Lombe Chibesakunda

Last updated

Lombe Chibesakunda
President of COMESA Court of Justice
Assumed office
2015

Lombe Phyllis Chibesakunda (born 5 May 1944) is a Zambian lawyer and diplomat. She has been the chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Zambia, Solicitor General, Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Legal Affairs, acting Chief Justice of Zambia, and has served as an Ambassador to Japan, the United Kingdom, the Vatican, and the Netherlands. [1] Chibesakunda is the first woman president of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Court of Justice in Khartoum, Sudan.

Contents

Early life

Lombe Phyllis Chibesakunda was born in Zambia on 5 May 1944. [2] [3] She comes from Chibesakunda royal family. Chibesakunda is a chief in the Muchinga Province of the Bisa ethnic group, one of the many dialects of northern Zambia. She attended Chibesakunda and Pandala Primary School in Northern Zambia. She later went to Chipembi Girls where she served as Head Girl, then later studied at the National Institute of Public Administration in Lusaka and also Gray's Inn in England. [3]

Career

Chibesakunda is a woman of ‘firsts’. She became the first female Zambian lawyer and State Advocate in the Ministry of Legal Affairs. She was a parliamentary candidate for the Matero constituency and Solicitor-General of the Republic of Zambia in 1973.

After a successful career in Law, Social Action, and Politics, she joined the diplomatic corps serving as ambassador to Japan (1975), Zambian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom (UK), Netherlands, and Holy See (1978–81). Chibesakunda took part in the Lancaster House talks that led to the independence of Zimbabwe, and actively campaigned against South African apartheid.

Chibesakunda was appointed Judge of the Industrial Relations Court in 1986 and later became Africa Development Bank Court President. Chibesakunda was appointed Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Zambia in 1997. Since 1981 she has concentrated on the judicial service as a judge at High Court, and Supreme Court and served as acting Chief Justice of Zambia from 2012 to 2015.

In 2015, Chibesakunda was elected president of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Court of Justice, based in Khartoum, Sudan, and is the first woman to hold this position. She succeeded Nzamba Kitonga of Kenya in the role. The last president Her Ladyship swore-in in her tenure as Acting Chief Justice of Zambia was president Edgar Lungu in August 2015.

Aside from judicial service, Justice Lombe Chibesakunda was a visiting professor at the Kansai University in Japan. Chibesakunda is a Chancellor at Rockview University in Lusaka, Zambia.  

Personal life

She has a son, Chita Chibesakunda.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick Chiluba</span> Former President of Zambia (1991–2002)

Frederick Jacob Titus Chiluba was a Zambian politician who was the second president of Zambia from 1991 to 2002. Chiluba, a trade union leader, won the country's multi-party presidential election in 1991 as the candidate of the Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD), defeating long-time President Kenneth Kaunda. He was re-elected in 1996. As he was unable to run for a third term in 2001, former Vice President Levy Mwanawasa instead ran as the MMD candidate and succeeded him. After leaving office, Chiluba was the subject of a long investigation and trial regarding alleged corruption; he was eventually acquitted in 2009.

Jean Mutsinzi is a Rwandan former jurist in the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights. He was elected for a six-year term of office on 22 January 2006 at the Eighth Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the African Union, held in Khartoum, Sudan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nazhat Shameem</span> Fijian diplomat

Nazhat Shameem Khan is a Fijian diplomat and former judge who served as the Permanent Representative of Fiji to the United Nations from 2014 to 2022. She was also the President of the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2021. She served as a judge of the High Court of Fiji from 1999 to 2009, the first woman to do so. She is currently a Deputy Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James John Skinner</span> Zambian politician

James John Skinner was an Irish-born Zambian politician and jurist. He was the first Minister of Justice of independent Zambia and the only White member of Zambia's first cabinet. Following his time as a Zambian jurist, Skinner moved to neighbouring Malawi, where he was Chief Justice of Malawi from 1970 to 1985. His final judicial appointment was as a Social Security Commissioner in England from 1986 to 1996.

Justice James Ogoola is the former Principal Judge of the High Court of Uganda and a Justice of the COMESA Court of Justice in Lusaka, Zambia. He is the also the former chairperson of the Judicial Service Commission of Uganda. Previously, he served as the chairman of the commission of inquiry into the mismanagement of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. He was an Acting Justice of the Supreme Court of Uganda. He is a member of The East African Court of Justice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa</span> Regional economic community including eastern and southwestern African states

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is a regional economic community in Africa with twenty-one member states stretching from Tunisia to Eswatini. COMESA was formed in December 1994, replacing a Preferential Trade Area which had existed since 1981. Nine of the member states formed a free trade area in 2000, with Rwanda and Burundi joining the FTA in 2004, the Comoros and Libya in 2006, Seychelles in 2009, Uganda in 2012 and Tunisia in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edgar Lungu</span> President of Zambia (2015–2021)

Edgar Chagwa Lungu is a Zambian politician who served as the sixth president of Zambia from 26 January 2015 to 24 August 2021. Under President Michael Sata, Lungu served as Minister of Justice and Minister of Defence. Following Sata's death in October 2014, Lungu was adopted as the candidate of the Patriotic Front in a Convention of the Patriotic Front in Kabwe, for the January 2015 presidential by-election, which was to determine who would serve out the remainder of Sata's term. In the election, he narrowly defeated opposition candidate Hakainde Hichilema and took office on 25 January 2015.

