Make publishing of commission of inquiries reports mandatory, law makers urged-Harrington

Former Transport and Communications Minister William Harrington lawmakers to enact a law which will make it mandatory for the state to publish reports and recommendations of commissions of inquiry.

Reacting to the extension of the mandate of the commission of inquiry on voting patterns and electoral violence by President Edgar Lungu, Mr. Harrington says the Zambian taxpayer must not fund mere academic exercises such as commission of inquires whose reports and recommendations are never made public.

He says the Zambian taxpayer has a direct interest in the inquiries.

Mr. Harrington states that the finding of the inquiries should not be left to the discretion of one person, the appointing authority.

He notes that to date, over 8-years the pf government has ignored, neglected or simply refused to publish the report on the trafigura oil inquiry and the Rodger Chongwe commission of inquiry on the 2010 mongu riots in which a number of people lost their lives.