LAZ petitions provisions of Public Order Act

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 08:41:23 +0000

The Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) yesterday filed a petition in the Lusaka High Court challenging certain provisions of  the Public Order Act.

The action has been taken due to the continued unreasonableness exhibited by the government through the Police to prevent citizens from holding public gatherings. They had decided to challenge the Constitutionality of the Public Order Act or some provisions therein in the High Court.

LAZ president James Banda said in a statement that the LAZ Litigation team has filed the petition to challenge some parts of the Public Order Act.

Mr Banda said the association would now wait for the High Court to set a date of hearing and determination of the matter.

He stated that the action had been taken in the public interest and was also in line with its objectives of promoting the rule of law and human rights.

“LAZ’s objective is to promote liberties of individuals and the reform of the law both by the amendment and removal of imperfections in the existing law.”

On several occasions the Police have stopped United Party for National Development  (UPND) from holding rallies inLusakaand Copperbelt.

The Police have also stopped the Movement for Multi Party Democracy (MMD) from holding meetings inLusakaand Livingstone.