Claim Checked: It is an offence for any institution not to display the new presidential portrait issued to the public by Cabinet Office. – Kitwe District Commissioner Binwell Mpundu.
On Monday 5 January 2018, the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) reported on their website that, Kitwe District Commissioner Binwell Mpundu, during an inspection of business houses in Kitwe said he was disappointed that some prominent institutions were using the 2015 Presidential portrait which has been done away with.
The report quotes Mr Mpundu as saying that it was an offence for any institution not to display the new presidential portrait which Cabinet Office issued to the public over a year ago. He further warned that a 21-day ultimatum given must be adhered to failure to which government will act to enforce the law.
Verification Process:
We looked at several pieces of legislation including the Constitution, the Penal Code, Public Order Act and the Local Government Act to see if any of them contained such a law. We did not find any provisions to that effect.
Further, we conducted a desk research for purposes of getting the historical perspectives on the subject. We were able to find the Zambian Parliamentary Hansard of Friday 24 June 2011 where Honourable Given Lubinda then opposition PF member of parliament for Kabwata asked the Vice President and Minister of Justice the following questions:
(a) under what law the portrait of the Head of State and Government was displayed in public places;
(b) if no law existed, when the practice of displaying the portrait had started and what the rationale was; and
(c) whether there were any penalties for failure to display the portrait.
In response, Honourable Todd Chilembo then Deputy Minister of Justice responded that, there was no law requiring the portrait of the Head of State and Government to be displayed in public places. It is a practice.
“The practice of displaying the portrait of the Head of State and Government in public places was inherited from the British and is encouraged as a means through which the public is made aware of who the Head of State is and who constitutes Government. This practice is particularly helpful in settings where the general public may have no access to this kind of information via television, newspapers and radio.
There can be no penalties for failure to display the portrait of the Head of State as there is no law requiring the displaying of the portrait,” Mr Chilembo said.
Finally, we asked a legal practitioner who spoke to us on condition of anonymity to give us guidance on whether or not a new law now existed which compelled businesses and other establishments to display the presidential portrait. We were advised that no such law has been enacted since June 2011 when the issue was raised in parliament by Honourable Given Lubinda.
Our Finding:
The claim by the Kitwe District Commissioner Mr Binwell Mpundu that, it is an offence for any institution not to display the new presidential portrait issued to the public by Cabinet Office is FALSE.
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ACA Fact Checking Unit: Building a Questioning Public.
The ACA Fact checking Unit is part of the EU funded ‘Speak up Zambia Project’ implemented in collaboration with the Freepress Unlimited and the House of consciousness.