Zambia Institute of Journalism Bill of 2025-End of the Practice of Independent Journalism in Zambia
Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba Wrote;
President Hakainde Hichilema’s Cabinet approved various bills to Parliament targeting their enactment during the just lapsed legislative session.
On 28th March,2025, Attorney General Mulilo Kabesha submitted to Parliament a raft of bills that included a number of alarmingly repressive bills that will clearly undermine free speech, democracy and Chapter 3 of the Zambian Constitution.
I’m frantically asking members of Parliament if all these Bills were passed since they were listed, gazzetted and published on the National Assembly parliamentary website.
Among the bills submitted for enactment include a cocktail of bills deliberately crafted and designed to clamp down on freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and establishing a digital tyranny and dictatorship against citizens.
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The new Cyber Crimes and security bills, instead of focusing on cyber crimes and provide cyber security, have instead been designed to regulate speech and personal conduct of persons in the cyberspace, provide for legal interception, interruption and surveillance of any electronic communications and snoop on private social-media interactions for criminal prosecutions whose sanction goes upto 25 years imprisonment, the NGO Bill of 2025 designed to register, group and regulate all civil society entities in Zambia, the Closed Circuit Public Protection bill with the objective to regulate all closed tv circuits and provide legal surveillance , and the Anti-Terrorism and Non-proliferation (Amendment)
Act No. 6 of 2023 that has now provided for life imprisonment for certain type of speech offences against the President and public institutions.
Now comes the Zambia Institute of Journalism Bill which will establish the Council of the Zambia Institute of Journalism that will licence journalists, and regulate the practice and professional conduct of journalists and Journalism in Zambia.
If this law has been enacted, forget the practice of independence Journalism and media in Zambia as their practice will depend on the licensing, regulation, cancellation, suspension and approval powers by the newly created Council of Zambia Institute of Journalism.
This body will mockingly purport to be a “self regulation mechanism”!
In this case, the law becomes operational with the mere publication of the Statutory Instrument by the Minister of Information and Media.
Do you have people you show your articles before posting? If you do am worried if your articles are the filtered version because hmmm. But I respect your consistency at propaganda….if you applied it in another field you would accomplish wonders. It’s time to start practicing objective politics otherwise you will keep losing the little following you have left…..Zambians are tired of propaganda.
Mwamba,
Keep up the good work. You are one of many freedom fighters that will liberate our country from dictatorship.
God bless Why Me and Captain Ibrahim Traore.
Together, we will bring an end to this government of lies, corruption and oppression.
Vote for change in 2026.
Ba Mwamba;
* Mention which country has no cyber security laws?
* Didn’t PF use the same laws despite pretending not to have signed it?
* Even bigger powers American, Russian, UK, China etc sort out terrorists using the same law infact in a more advanced state.
* Why did AU come up with the clauses of Cyber security laws to which our new cyber security laws derive the strength?
It is active only if one is a State threat, this Law can only follow such characters- why shouldn’t they be followed anyway?
A peaceful citizen like me shouldn’t be bothered at the mention of this Law.
It shouldn’t make me jittery and insinuate if l don’t post lies or unresearched information or not a threaten to national peace and security?
A journalist is trained to tell the public researched information and stories for genuine updates to the public not malicious propaganda.
Not end of the Practice of Independent Journalism in Zambia as empowered by Institute of Journalism Bill of 2025.
But they should be factual though.
What democracy registers journalists for practice? This will be a first in Africa. What is the comment of the various Media heads in Zambia? They are all chicken? They should be protesting instead of waiting for their monthly bribe-oh sorry- salary from UPND government