Zambia’s Chief Justice Irene Mambilima Dies in Egypt

Barely four days after the demise of Zambia’s founding President Kenneth Kaunda, the country has been plunged in further grief with the passing of Chief Justice Irene Mambilima, 69, in Cairo, Egypt, yesterday. Mambilima died in an Egyptian hospital after taken ill while on an official tour.

A statement issued by the Zambian presidency said she had travelled for official duty on June 10, 2021.

Mambilima who was admitted to the bar in 197, became Chief Justice on February 26, 2015 held a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Zambia and a Master of Laws degree from the University of London.

Justice Mambilima served as a judge of the High Court from 1989 to 2002. In 2003, she served as sessional judge of the Supreme Court of The Gambia.

Widely respected Justice Mambilima twice served as the country’s chief of the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ), between 2005 and 2015.

She presided over the 2006 and 2011 general elections that saw the now governing PF dislodging the MMD from power.