The Security Wings of Zambia, which happen to have concurrent jurisdiction with the Defence Force, prefer to prosecute cases before them involving members of the Defence Force in the civil courts instead of referring the cases to the military courts. This article reports on the inadequacies in the law regulating the Defence Force, which may be causing this problem, through a case study of the Lusaka urban district Defence and Security Wings, namely the Zambia Army, Zambia Air Force, Zambia National Service, Zambia Police Service, Anti-Corruption Commission and Drug Enforcement Commission. The study findings showed that the Defence Act Chapter 106 of the Laws of Zambia has limitations in that it does not expressly cover the prosecution of military personnel of the rank of Colonel and above. Further, prosecution of serious offences such as murder is difficult because of the lack of legal qualification of both the judge advocate and members of the court. However, limitations of the Military Justice System are not the cause of Civil Security Institutions opting to prosecute members of the Defence Force in Civil Courts; rather, most members of them do not possess much knowledge about military law, and since they have jurisdiction over military officers, they just use their own laws. Key recommendations are that there is a need to amend the Act in order to provide for the prosecution of all ranks by permanent and competent military courts and the need for a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Defence and Security Institutions on the transfer of cases among the Institutions. This will help to preserve the integrity and secrecy of the Defence Force of Zambia and improve relations with Civil Security Institutions.
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