The Chapter One Foundation said on Thursday 22 October that the World Justice Project's 2026 Rule of Law Index records a further slide in Zambia's adherence to the rule of law. Zambia Monitor and the Zambian Observer both carried the statement by its executive director, Josiah Kalala. The World Justice Project describes the 2026 edition of its index as covering 143 countries and jurisdictions.
According to both reports, Mr Kalala said Zambia is among the countries the index identifies as having suffered a sustained five-year decline in at least one of three safeguards against authoritarian rule: constraints on government powers, open government and fundamental rights. He cited rankings of 121st in the world, and 25th of 34 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, on fundamental rights; 111th on open government; 109th on absence of corruption; and 119th on regulatory enforcement. Neither report gives Zambia's overall score or its overall rank, nor the change from 2025.
authoritarian practices are no longer merely an emerging threat but are becoming entrenched.
— Josiah Kalala, executive director of the Chapter One Foundation, in a statement reported by Zambia Monitor on Thursday 22 October
Mr Kalala pointed, according to Zambia Monitor, to documented deterioration in freedom of expression, assembly, association and civic participation, and to what he called an equally concerning decline in how effectively the judiciary limits government power. The Observer's account has him describing the findings as troubling because they suggested that "weaknesses in democratic safeguards were becoming entrenched rather than remaining isolated incidents of abuse". He urged the Government, Parliament, the Judiciary and other institutions to study the findings and pursue measurable reforms to strengthen institutional independence, protect freedoms and improve transparency.
The view from the Government benches
Neither outlet reported a Government response to the index itself. The same week, however, produced a forceful statement of the opposite case from a senior UPND MP. The Times of Zambia reports that Jack Mwiimbu, the Monze East MP and immediate past Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security, used his maiden speech in Parliament on Wednesday 21 October to criticise church groups, civil-society organisations and the opposition for what he called their silence while critics of President Hakainde Hichilema wished him ill health and death. He said those groups were applauding people who abused the President, and that when law enforcement arrested lawbreakers it was the opposition, civil society and some churches who questioned the arrests.
Surely; is this the Zambia we want to be living in?
— Jack Mwiimbu, Monze East MP, in his maiden speech to the National Assembly on Wednesday 21 October, as reported by the Times of Zambia
News Diggers reports that Mr Mwiimbu also said no responsible government could report security matters to citizens, even when asked how particular individuals had been arrested, and described as "impunity" the demand by a consortium of local and regional civil-society organisations that the Zambian and Mozambican governments account for the cross-border apprehension of Emmanuel Jay Banda. State House had already answered that consortium on Tuesday 20 October, as Lusaka Brief reported on Wednesday. The Times says Mr Mwiimbu challenged opposition members seeking dialogue with the President to come "with clean hands", and that the President had been the first to call for national unity and dialogue. Neither the Times nor News Diggers carried a reply from the churches, the civil-society groups or the opposition.
Sources: Zambia Monitor, “Group flays Zambia's declining rule of law ranking” (22 Oct 2026); Zambian Observer, “CHAPTER ONE FOUNDATION CONCERNED OVER DETERIORATING RULE OF LAW IN ZAMBIA” (22 Oct 2026); World Justice Project, “WJP Rule of Law Index” (22 Oct 2026); Times of Zambia, “Deafening silence irks Mwiimbu” (22 Oct 2026); News Diggers, “Govt can't disclose security details of Jay Jay's arrest – Mwiimbu” (22 Oct 2026).