LUSAKA – Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema upheld a decision to scrap two British colonial-era laws: the death penalty and making criticism of the country’s leader a punishable offence.
Hichilema, whose party was in opposition for over two decades, had promised that he would scrap the laws if elected to the top job.
Rights activists in that country Saturday hailed the decision as a “huge milestone” for the copper rich nation.
According to a statement released on Friday by the presidential spokesman, Anthony Bwalya, “President Hakainde Hichilema has assented to the penal code of 2022 abolishing the imposition of the death penalty and the offence of criminal defamation of the president, which has been on the Zambian statute books since (the) pre-independence era.”
Zambia has been enjoying a new lease under the astute leadership of Hichilema which has seen the economy improve faster than many African nations in recent months.
