By NCHIMUNYA MIYOBA
Green Party President Peter Sinkamba says the Public Order Act (POA) should completely be removed from the Laws of Zambia because the current Act is being abused by the Police Service.
Mr Sinkamba said the current state of the POA will continue to be abused by those using it if not completely removed
Speaking in an interview in Kitwe today, Mr Sinkamba said the police Service has been abusing the act and the best way is to scrap it off from the laws as the police can use other laws to deal with unruly behaviour that disrupt other people’s activities.
He said green party believes that there other laws that can be used to for any perpetrators of violence adding that any review of the act will not make sense.
He said NGOs calling for the review of the POA does no know what they are talking about as they are the same people who decampaigned the referendum in the 2016 general elections.
He said it’s unfortunate that some NGOS and individuals decampaigned the referendum which after Zambians voted no to the piece of legislature that gave an opportunity to ensure that the act does not infringe on people’s rights.
Mr Sinkamba said that Zambians had an opportunity to vote for the referendum were rights where properly entranched in the bill of rights.
Governance Elections Advocacy and Research Services (GEARS) recently urged Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and other stakeholders to advocate for the repealing of old laws that infringe the spaces for civic and political participation.
GEARS Executive Director MacDonald Chipenzi said old laws like the Public Order Act of 1955 and the Penal Code of 1938 are meant infringe on people’s freedoms and are not in good standing with the Democratic process of the country.
