Bill to Reform Public Order Act to be presented to Parliament

Justice Minister Given Lubinda says the bill to reform the Public Order Act will be presented to parliament for enactment during the legislative sitting in February 2019.

Mr. Lubinda says government will begin by holding multi stakeholder meetings in all the ten provinces for the review of the public order act beginning the third week of October 2018.

He has told parliament in a ministerial statement that the objective of the meetings is to sensitize stakeholders on the current provisions of the public order act and to solicit views on the areas of proposed reform.

Mr. Lubinda says the committee of the inter-parliamentary union of the World Organisation of the national parliaments has offered to facilitate a workshop on the review of the public order act for various stakeholders.

he says government has since welcomed the gesture and the workshop is scheduled to take place immediately after the provincial public consultative meetings.

he states that the outcomes of the consultative meetings and the workshop will be the making of recommendations on the areas of reform of the public order act in order to facilitate the drafting process before enactment.

Mr. Lubinda has since urged opposition political parties to make submissions on reforms they would want to see in the public order act.