Nonkosi Zoliswa Mhlantla is a South African judge of the Constitutional Court. Elevated to that court in December 2015, she was formerly a judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal between December 2008 and November 2015. She entered legal practice as an attorney in her hometown, Port Elizabeth, and joined the bench in June 2002, becoming the first woman ever to be appointed to the Eastern Cape Division of the High Court of South Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irene Mambilima</span> 7th Chief Justice of Zambia (1952–2021)

Irene Chirwa Mambilima was the Chief Justice of Zambia from 2015 until her death in 2021. She also served as Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Zambia and presided over the 2006 and 2011 general elections and the January 2015 presidential by-election. She was part of several election observer missions including in Liberia, Kenya, Mozambique, and Seychelles. Her other international assignments included serving as Sessional Judge of the Supreme Court of The Gambia in 2003. Mambilima sat on the International Board of the International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ) as a Director of the Africa Region. She was also a member of several professional associations including the Zambia Association of Women Judges, the Editorial Board Council of Law Reporting, the Child Fund (Zambia), Women in Law Southern Africa, and the Council of the Institution of Advanced Legal Education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haider Ahmed Dafalla</span>

Haider Ahmed Dafalla was the Chief Justice of Sudan and president of the Supreme Court of Sudan, starting in 2014. He was the highest-ranking and presiding judge in the Supreme Court, and also head of administrative functions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judiciary of Zambia</span>

The Judiciary of Zambia is the branch of the Government of the Republic of Zambia which interprets and applies the country's laws to ensure impartial justice under law and to provide a mechanism for dispute resolution. Under the 1991 Constitution, justices and magistrates are independent of the government and subject only to the Constitution and the law.

Helen Gay Murrell is an Australian lawyer and judge who was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mandisa Maya</span> South African judge

Mandisa Muriel Lindelwa Maya is the Deputy Chief Justice of South Africa. She was formerly the President of the Supreme Court of Appeal from 2017 to 2022. She joined the bench in May 2000 as a judge of the Transkei Division of the High Court of South Africa and was elevated to the Supreme Court of Appeal in 2006.

Elizabeth Nkombo Chona Muyovwe, commonly known as Elizabeth Muyovwe, was a Zambian Supreme Court Justice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chief Justice of Sudan</span> Head of the Judiciary of Sudan

The chief justice of Sudan is the head of the Judiciary of Sudan. Under Article 29.(3) of the August 2019 Draft Constitutional Declaration, the chief justice is also the president of the Supreme Court of Sudan and is "responsible for administering the judicial authority before the Supreme Judicial Council."

Chileshe Mpundu Kapwepwe, is a Zambian accountant and corporate executive, who serves as the Secretary General of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), effective 18 July 2018. She was elected at the 20th Heads of State COMESA summit in Lusaka, Zambia's capital city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nemat Abdullah Khair</span> Sudanese Chief Justice since 2019

Nemat Abdullah Mohamed Khair is a Sudanese judge of the Sudanese Supreme Court who became Chief Justice of Sudan on 10 October 2019 until 15 May 2021. As such, under Article 29.(3) of the August 2019 Draft Constitutional Declaration, she is also the president of the Supreme Court of Sudan and is "responsible for administering the judicial authority before the Supreme Judicial Council." Khair is the first woman Chief Justice of Sudan.

Mukwandi Walusiku Chibesakunda is a Zambian accountant and bank executive who currently serves as chief executive officer of Zambia's largest bank, Zanaco Bank. She is the first female to hold the position. In 2022, she won the African female leader of the year.

References

  1. "Zambia : Judge Lombe Chibesakunda elected president of the COMESA Court of Justice". lusakatimes.com. 5 March 2015. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  2. "Chibesakunda, Lombe Phyllis (1944–) - Dictionary definition of Chibesakunda, Lombe Phyllis (1944–) - Encyclopedia.com: FREE online dictionary". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  3. 1 2 "New Chief Justice Chibesakunda 13 years above retirement age, few months younger than Sakala". Zambian Watchdog. 16 June 2012. Archived from the original on 22 October 2020.

Lombe is writing her book titled My Trodden Path : An Autobiography