The Public Invited to Attend Communication Bill Hearing

MISA-Namibia Director, Mathew Haikali is calling on members of the public to attend the hearings on the Communication Bill, and make submissions on the Bill. The hearing which is organized by the National Council will, to take place in Conference Room (G4) of the National Council from 7 September 2009 to 9 September 2009. The public may only make oral submissions on 9 September 2009 from 11h15.

Haikali noted that members of the public are encouraged to make contributions, but are however requested to pronounce their intentions for making such contributions known to the National Council, before making a submission. Invitation is also made to newspapers, mobile communications and telecommunications companies as well as the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, and the Namibia Central Intelligence Services (NCIS), the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), the Office of the Attorney General, the Office of the Ombudsman, the Legal Assistance Center, the Council of Churches, the Namibia Communications Commission, University of Namibia and the Polytechnic of Namibia.
 
The communications Bill provides for the interception centers, where all phone calls, e-mail and Internet messages will be intercepted. The interception equipments will be financed and equipped by the mobile communication companies and they will be manned by staff of Government's secret intelligence service agency, the NCIS. According to the Bill, interceptions on suspicious messages may only be carried out after a warrant is issued by a High Court Judge. But critics ague that interception rights may be abused by those in authority. The Bill was passed by the National Assembly in July 2009 and passed on to the National Council for review.
 
For further information, members of the public are requested to contact Amalia Iita at the National Council at +264 66 2028141 or e-mail: a.iita@parliament.gov.na

Reagan Malumo
Programme Officer: Media Freedom Monitoring and Research
Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Regional Secretariat
21 Johann Albrecht St
Private Bag 13386
Windhoek
Namibia
Phone: +264 61 232 975
Fax: +264 61 248 016
Mobile: +264 81 311 2626
E mail: reagan@misa.org

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