By Emmanuel Mwamba
Chief Justice Hefty Retirement snd Life Package
Welcome to Zambia’s post-service paradise, brought to you by the elegantly titled Benefits of Former Chief Justice Bill, 2026 a document so modest in its ambition that it only seeks to transform judicial retirement into a state-sponsored afterlife of comfort, continuity, and curated privilege
In a bold and visionary move one that will surely be studied in future textbooks under “Advanced Theories of Selective Generosity” our policymakers have gifted the nation a solution to Zambia’s most pressing crisis: “How do we ensure that those who have already reached the very top never experience life at the bottom?”
A NEW DEFINITION OF RETIREMENT
Retirement, as we once knew it, was a simple concept: You stop working and live off what you saved. How primitive. Under this new enlightenment: You stop working and the nation continues working for you. Not partially or modestly, but comprehensively;
• 80% of the current Chief Justice’s salary (tax-free, of course because taxation is for the governed, not the graduated).
• A house of your choosing (because nothing says “thank you for your service” like real estate acquisition).
• A vehicle, driver, fuel, and maintenance (because walking builds character, and we must protect our leaders from such hardship) All funded, quite romantically, by the same citizens who are still being told to “tighten their belts.”
In most professions, retirement means:
• Your salary stops.
• Your benefits reduce.
• Your life adjusts.
In this Bill, retirement means:
• You continue earning—tax-free—at 80% of the sitting Chief Justice’s salary.
• Not your last salary and
• Not your earned pension.
NO.!!!!!! But the current one, which means:
The harder your successor works, the better you live.
It is a brilliant innovation in economics:
A pension indexed to someone else’s job.
Ok the details really make your blood chill,
The House Built (With Public Funds) it like wait! , the retirement can be lonely.
So naturally, the State steps in:
• A house, built or bought by government.
• Anywhere you choose.
Because after interpreting the Constitution, one must also interpret real estate markets, preferably with the Treasury acting as your estate agent, and if bricks feel too pedestrian?
Take cash instead linked, quite tastefully, to presidential benefits. This is because nothing says judicial independence like benchmarking your retirement lifestyle against executive royalty.
Mobility, Because Justice Must Keep Moving.
You also receive:
• A vehicle
• A driver
• Fuel
• Maintenance.
Forever!!!!!!!!Because obviously, after retirement, the most pressing constitutional question becomes: “Who will pay for the petrol of justice?”
For the uninitiated, this is a poetic phrase meaning: “Paid by everyone benefiting a few.”
It is a beautiful system, when a teacher contributes, when a nurse pays taxes, when a small business struggles through compliance, they are not just sustaining the State. They are sustaining retirement lifestyles they will never experience. And just in case anyone was wondering who pays for this carefully curated retirement experience:
It is charged directly on the Consolidated Fund.
That is:
• Not optional
• Not conditional
• Not dependent on economic reality
It is guaranteed.
Unlike:
• Medicines in hospitals
• Pension arrears for ordinary workers
• Social protection for the elderly
Meanwhile, Somewhere Else in the Same Country Zambia
Ordinary citizens are being told:
• “Pension funds are under pressure”
• “Withdraw early, but understand the consequences”
• “We must be fiscally responsible”
• “Sacrifices are necessary”
And indeed, sacrifices are being made.
Just not here.
Two Pension Philosophies, One Country
On one side:
• Workers: “Take 30% early
• reduce your future, and
• Manage your expectations.”
On the other:
• Former Chief Justice: “Take 80% forever,
• tax-free,
• indexed upward,
• plus housing,
• travel,
• security,
• And dignity on instalment.”
This is not policy inconsistency but policy poetry.
Yet we were once told, Public service is about sacrifice.
This Bill clarifies:
Public service is about positioning.
Serve long enough, high enough, and close enough to power and retirement is no longer:
• A transition
• A slowdown
• A reflection
It becomes, a permanent upgrade, funded by those still waiting for theirs.
MY FINAL THOUGHT!!!
A nation reveals its priorities not in speeches, but in what it guarantees without hesitation.
Here, we have guaranteed:
• Comfort for the already comfortable
• Security for the already secure
• Continuity of privilege beyond office
All while telling that the Zambians that, retirement is no longer the end of service.
It is the beginning of state-sponsored permanence of privilege.
And somewhere, buried beneath the schedules, clauses, and consolidated funds, one question remains: If this is what happens after serving justice, what, exactly, was justice serving all along?
This bill in in very bad faith, Very bad timing and very deceptive to the thousands of hard workers, Why should they not contribute to the Pension System Awe!!!!!