{"id":76093,"date":"2025-09-03T22:12:02","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T22:12:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/?p=76093"},"modified":"2025-09-03T22:11:03","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T22:11:03","slug":"govt-proceeding-with-caution-on-public-gathering-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/govt-proceeding-with-caution-on-public-gathering-bill","title":{"rendered":"GOVT PROCEEDING WITH CAUTION ON PUBLIC GATHERING BILL"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Zambia. <\/strong><\/span>HOME Affairs Permanent Secretary Dickson Matembo has disclosed that the Public Gathering bill has been finalised and presented to the Ministry of Justice.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Matembo has however indicated that government is proceeding with caution on the matter.<\/p>\n<p>He has explained to Phoenix News that the bill has undergone extensive stakeholder consultations, with some non-governmental organisations raising concerns and seeking additional time.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Matembo has further explained that government is taking a cautious approach to avoid controversies, drawing lessons from the cyber laws dispute.<\/p>\n<p>He adds that the bill has been discussed at senior level and is moving forward under the guidance of the Ministry of Justice and will be tabled before parliament once review by the Ministry of Justice is concluded.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Zambia<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Zambia. HOME Affairs Permanent Secretary Dickson Matembo has disclosed that the Public Gathering bill has been finalised and presented to the Ministry of Justice. Mr. Matembo has however indicated that government is proceeding with caution on the matter. He has explained to Phoenix News that the bill has undergone extensive stakeholder consultations, with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":76091,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[233],"class_list":["post-76093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-zambia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>GOVT PROCEEDING WITH CAUTION ON PUBLIC GATHERING BILL - Zambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"HOME Affairs Permanent Secretary Dickson Matembo has disclosed that the Public Gathering bill has been finalised and pre ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/govt-proceeding-with-caution-on-public-gathering-bill\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"GOVT PROCEEDING WITH CAUTION ON PUBLIC GATHERING BILL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"HOME Affairs Permanent Secretary Dickson Matembo has disclosed that the Public Gathering bill has been finalised and pre ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/govt-proceeding-with-caution-on-public-gathering-bill\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Zambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-03T22:12:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2025\/09\/sm_1756925032.704704.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/govt-proceeding-with-caution-on-public-gathering-bill#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/govt-proceeding-with-caution-on-public-gathering-bill\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"GOVT PROCEEDING WITH CAUTION ON PUBLIC GATHERING BILL\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-03T22:12:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/govt-proceeding-with-caution-on-public-gathering-bill\"},\"wordCount\":141,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/govt-proceeding-with-caution-on-public-gathering-bill#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2025\/09\/sm_1756925032.704704.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Zambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/govt-proceeding-with-caution-on-public-gathering-bill#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/govt-proceeding-with-caution-on-public-gathering-bill\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/govt-proceeding-with-caution-on-public-gathering-bill\",\"name\":\"GOVT PROCEEDING WITH CAUTION ON PUBLIC GATHERING BILL - Zambia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/govt-proceeding-with-caution-on-public-gathering-bill#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/govt-proceeding-with-caution-on-public-gathering-bill#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2025\/09\/sm_1756925032.704704.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-03T22:12:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"HOME Affairs Permanent Secretary Dickson Matembo has disclosed that the Public Gathering bill has been finalised and pre ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/govt-proceeding-with-caution-on-public-gathering-bill#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/govt-proceeding-with-caution-on-public-gathering-bill\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/govt-proceeding-with-caution-on-public-gathering-bill#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2025\/09\/sm_1756925032.704704.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2025\/09\/sm_1756925032.704704.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"GOVT PROCEEDING WITH CAUTION ON PUBLIC GATHERING BILL\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/govt-proceeding-with-caution-on-public-gathering-bill#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"GOVT PROCEEDING WITH CAUTION ON PUBLIC GATHERING BILL\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/\",\"name\":\"Zambia\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"GOVT PROCEEDING WITH CAUTION ON PUBLIC GATHERING BILL - Zambia","description":"HOME Affairs Permanent Secretary Dickson Matembo has disclosed that the Public Gathering bill has been finalised and pre ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/govt-proceeding-with-caution-on-public-gathering-bill","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"GOVT PROCEEDING WITH CAUTION ON PUBLIC GATHERING BILL","og_description":"HOME Affairs Permanent Secretary Dickson Matembo has disclosed that the Public Gathering bill has been finalised and pre ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/govt-proceeding-with-caution-on-public-gathering-bill","og_site_name":"Zambia","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2025-09-03T22:12:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2025\/09\/sm_1756925032.704704.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/govt-proceeding-with-caution-on-public-gathering-bill#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/govt-proceeding-with-caution-on-public-gathering-bill"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"GOVT PROCEEDING WITH CAUTION ON PUBLIC GATHERING BILL","datePublished":"2025-09-03T22:12:02+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/govt-proceeding-with-caution-on-public-gathering-bill"},"wordCount":141,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/govt-proceeding-with-caution-on-public-gathering-bill#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2025\/09\/sm_1756925032.704704.jpg","keywords":["Zambia"],"articleSection":["all news","policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/govt-proceeding-with-caution-on-public-gathering-bill#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/govt-proceeding-with-caution-on-public-gathering-bill","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/govt-proceeding-with-caution-on-public-gathering-bill","name":"GOVT PROCEEDING WITH CAUTION ON PUBLIC GATHERING BILL - Zambia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/govt-proceeding-with-caution-on-public-gathering-bill#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/govt-proceeding-with-caution-on-public-gathering-bill#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2025\/09\/sm_1756925032.704704.jpg","datePublished":"2025-09-03T22:12:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"HOME Affairs Permanent Secretary Dickson Matembo has disclosed that the Public Gathering bill has been finalised and pre ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/govt-proceeding-with-caution-on-public-gathering-bill#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/govt-proceeding-with-caution-on-public-gathering-bill"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/govt-proceeding-with-caution-on-public-gathering-bill#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2025\/09\/sm_1756925032.704704.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2025\/09\/sm_1756925032.704704.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"caption":"GOVT PROCEEDING WITH CAUTION ON PUBLIC GATHERING BILL"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/govt-proceeding-with-caution-on-public-gathering-bill#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"GOVT PROCEEDING WITH CAUTION ON PUBLIC GATHERING BILL"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/","name":"Zambia","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}