Africa-Press – Zambia. Tonse Alliance National Chairperson for Parliamentary Affairs Hon. Brian Mundubile has urged President Hakainde Hichilema to repeal and replace the Cyber Security law.
Speaking to the media today, Hon Mundubile said the process to which the Cyber bills were enacted into law is questionable.
He explained that the reactions from different stakeholders point to the fact that these are bad laws.
He is saddened that the bills have been enacted into law in the same manner that it was presented to the committee without consideration of stakeholders concerns.
Hon Mundubile has accused the UPND of using the arrogance of numbers and ignore the recommendations that come from the committees.
“UPND have made leslative process academic because the bills that come on the floor of the house are in the original form without considering concerns from Stakeholders. What is strange is that whenever the UPND is doing something, they are very quick to go to social media and traditional media whenever they think they are doing something good. But on these particular bills, the country came to learn about the bills when the Americans issued a notice to its citizens advising them on some of the concerns on the provisions,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hon Mundubile has dispelled assertions that the bills were agreed to unanimously by MPS.
He said these bills that are now law were objected to by members of parliament.
“The bills first came on the floor of the house in December, because of the objections…. the Minister in charge of the bills was forced to defer the bills. The reasons was that there was need for more consultation. The minister assured the Zambians that he was taking the pull back for further consultation. The report came with recommendations that there was need for further consultation because stakeholders that appeared before the committee objected to the clauses that were in those bills,” Hon Mundubile explained.
He said fundamental rights of citizens will be violated with the Cyber security Law and Cyber Crimes Bill.
Hon Mundubile said these two pieces of legislation are bad for the people of Zambia
“Remember Mr President that in your presentations to the youths, you contended that many youths who could not freely use TV, Radio had an opportunity to participate in the running of the country through social media. The bills are questionable in that the report that accompanied the bill from the committee guides parliament on the sentiments of other stakeholders. Remember we are only 164 together with nominated members of us as representatives of the 20 million people.
A wisdom of setting up committes is such that away from the members of parliament, stakeholders are able to project their views directly through the committees. Many stakeholders turned up because these were laws of interest given modern society. A number of stakeholders appeared and expressed their concerns,” he said.
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