State of the media report Q1-2021 of communication 55 Criminalises aiding, abetting, This could be used against persons who come into concealing, procurement, inciting or contact with vital information e.g. journalists and solicitation of another person to their confidential sources; a journalist could be commit or conspiring to commit any considered to be aiding and abetting/conspiring offence under the Act when they deal with a source who has information that is considered an offense under the Act regardless of public interest nature of the information 59 Offenses of obscene matters or things Obscenity is subject to moral interpretation and is including possession of any one or thus prone to arbitrary application as has been the more obscene, drawings, paintings, case previously9. Journalist, in the course of their pictures, images, posters, emblems, duty, are likely to possess or inadvertently come into photographs, videos or any other contact with obscene material or be cited for object tending to corrupt morals circulation even when done in public interest. The Section is too open and vague. The Act and its provisions are, thus, polemical especially that the country will conduct general elections in August and ICT infrastructure will play a crucial role in information dissemination, campaigns and media communication. As such, it is important that the Act is applied judiciously and with respect to the Constitutional guarantee of freedom of expression as well as other relevant guiding documents such as the 2001 Budapest convention on cybercrime which gives protocols on lawful interception among other issues in fighting cybercrime and the 2013 SADC model law on computer crime and cybercrime which sets the standard for cyber security and cybercrime in the Southern Africa Region by balancing law enforcement and public interest. Other international provisions worth taking into account in weighing the Cyber Crimes Act include the African Union Convention on cybersecurity and personal data protection, more commonly called the Malabo Convention. It is no wonder, then, that certain stakeholder expressed reservations on the Cyber Crimes Act. For example, a consortium of twelve (12) civil society organisations called for the withdrawal of the Bill 9 In 2009, journalist Chansa Kabwe was arrested for alleged circulation of obscene material after she sent pictures of a mother giving birth outside the University teaching Hospital to politicians who included then VicePresident, George Kunda. Ms Kabwela was eventually acquitted. See https://cpj.org/2009/11/zambian-editoracquitted-in-hospital-obscenity-cas/ 21