KAMBWILI CONVICTED OF UNLAWFUL ASSEMBLY, HANDED ONE-YEAR SUSPENDED SENTENCE
Lusaka | 9 November 2026 – The Lusaka Magistrates’ Court has convicted Mr. Chishimba Kambwili of unlawful assembly and imposed a one-year suspended sentence over a gathering at his Woodlands residence on 26 January 2023.
Delivering judgment, Resident Magistrate Kawama Mwamfuli found that the prosecution had proved the charge beyond reasonable doubt.
The case concerned a group of approximately 15 to 20 youths who entered Mr. Kambwili’s premises carrying placards and singing a song containing tribal sentiments. The gathering was recorded by his media team and subsequently posted on his Facebook page.
Although Mr. Kambwili later cautioned the youths against the song and hate speech, the Court found that his assistance in facilitating the gathering rendered him criminally liable, even though he had not joined in the singing.
The Court further found that the assembly, initially lawful following prior notification to police, became unlawful through the participants’ conduct. It held that the conduct was likely to provoke a breach of the peace and that holding the gathering at a private residence did not exempt it from the law governing unlawful assembly.
Mr. Kambwili was accordingly convicted under section 75 of the Penal Code and sentenced to a one-year suspended sentence.
The prosecution was conducted by Senior Public Prosecutor Mr. Lewis Loti of the National Prosecution Authority.