JOINT CSO PRESS RELEASE ON THREATS TO PROSECUTE ATTENDEES OF RESIDENT DOCTORS’ ASSOCIATION ZOOM MEETINGS
We, the undersigned civil society organisations (CSOs), note with great alarm a statement allegedly made by the Inspector-General of Police on 30th May 2021 threatening to prosecute attendees of Zoom meetings hosted by the President of the Resident Doctors’ Association of Zambia, Dr. Brian Sampa, on the basis that such meetings are illegal on account of Dr. Sampa allegedly having been suspended by the Health Professional Council of Zambia and are contrary to the Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act.
It is the position of the undersigned that neither the Health Professional Council Act nor the Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act criminalise attendance of online meetings addressed by an official who might or might not have been suspended. We therefore view the threat issued by the Inspector-General of Police as the continued attempt to curtail the constitutional freedom of association that citizens enjoy.
It is an abrogation of the citizen rights of expression and association that has been carried out for years in the in the physical space through the abuse of the Public Order Act. This suppression of both rights is now being transferred to the cyber space on vague and undefined grounds, as the undersigned CSOs warned would happen when the Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Bill was being debated. We wish to remind the Inspector-General of Police that the constitutional right to freedom of assembly is guaranteed regardless of the platform. The powers of the police should not be used to intimidate citizens, especially ahead of the 2021 general elections.
We urge the members of the Resident Doctors’ Association to demand that the Police Service provide a specified legal basis within the Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act on which their right to assemble online is being threatened. The blanket claim of illegality and general threats of prosecution under the Act have no place in a democratic dispensation. We urge all members of the public to educate themselves on the Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act to avoid being taken advantage of by any person or authority. Finally, we urge the police to also educate themselves of this new law to avoid illegally enforcing it.
Again, we jointly remind the police that the constitutional rights of citizens be respected even when the exercise of those rights is inconvenient for government.
Linda Kasonde
Executive Director, Chapter One Foundation
Signed for and on behalf of the following CSOs:
ActionAid Zambia
Alliance for Community Action
Bloggers of Zambia
Caritas Zambia
Chapter One Foundation
GEARS
Peoples’ Action for Accountability and Good Governance in Zambia
Transparency International Zambia
Zambia Council for Social DevelopmentC
President Lungu had better fire this man,he has shown a complete lack of understanding and respect for the constitutional rights of ordinary Zambians. Zambia was once admired as a peaceful nation but this intolerance we are seeing is tarnishing our image.
Arresting people for attending a ZOOM meeting is an part interpretation of lungus cyber crime bill…….
Soon you will be arrested for having group chats on WhatsApp and FB…..
We warned you about that bill……
Pretty sure they won’t be able to determine who is actually in any Zoom meeting, and where they are located! In principle it is possible but the Zambian police is not equipped to effectuate the thread.
And any Zoom meeting will be over before the police officer has found transport to go anywhere! I wish them good luck catching anybody!
Kwena ba ya sana ba PF. Guys mwe bali ku Zed and are registered voters pleas vote these guys out. Nabonaula ichalo sana….we got to do something to get our country. The American people did it last November when they voted in droves to oust the then loud mouthed Donald Trump. It was done through the ballot. Let’s do it again guys ata bamakaka aba they have turned back the clock to worse times way before colonialism. They need to go. They eat snakes anyways!!! God is larger than snakes.
Kwena ba ya sana ba PF. Guys mwe bali ku Zed and are registered voters pleas vote these guys out. Nabonaula ichalo sana….we got to do something to get our country back. The American people did it last November 2020 when they voted in droves to oust the then POTUS loud mouthed Donald Trump. It was done through the ballot. Let’s do it again guys (like in 1991) ata bamakaka aba they have turned back the clock to worse times way before colonialism. They need to go. They eat snakes anyways!!! God is larger than snakes.
Kwena ba ya sana ba PF. Guys mwe bali ku Zed and are registered voters pleas vote these guys out. Nabonaula ichalo sana….we got to do something to get our country back. The American people did it last November 2020 when they voted in droves to oust the then POTUS loud mouthed Donald Trump. It was done through the ballot. Let’s do it again guys (like in 1991) ata bamakaka aba they have turned back the clock to worse times way before colonialism. They need to go. They eat snakes anyways!!! But God is larger than snakes.
Just checked to make sure my voters card expired is intact. His will redeem us from the his regime
Finally bamonekela ati these fake doctors are sponsored by these criminals who are blood thirsty. Always happy when they see death!
WHY IS LUNGU KEEPING THIS GUY, EVEN COMEDY DOES COME TO AN END.
THE PF IS BECOMING A MAJOR PROBLEM THANKFULLY THEY WILL BE OUT SHORTLY
AND WE CAN ALL GET ON WITH OUR LIVES, IN A NORMAL FASHION AUGUST IS DRAWING NEARER BY THE DAY
Don’t be f00Iish. An illegal gathering or meeting is illegal regardless of whether it takes place on zoom,Skype, or a tree in monze. Let us not become conveniently ignorant for political reasons. Police please continue doing a good job protecting us the majority
A certain man went hunting. He had boasted to his fellow villagers that he was a good hunter and nicknamed himself Inspector General. As days went by in the forest, he got nothing. The buffalo were too tough for him. The kudus too quick. The lions, too ferocious. Frustrated, he returned empty handed but not to lose face he caught a lot of field mice and moles. These are the only ‘game’ he could afford. This is the story of Kakoma Kanganja. He fails to catch real criminals and always breathes threats and pounces on poor innocent citizens who are just going about exercising their human rights. In Shakespeare’s language, ‘the man doth protest too much.’ He is trying very hard to please the keeper of the kennel not to let him go. He is trying very hard, too hard to be relevant in Zambia…
If it is true, what the HPCZ is alleged to have done, is illegal. A doctors CANNOT be suspended without due process. There must be a hearing at which the doctor is represented by a lawyer of his choice. I do not believe that the doctor has been suspended.
The time has come to retire this P.I.G (Police Inspector General)Kakoma Kanganja.He has been quite simply the Worst Police Chief in Zambia’s History. This job is Sacred Job,God’s Work,the protector of the people,the finder of Lost children .
What P.I.G Kanganja really is ,is a PF Cadres at top of the State Sponsored Violence machinery.We shall never forget those he slaughtered,Vespers,Nsama Nsama , Joseph Kaunda,just mention a few. We the people have Zero Confidence in him .
We want this Old Crocodile retired back to Mwinilunga.
Linda Kasonde be rational. Throughout the world Water Utilities are not disconnecting water because they want people to wash hands to help fight convid-19. Linda help fight convid-19.
6 months probation successfully completed, now more vicious and lethal. The intention was to improve public confidence in the police service and not public fear.
Just hope that in Zambia we still have the same mindset of Zambians who voted for change in 1991.
But just what the hell is wrong with Kainyokololile Zulu? Sometimes one is really given to wonder, such gutless stupidity like he has, is it a gift from God bestowed on this lumpen on note or he is on drugs chewed with imichila yaba koswe making this maddening ***** so annoying!
Kakoma Kanganyokola is also one hell of a stinking hyena, when Lungu is removed come this August, this ugly Angolan Ovimbundu tribesman must be incarcerated, he is a menace to society.