Zambia Media Critique

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 c...

An effort to use tribalism and regionalism tactics and antics to disadvantage the opposition in upcoming general elections has terribly backfired on Zambia’s ruling party, Patriotic Front, forcing President Lungu to call for an immediate ceasefire. Featuring on National Television on the evening of Sunday 10 th January, 2016, chief government spokesperson and senior party functionary Chishimba Kambwili accused Zambians from the southern part of the country of rejecting his party in every election on the basis of tribe. According to him even the son of God Jesus Christ would not stand a chance if he stood for election against a candidate from that region. Zambia’s Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda was also quoted encouraging the people of Eastern Province to vote for their tribesmen in the forthcoming Presidential and General Elections. The ranting of senior members of the ruling party have not gone down well with Zambians from all walks of life who have loudly condemn...

ON January 5, 2016 Zambia’s sixth President Edgar Chagwa Lungu appended his signature to the most comprehensive and far reaching amendments of the country’s constitution since the country’s independence in 1964 in what he described as a watershed moment for the country. The development which is a defining moment in the country’s history has left Zambians divided with some expressing happiness and many more expressing disappointment given that the constitution they developed had been altered by a clique in parliament. The latest constitution amendments drew from the final report of the Technical Committee appointed by late President Michael Sata immediately after assuming office in 2011. The Patriotic Front, Zambia’s ruling party promised to enact a new constitution immediately after assuming power through a national referendum. However the Patriotic Front had been dragging its feet on the constitution and somewhere along the way the final draft constitution produced by the technic...

ZAMBIANS continue to express displeasure at the biased coverage of news by the public funded Zambia National  Broadcasting Corporation ZNBC. In random interviews many citizens openly declared that they had since stopped watching the ZNBC News because it does not depict the correct picture of what is going in the country. We have blogged many times before about the transformative shift needed to redeem the public media in Zambia. To an extent the quality of coverage depends on the leadership at the helm of n institution. Sharon Phiri of Lusaka's Chilenje said the following; "I think when PF just won there was a bit of improvement we saw Daily Mail also covering the opposition even ZNBC under Chibamba Kanyama had really improved. We saw how new reporters brought some creativity and even the opposition had a bit of coverage unlike now where ZNBC only runs responses to what the opposition said without allowing people to hear exa...

Zambian politics is full of underwhelming drama. Sometimes I feel our politicians overburden us with their politics. We have enough problems with the sky rocketing cost of living and continuing job cuts in industry, its really hard to get by, times are really hard. Zambians have been deceived way too many times and need a break, they need answers, they need leadership that will inspire them and not confuse them, one that is pragmatic and responsive not one that says one thing and does another. Reading the statement UPND leader gave at the high profile investment conference in the UK and checking the response from the ruling PF, who really did not need to respond to it if they had nothing to say on the substantive issues raised, leaves one bewildered and angry. In case you missed it here is what HH said: "We listened to the concerns and reservations of prospective investors, which closely mirrored those that we have already heard at home during our domestic consultation with Zamb...

By Bruce Chooma It’s Monday 9 th November, 2015 on a bright day at Wits University in Johannesburg, South Africa. The university is full of activity as it host the2015 Power Reporting Conference on investigative reporting in Africa.    I decided to attend an insightful lecture on how companies evade paying taxes. The lecture was delivered by John Christensen Director of the Tax Justice Network- an expert-led network that leads global efforts to curb tax havens. John is a trained forensic investigator and economist. I have argued during media interviews in Zambia that the award of tax holidays by the Zambian government to foreign investors   was a bad policy and was not in any way a means of reducing the cost of doing business and providing incentives for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). I was happy to hear John support this view as he began his lecture. In fact he provided evidence from various parts of the world to prove that lower taxes do not attract investment....

THE most consistent feature of Zambian politics is inconsistency. The saddest part of it all is that the vast majority of citizens take no keen interest in politics yet it is the decisions of politicians that are responsible for the progress or lack of progress that characterises various facets of our existence as a collective community of Zambians.   The decisions of today’s political office bearers will continue to yield fruits for generations to come. The national debt issue is a classic example of the impact of political choices on future generations. The debts that our founding father acquired to build the country and deal with economic challenges then came back to haunt the country in ways that not only significantly affected the quality of life of Zambians but also resulted in premature death of a lot of them.    The Patriotic Front government is back on the path of borrowing this time not only from development finance institutions with concessional terms bu...