Zambia Media Critique

Zambia’s leading opposition political party, United Party for National Development (UPND) has continued to receive a bashing from the Patriotic Front government with the church and civil society raising alarm at what they describe as an accelerated move towards a dictatorship. Zambia now has a situation where the president of the main opposition party is in indefinite detention and where there is effectively no opposition party in the National Assembly. The Party’s President Hakainde Hichilema remains incarcerated on charges of treason after his motorcade allegedly blocked President Lungu’s motorcade as they both drove to a traditional ceremony in western Zambia. Hichilema was recently committed to the High Court and forcefully airlifted from Lusaka Central Prison to a maximum remand prison in Central Zambia. The prison is famous for housing dangerous hard core criminals and inmates on death row. His lawyers lamented that they could no longer guarantee his safety and his wife a...

Incarcerated UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema waves at supporters when he appeared at court before being taken back to prison …as pressure mounts on Zambia to address deteriorating political environment On 10 th April, 2017, Zambia Police undertook a night invasion of the house of leading opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) President Hakainde Hichilema. The Police switched off power at the house, blocked the main roads and then broke down the gates to the house to gain access to the house before firing teargas into the house. The night long raid ended the following morning when he was finally apprehended and taken out and later slapped with a treason charge among others. His arrest came amidst Hichilema’s continued insistence that he would not recognize Lungu as duly President of Zambia because the Courts failed to hear his petition against his election in 2016. At his instigation, UPND Members of Parliament have also made it a habit to stay away from Parlia...

 The Catholic Church today issued an important statement on the political situation in Zambia through its Council of Bishops. The church has made important pronouncements on the state of our nation. On the judiciary the bishops observe: “For some time now, there has been a persistent discourse on the state of the judiciary in Zambia with respect to its independence and impartiality. This situation has undermined public confidence in this institution. There is need to restore confidence in this important arm of Government. There are also many unresolved questions of public interest that have been left hanging and unanswered by the Executive.”3 Where is the Judiciary to call the Executive to attention?  Here below is their full statement: IF YOU WANT PEACE, WORK FOR JUSTICE (Paul VI)  “Let Justice flow, … down like a river that never dries …”  (Amos 5:24)  Statement on the Current Political Situation in Zambia   To all Catholic faithful an...

AFRICAN politicians long abandoned the idea of servant-hood. As famous Kenyan Law Professor Patrick Lumumba recently observed, in Africa, the shortest route to ill-gotten wealth is political leadership. Examples abound across the continent of Africa of how poor citizens continue to cough blood to sustain the lavish lifestyles of politicians. How much are these our new masters’ worth? Is it fair that the highest paid politicians in the world should be coming from some of the poorest regions of the world? According to Professor Patrick Lumumba, almost all the people who move into politics in Africa do so with ill-intents to loot the coffers of the state and perpetuate their stay in office. Speaking at the 11th series of the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial lectures at the University of Cape Coast in Ghana Prof Lumumba questioned the behaviour and the motives of politicians on the African continent.   "If you want to get wealth without working for it at all join African politi...

Zambia’s economy was ranked among the ten fastest growing economies in the world and among the first four in Sub Saharan Africa in very recent times. Zambia’s economic growth has now plunged to its lowest point in over a decade now staggering around 3% from a previous average growth rate of 6.9%. Zambia’s international reserves, have substantially declined from US$3.9 billion in July 2015 to US$2.3 billion at present. The much-needed foreign exchange is flowing out of the country. Zambia is importing far more than it is exporting. Government blames the loss of foreign exchange on existing commitments, particularly those relating to subsidies on fuel that have an external component. The government has since moved swiftly to increase the fuel pump price by a staggering 38% leaving market players in shock and civil society warming that the move will adversely hurt the poor. Zambia’s new Minister of Finance Felix Mutati recently attempted to outline an economic recovery plan, which ...

  ZAMBIANS are amazing people. They can take anything from anyone. We are lost sheep. We have lost the love for one another. We are jealous of each other, we fight one another. Even in families today we no longer celebrate each other’s successes with sincere hearts, we have broken Christian families.   We do not treat our women and girls with the respect and love they deserve. Zambians literally worship foreigners and any white person. Zambia is giving away huge tracks of land to foreigners, they have taken over our cities, now they are taking over our villages all in the name of foreign investment and the promise of a better life through job creation. We have been on this path for over two decades and we seem not to pick any lessons. Our people are been displaced and losing their livelihoods and we don’t care. We do not have a land policy; our land laws favour private capital and the narrow interest of the rich and powerful. We have built a corrupt culture and even ...

By Bruce Chooma ZAMBIA’s press freedom record continues on a downward spiral with a government decision to shut down some independent broadcasting houses on Monday 22 nd August, 2016 on allegations of unprofessional conduct in the pre-election and post-election period. This comes a few months after the biggest independent newspaper The Post which was very critical of the ruling party and government was ground to a halt for alleged tax violations. The Independent Broadcasting Authority IBA suspended broadcasting licences for Muvi TV, Komboni Radio and Itezhi Tezhi Radio. The suspension took immediate effect on Monday and state law enforcement agencies swung into action to enforce the suspension. According to a statement from IBA Chairman Brigadier Justin Mutale, the IBA board met on Monday morning and resolved to withdraw licences for the three independent media houses. Brigadier General Justin Mutale said the decision followed what he described as the unprofessional conduct in whi...