By ‘Majiarata Latela
The minister of communication, science and technology, Tṧoinyana Rapapa has expressed disappointment in parliament for throwing his two bills out of the window.
At a press conference this week, Rapapa insisted that consultations were made on both bills; Computer Crime and Cybersecurity Bill of 2021 and Communications (Subscriber Identity Module Registration) Regulations of 2021.
He expressed disappointment showing that the two draft bills were meant to curb crimes committed using the internet.
He further presented that the bills would give Lesotho direction on how to formulate guidelines on investigating criminal acts. He said the bills were to help the government to formulise cybersecurity advisory council and response to cybersecurity.
“The problem with the bill not being adopted by parliament is that it is going to be hard for the country to work together with international countries in fighting these crimes. This will be because Lesotho was expected to formulate national cyber security incidence response team by the end of this year.
“The country is remaining behind in enacting laws that fight these crimes. The expectation was that these laws would have been enacted by now to allow the formation of this team.
“With this parliamentary decision, it means crimes committed using the internet will continue without culprits being apprehended. That includes fake accounts created to commit the crimes, allowing the use of computer system without permission and also stealing classified institutions or government information. Even worse stealing money,” he said.
He further denied that the bill was targeting the media but that they would shield everyone from such crimes.
Last week Rapapa was put on the spotlight by lawmakers who threw his two bills out of the window, instructing him to go back and conduct proper consultations.
The Media Institute of Southern Africa – Lesotho Chapter (MISA-Lesotho), released a statement on Tuesday last week castigating Rapapa’ statement before parliament. They minister had claimed that the institute and other network operators were consulted when the bills were drafted.
