Home Affairs asked to share road map on Public Order Act

SACCORD has called on the Ministries of Home Affairs and Justice to share with the nation on how they intend to proceed with the amendment of the Public Order Act.

Commenting on recent pronouncements by Home Affairs Minister Davis Mwila that the POA will be amended before the forth coming elections SACCORD Executive Director Boniface Cheembe said there is need for the two Ministries to share the road map on the amendment of the act.

Mr Cheembe said it is increasingly becoming difficult to believe that the act will be amended as leaders seem to forget about their pronouncements hence the need for a concrete road map.

“The issue of amending the Public Order Act has been on the lips of many stakeholders in the country and often times the nation is told it will be amended only to hear that the piece of legislation is good in its draconian form. It is now becoming increasingly difficult to believe there is enough political will to amend the POA which has been a very serious source of conflict in our country. On many occasions than not the piece of legislation has contributed to disunity and ill feeling in our country with a certain group of our society especially those in opposition feeling as though they are not equal citizens.

“If the latest pronouncement by the Minister are to be taken seriously there is need for his Ministry and that of Justice to share with the nation a concrete road map on how the POA will be amended,” he said.

He said his organization is of the view that a stakeholders meeting be arranged to discuss areas of concern in the act.

“In addition there is an urgent need for them to convene a stakeholders meeting where issues of concern can be addressed. SACCORD is among the organizations that has submitted before the two ministries areas where we believe the POA needs to be amended and we believe that other stakeholders can be given a similar opportunity through a stakeholders meeting.

“In the absence of a clear road map and holding of a stakeholders meeting on the POA it is likely to continue being difficult that any pronouncements will bear any fruits. This is worsened by the fact that time is against the nation considering that over 30 subsidiary legislation has to be amended with little over one month left and these other pieces of legislation equally boarder on the electoral process, eg ; the electoral act and the electoral code of conduct,” he said.

Further adding “We are not quite sure on whether the amendment of the POA with one month to go will produce the necessary desired results for the nation.”