Legal expert faults Parliament for passing Corrupt Practices Act amendment twice in a day
A seasoned legal expert has faulted parliament for passing a Bill which seeks to take graft busting body, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) twice in a day, describing the move as shameful.
Members of parliament on Thursday passed of the Corrupt Practices Act Amendment bill two times within a single day.
The remarks come yesterday parliament passed the bill two times after noting errors in the first amendment of the bill.
The error came after parliament deleted Section 42 of the Act which deals with the need to get consent from the director of public prosecutions (DPP) and Section 10 Subsection 1 (f) which gives powers to the ACB director to prosecute subject to the directions of the Director of Public Prosecution.
If the president could have assented the first amendment of the Act , it meant that the country could have had an ACB that cannot prosecute whether with consent or no consent because the prosecutorial power of the bureau’s director was also removed by deleting Section 10 (1)(f) of the CPA .
Legal expert, Professor Garton Kamchedzela said what happened is shameful and it shows that our legislators pass some bills without thoroughly reading them.
“Maybe our members of parliament don’t take time to actually look at what they are passing.
“It’s shameful what happened because it’s just two little Sections and then later on when people look at it ,they discover that there was a mistake and you say ok let’s pass it again,” he said.
He said it just shows that some parliamentarians are prone to be mediocre in the way we do things.
