Lawyer wans ex-minister

…exposing government secrets under oath is criminal

IT is criminal for fired ministers to expose government secrets or information that came into their possession by virtue of being in public office, Lusaka lawyer Hobday Kabwe has warned. And Zambia Republican Party (ZRP) president, Wright Musoma has called on law enforcement agencies to quickly arrest former ministers who are disclosing government secrets as they are doing so out of bitterness and frustration. Mr Kabwe said that it was criminal for ministers whether in office or not to reveal government secrets or information that came into their possession by virtue of being in office. He explained that ministers take an oath of office when they are appointed not to expose or reveal information that come to their knowledge in the course of their duty.. “It is criminal for a minister whether in office or not to start revealing government secrets or information that come to their possession by virtue of being in public office. They are to keep such information to themselves alone, so it is illegal for any fired minister to start exposing what they came to know because of being in a certain position,” he said. Mr Kabwe even warned that fired ministers revealing information they came to know about because of being in that office risked prosecution. Meanwhile, Mr Musoma reiterated that law enforcement agencies should quickly arrest former ministers who were exposing government secrets out of frustration. He pointed out that the fired ministers were creating an impression that all that was being discussed during cabinet meetings were strategies on how to loot public resources. Mr Musoma said that public officials under oath were not supposed to reveal information whether good or bad as long as it came to their knowledge or possession by virtue of being in public office. He warned that any former minister exposing government secrets because they were disgruntled was liable for criminal prosecution. Mr Musoma observed that a lot of government secrets were being exposed by some disgruntled former ministers trying to undermine their former colleagues. “Since it is well known that these former ministers are not to reveal certain things as they were still under oath, the police should arrest them,” he said.