Calls to remove defamation of President law intensify
CALLS to have the defama tion of the President law re moved have intensified with governance activist, Isaac Mwanza describing it as ar chaic in a democratic society where people especially those in politics are allowed to criti cise one another.
Mr. Mwanza said Zambia was a democratic state where people should be allowed to offer criticism even to the Head of State without the criminal law of defamation of President being used to incar cerate those with a negative opinion against the Presidency.
He said in an interview that it was sad that a number of ar rests on the defamation of the President have been made un der the UPND regime which when in the opposition was against the law.
“We are seeing that for instance a good number of peo ple have been arrested after the August 2021 elections for defamation of the President and it is sad to notice that the arrests have continued de spite the fact that the UPND when in the opposition were against the same law, espe cially President Hakainde Hi chilema himself,” he said.
Mr. Mwanza said the coun try has laws where people could bring in civil case in stead of a criminal defamation if one felt aggrieved because that was what was expected in a democratic society.
He said a criminal law should not be used to punish people especially politicians in the opposition who express an opinion against the gov ernment including the Presi dent who hold office in public interest.
“The Presidency is a public office and politicians especial ly the President must subject themselves to a higher crit icism because they hold the office in public interest,” he said.
Mr. Mwanza said those in government especially the President should not feel in sulated from criticism and use a criminal law to defend their reputation but could do so us ing a civil law.