The Southern African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (SACCORD) has welcomed the Presidential media and citizen engagement and the commitment to hold these engagements on a quarterly basis.
SACCORD Executive Director Boniface Cheembe said that these engagements are important as they offer the nation an opportunity to get first-hand information from the President.
Mr Cheembe said the media and citizen engagement addressed many pertinent issues which have since given varying reactions from stakeholders in different sectors of society.
He said SACCORD took keen interest in the reaffirmation on the part of the President to uphold the peace, unity, and stability of the country.
Mr Cheembe said in supporting the position taken by the President as evidenced by his address on his vision on upholding peace.
“We must ensure that our politics as a nation are not replete with hate speech or violent communication that border on ethnic divisions. This means embracing a politics of ideas on the many issues that confront the nation constructively before the people of Zambia who have built the capacity over time to be receptive to such exchange of ideas,” he said.
He said SACCORD support the call by the President to base public discourse on facts and it is paramount to ensure that there is an enabling environment to this effect.
Mr Cheembe said the New Dawn Government should speed up enacting the Access to Information Bill into law, reform the Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act and the Public Order Act, among others.
