been the same
Legislature.
qualifications for any one intending to contest elections to the National Assembly is
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silent on level of formal education. All it says is that a candidate should be literate
and conversant with the official language used in the legislature. Education and
These skills reduce error making and make legislators more productive in their
broadly read and hence adequately informed legislators who should be able to
screen public policy issues affecting their electorate and other stakeholders in the
policy environment.
It is further observed that the constitution demands that workers in state and quasi
state institutions have to resign their positions if they decide to join active politics
seek membership of the legislature. As a result the legislature in Zambia has, for a
very long time, been attracting candidates from the business sector, some of them
not well grounded educationally. Many submissions to the current and previous
activities which a civil servant or university lecturer can perform along with his
normal duties. After all National Assembly meetings do not take place every day or
every week.
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Enhancing Legislative capacity through the Committee System
Those who favour the existing provision in the constitution argue that
on a specific topic to address them. The facts brought out in that address are used
for informed debate in the National Assembly. The author of this paper on 2nd
August 2005 addressed one such committee dealing with National decentralisation
comprised members from only one political party, UNIP. Though building
consensus was easier among committee members from the same party, rigorous
The picture in the Third Republic, particularly after the 1996 elections was almost
Delegated legislation involves the use of certain statutory instruments where the
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countries where many legislators are generalists and their levels of formal
when, as observed in the preceding part of the paper on the legal constraints to
learning, the Zambian constitution does not expressly encourage high formal
educational levels among its legislators. But Katotobwe, one of the legislators at
that time, in his report to the National Assembly Speaker in October 1998,
complained that in the Second Republic legislators had lost their legislative
servants were both legislators and executors. They developed an arrogant attitude
toward politicians who were the elected legislators, but with no real legislative
power’8. In the Third Republic, he observed, the situation had not changed.
Bureaucrats have two principal advantages over political players. Their recruitment
into the civil service is based on educational and professional attainments. Their
tenure in office is often longer than that of the political bosses. This allows them to
acquire more relevant knowledge and experience about their ministries. They must
therefore have for a long time been assisting the less knowledgeable and less
The perceptions of the legislature in the modern world are shaped not only by the
ideas of its elected players but also by the influence coming from the external
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in the fight against drug- trafficking or cross- border trade, whether legal or illegal,
requires that certain countries should have consensus to enact appropriate laws in
their respective legislatures. But prior to the passage of such laws representatives
of the concerned countries can meet to debate topical issues. For this reason “the
(JCPF).
For purposes of improving its legislative skills the Zambian parliament has
enormously benefited from its membership in these organisations. For instance the
IPU in the past assisted Zambia in “training offered to its parliamentary officers.(7)
Zambia has participated in debating issues such as the Front Line States against
apartheid, the hunger situation in Southern Africa and economic aid for Southern
delegates from some of the preceding associations. The exchange of ideas on the
legislators improve their thinking ability as they debate issues which culminate into
policies for the country and those that affect the region and the rest of the world.
Conclusion
The issues raised in this paper have shown that Zambia’s legislature has gone
through a process of transformation from the time of its birth in the colonial period
policies, its capacity has been plagued by several obstacles. These range from
inappropriate power relations between and among state and party organs,
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inadequate physical infrastructure to support policy administration, inadequate data
Recommendations
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Lack of expertise among many legislators. • Presidential appointments from the
legislature to the cabinet should take
account of previous training and
educational background in order to
foster knowledge specialization.
Inadequate data banks for generation, storage and • Existing national libraries, archives,
perusal of relevant policy information for museums and research centres should
legislators. be strengthened through staff training,
improved selection and expansion of
reading materials and laboratory
equipment, as well as incentives for
staff motivation.
• Extend data banks to rural areas.
• Introduce transparent and wider radio,
television and print media national
debates to attract inputs from a much
larger policy environment.
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END NOTES
1
. Richard Barke, Science and Technology Policy (1988) Congressional Quarterly
October, 1998, p. 8.
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