ZAMBIA: GOVERNMENT ANGERS CIVIL SOCEITY OVER MENTAL DISORDERS ACT



Zambia’s sixth President Edgar Lungu on Friday, 18th September 2015 delivered his first speech on the floor of parliament after his election to the highest office in the country. In his speech he made promises including that his government would repeal the Mental Disorders Act and enact the Mental Health Bill into law.
The Mental Disorders Act of 1949 continues to annoy human rights activists in the country with its usage of derogatory expressions such as idiot and imbecile to refer to persons with mental disabilities.
It was with the view of promoting the rights of persons with mental disabilities that President Lungu directed his Minister of Health to the Mental Health Bill of 2016 to Parliament in the current sitting. However a few months down the road The Minister of Health Dr Joseph Kasonde informed the national that despite the completion of the drafting process the bill would not be taken to parliament for enactment.
 Disability Rights organisations have raised concern following the announcement through the media that the Bill would not be presented due the fact that there are many Bills to be considered in the current sitting. They contend that this action entails that issues around mental health and disability in general are not a priority of the Zambian government.
The Mental Health Users Network of Zambia and Disability Rights Watch have threatened to seek judicial intervention to have the Mental Disorders Act declared null and void for its noncompliance with the country’s recently amended constitution and to principles of international human rights law.
In their letter to the Minister of Health they said:
“We receive the news that the Bill will not get to Parliament in the current sitting with shock and this raises desperation in us. Honourable, you are very much aware that the Bill is intended to repeal the Mental Disorders Act of 1949. The Act of 1949 continues to portray persons with mental impairments as idiots, imbeciles and less human. It has perpetuated the gross abrogation of the rights and fundamental freedoms of persons with mental impairments. The police and other wings of the justice system have continued to use the Mental Disorders Act of 1949 to abuse the rights and fundamental freedoms of persons with mental impairments. The archaic Act is not constitutional and is not in conformity will International Human Rights Law, specifically the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It is not also in line with World Health Organisation (WHO) standards and principles. We demand that we urgently receive an answer to the following questions:
Are issues concerning mental health a priority to the government? Does government recognise the effect and impact of mental health problems on the families, community, and the nation as a whole?
The government is happy and comfortable with the dehumanizing provisions of the Mental Disorders Act of 1949. Are we correct? If so, is government deliberately not prioritising mental health issues in as far as inclusive laws and policies is concerned? Is government indirectly asking us to seek judicial intervention to declare the Mental Disorders Act of 1949 null and void due to its noncompliance to the Constitution of Zambia and International Human Rights Law? We are fully ready to take this direction!
Honourable, we recommend that:
You immediately take the necessary steps to ensure that the Bill is passed by the current sitting of Parliament. This means that the Bill will be passed by Parliament by 10th March, 2016.
You produce a comprehensive statement on how you treat issues of mental health in relation to the above questions.”

The formulation of the new Mental Health Bill started as far as two decades ago. The draft Bill has been with the Ministry of Health and only went to the Ministry of Justice in 2015. Its movement to the Ministry of Justice gave persons with mental disabilities complete hope. The two organisations stated that they had attended two drafting workshop led by Ministry of Justice adding that it was their belief that the Bill was ready to be presented to Parliament.
The Act of 1949 remains enforceable despite having a Constitution referred as being progressive after signing by His Excellence, President Edgar Lungu. Is this not a paradox?
Government contends that there are many Bills in this sitting because of the aligning of many laws to the new Constitution. The Mental Health Bill is equally aligning the Mental Disorders Act of 1949 to the new Constitution! Its sidelining is deemed as an act of discrimination considering the exclusion of issues of mental health.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Harnessing the untapped youth divident

Each year in Zambia, 240, 000 young people enter the job market and join the thousands already in search of employment. The youth in Zambia have been waiting for a future that seems consistently illusive. Despite Zambia recording over the past decade an economic growth rate averaging 7% this growth has not resulted in improvements in the socio-economic conditions of Zambians. The youth crisis is more real now than at any other time in history and it can only get worse if we do not introduce radical measures. Zambia is a youthful country, with approximately 74 percent of its 14 million total population under the age of 30 (28 percent are 15 to 29 years-old). Annual population growth rate estimates range from 2.4 to 3 percent, and projections indicate a population of 24.5 million by 2030 according to the 2013 Human Development Report At a launch meeting for a youth sectoral analysis report last week, USAID Mission Director Dr Susan K. Brems, introduced a catch phrase, “youth dividen...
Read more

Have we lost the people?

Image
The case of civil society and land policy advocacy in Zambia… By Bruce Chooma SINCE the attainment of independence in 1964, Zambia has failed to put in place a comprehensive land policy. All land reforms after 1964 were triggered by specific needs at each particular time. A lot of concern is rising from various quarters inside and outside Zambia on the dwindling voice of civil society in Zambia’s governance space. Such a strong voice is necessary to hold government in check and accountable to its people as it is a conduit for the amplification of citizen voices. This article seeks to reflect on the strategies employed by civil society over the years in championing the rights of Zambians to access and control land. This is premised on the fact that, the land question is essentially what the fight for independence was about. That the land is the heritage of the Zambian and generations of Zambians to come must be assured that concrete steps were taken to preserve their land fo...
Read more

Why the Constitution Impasse?

THE Patriotic Front Government is not committed to protecting and upholding the popular will of the Zambian people with regards to the enactment of a new republican constitution. The current constitution impasse has exposed them for who they truly are. Zambians have held a consistent position on the key governance issues they want changed in the constitution that are now referred to as contentious issues. They have consistently demanded for the introduction of social-economic rights in the bill of rights, the election of a vice president as a running mate to the president, overhaul of the electoral system to provide for a popularly elected president by a threshold of at least 50+1 of total votes cast and a system of representation that also caters for disadvantaged groups. The other issues are the appointment of cabinet from outside parliament, reduction in the powers of the president and of the executive arm of government, greater parliamentary oversight in the contraction of forei...
Read more