Zambia's Political Earthquake: Miles Sampa Seizes PF Secretariat After Court Battle

Published 9 hours ago2 minute read
Pelumi Ilesanmi
Pelumi Ilesanmi
Zambia's Political Earthquake: Miles Sampa Seizes PF Secretariat After Court Battle

Miles Sampa, a key figure within the Patriotic Front (PF), has been actively asserting his authority within the party, including issuing adoption certificates for Parliamentary and Local Government adoptions after being allowed access to the premises by police. This assertion of power has been met with legal challenges, specifically from a factional Secretary General, Morgan Ng’ona.

Ng’ona had sought to prevent Sampa from removing him or altering PF office bearers through an interim injunction. However, the Court of Appeal has dismissed Ng’ona's application, which aimed to maintain this injunction. A full bench of judges, comprising Justices Chalwe Mchenga, Kelvin Muzenga, and Betty Majula, ruled that the application was improperly filed due to procedural irregularities.

The Court of Appeal discharged the ex parte order that had previously restrained Sampa from making changes to the PF leadership structures. The judges emphasized that while both the High Court and Court of Appeal possess concurrent jurisdiction to grant such relief, litigants are generally required to apply to the High Court first, unless exceptional circumstances warrant an immediate appeal to the higher court. The bench explicitly stated, "Where there is concurrent jurisdiction, the application must first be made in the High Court and only come to this court in exceptional circumstances."

Based on this procedural technicality, the court declined to delve into the merits of Ng’ona’s arguments and dismissed the application outright. The interim injunction, which was initially granted on March 9, 2026, by a single Court of Appeal judge and had prevented Sampa from effecting changes at the Registrar of Societies, is now no longer in effect. Ng’ona's attempt to secure this injunction followed the dismissal of his earlier High Court case for want of prosecution, after which he had appealed and sought interim relief to protect his position.

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