THE Government has described as irresponsible remarks by the Southern African Centre for Constructive Resolution of Disputes (SACCORD) that it is using the existing laws and proposed Bills to settle personal vendetta.

Chief Government spokesperson, Ronnie Shikapwasha said in Lusaka yesterday that it was irresponsible of SACCORD to accuse the Government of wanting to use the existing laws and proposed the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) and the Freedom of Information bills to settle personal disputes.

SACCORD executive director Lee Habasonda had said the Government should not use the proposed legislation to settle scores with NGOs and suppress the freedom of the Press.

Lieutenant-General Shikapwasha said in a statement that the Government had no interest in enacting laws intended to fix individuals or organisations other than the enjoyment of more freedom and avoidance of anarchy in the conduct of the NGOs.

"The claim that the Government is writing laws and using the Government institutions to pursue vendettas is total rubbish. The police do not need the Government to know when an offence may have been committed," Gen Shikapwasha said.

He said if SACCORD had been following debate on the two bills and the outcry against the publication or circulation of obscene pictures, the organisation would have known that the Government was acting according to wishes of the people and in accordance with the law.

He said if SACCORD was pursuing its mandate, it should be trying to reconcile the law with complaints that NGOs were not regulated and not responsible to anyone or the public accuses the media of abusing Press freedom.

Gen Shikapwasha who is Information and Broadcasting Services minister said NGOs were not supposed to be emotional about the law and should not fail to comply with it. He said SACCORD as an organisation established to resolve disputes should be the last one to provoke conflicts over the bill, which was intended to regulate the NGOs and ensure transparency in their activities.

He said it was worrying to note that the very citizens who advocated the enactment were condemning the proposed NGO and FOI bills. Gen Shikapwasha said what the NGO Bill was trying to do was to bring sanity in the acquisition and disbursement of the resources in the NGOs.

The minister said the NGO Bill was also meant to help NGOs defend themselves if wrongly accused. Gen Shikapwasha said it was a deliberate lie to suggest that when the police questioned or arrested suspects they did so in pursuance of personal differences.

He urged people to allow the due process of parliamentary procedure to drive the debate through to the enactment of the bills.

Mr Habasonda said yesterday that the Government should listen to the advice that the NGOs were giving instead of just dismissing it as the minister did.