ZICTA UP YOUR GAME

LAST Saturday, Rae Hamoonga, the Zambia Police spokesperson told the nation that the law enforcement agency working with ZICTA (Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority) had arrested a 22-year old man of Lusaka for a cybercrime in which he stole over K22, 000 from unsuspecting members of the public.
Many people are familiar with unsolicited text messages or WhatsApp links sent to them either promising them money or other enticing benefits.
Countless people have fallen victim to such schemes and scammers always seem to be ahead in terms of devising new ways of duping people like sending fake messages depicting money transfer when in fact not.
ZICTA seems to have been trailing behind scammers and hackers despite a Cyber Security Task Force being in place.
Some people have lost huge sums of money and ZICTA has failed to trace or prosecute the perpetrators.
Others have been victims of extortion by way of being threatened to be exposed if a ransom is not paid while some have suffered mental stress due to cyber bullying.
On November 8, this year, President Hakainde Hichilema urged ZICTA and the Cyber Security Task Force to be on top of things and stop the harassment and scamming of innocent citizens.
While there are cases of success in terms of tracking and prosecution, on so many occasions ZICTA has proved to be toothless leaving citizens helpless.
It is thus good that ZICTA has pledged to enhance its expertise in fighting cyber related crimes by equipping prosecutors with detailed knowledge about virtual crimes.
In this vein, we commend the institution for recognising the importance of having a legal system that is equipped to handle the complexities of cybercrime.
There is indeed urgent need for a more proactive and comprehensive approach to cybercrime prevention and prosecution, given the rapid advancement of technology and the growing frequency and diversity of digital crimes.
There is no doubt cybercrime is on the rise with the perpetrators getting more sophisticated.
This is actually a global trend as countries play catch up with cyber criminals
The gap between the increasing prevalence of cybercrime and the underdeveloped capacity of legal systems to prosecute these crimes should be bridged as a matter of urgency.
Zambia is on the right track by recognising the challenges posed by tech savvy cyber criminals and working on ways to stop them.
But we also appeal to Government to stop using the Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act to harass its own citizens as has been the case in the recent past.
We have seen so many citizens, especially the youth who use platforms such as Tiktok to criticise government being arrested and kept in police cells for weeks on end without being taken to court.
This law, should be used progressively and not to stifle dissenting views.
So we hope this training of prosecutors to understand the digital landscape, to be familiar with the latest technology and have the ability to gather and analyse digital evidence has not armed them to persecute citizens.