By Daily Revelation Editor
The Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops in their pastoral letter issued last Friday touched on the shrinking democratic space in the country, something many other stakeholders in the country have been raising, but a topic on which those in government continue to defend themselves.
The Bishops observed that human rights such as freedom of expression and freedom of assembly are arbitrarily being trampled on especially against those considered to hold dissenting political views or persons belonging to opposition parties.
The Bishops further talked about the intimidation of the media houses by state institutions, based on the guests they invite, and the content discussed on their platforms, and that this curtails both media freedom and free speech, and sends an indirect message to media houses to stay away from discussing uncomfortable but very important topics of public interest and to shun or marginalise certain voices whose views may be deemed as unfavourable to those in authority.
Prior to that, State Counsel John Sangwa featured on Radio Phoenix’s Let the People Talk programme, which garnered a lot of press coverage and following, where he said that he never expected that things could get worse.
The UPND administration has consistently defended itself against these clear charges to mutilate democracy in the country, and barring a miracle, the nation should expect the same defence in the promised response the administration has promised to the pastoral letter.
The fact that a wide range of stakeholders have observed the shrinking democratic space should not even be a debatable matter, even for the most fanatic of UPND supporters. It is always important for those in government that when such serious matters are raised, they should take a moment to reflect and understand why there is so much outcry in the manner they are going about handling matters.
There is a very clear depiction of what is happening right now in one of the verses in the Holy Bible in Matthew 13:14. It states: “They have ears, but they don’t listen. They have eyes, but they refuse to see. If their minds were not closed, they might see with their eyes, they might hear with their ears, they might understand with their minds. Then they might turn back to me and be healed.”
There is more strength in accepting mistakes and changing for the better. However, there is actually more weakness in denying reality as you do not only alienate those who are opposed to you further but also the many independent thinkers. It’s like one who has a boil, squeezing it may seem painful but keeping it may actually have long lasting repercussions to the body. This applies to Hakainde Hichilema and the people he is leading in his administration. They will actually find more strength in just admitting that their actions against democracy are at odds with what they promised and what Zambians aspire for, just like on many other issues.
Hakainde rightly complained during his many years in the opposition about having his rights as an opposition leader to mobilise and hold rallies curtailed. He also complained about the rogue and endemic biased coverage in favour of the ruling party in the public media as an opposition leader, and promised that as president he would ensure that there was free speech, free assembly and objective coverage in the public media. Alas, to many that are witnessing what is happening now, that was just simply another song politicians always sing to get elected. Because there is simply nothing that has changed.
There are no structural reforms happening right now to enhance the people’s liberties in the country and in order to make institutions of governance and public institutions more democratic to respond to people’s demands. Even the Access To Information bill was only announced to the public in what some may argue was an act to show that something was being done following the outcry from Sangwa’s radio appearance. We hope the bill will reflect the true aspirations of the public, devoid of any inclusion of clauses which may actually want to kill the spirit of the bill itself or make its effectualisation more difficult, simply because those in the administration just want to make a name that a bill was presented to parliament.
There are so many outstanding reforms which should have already been addressed if the UPND was true to its word. Two years, running towards the third year of their time in government, there is continued existence on our statute books of the many laws they vehemently condemned. Zambians are asking why the same Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act is still in force today, why promised reforms on the Public Order Act have not materialised for the benefit of society.
Zambians are still asking why the police are acting in the same partisan and unprofessional manner, and why they continue carrying out the same actions which the President seems to speak against in public. Or could it be what Sangwa said that one may speak one language in public and a totally different one in private?
It is indeed very true to everyone with an open eye and reasonable mind, that the democratic space in this country is shrinking. Probably, those in government may not see it because they have become diseased with the same sickness that only affects those in power to fail to see what everybody else is seeing.
Related
By Daily Revelation Editor
The Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops in their pastoral letter issued last Friday touched on the shrinking democratic space in the country, something many other stakeholders in the country have been raising, but a topic on which those in government continue to defend themselves.
The Bishops observed that human rights such as freedom of expression and freedom of assembly are arbitrarily being trampled on especially against those considered to hold dissenting political views or persons belonging to opposition parties.
The Bishops further talked about the intimidation of the media houses by state institutions, based on the guests they invite, and the content discussed on their platforms, and that this curtails both media freedom and free speech, and sends an indirect message to media houses to stay away from discussing uncomfortable but very important topics of public interest and to shun or marginalise certain voices whose views may be deemed as unfavourable to those in authority.
Prior to that, State Counsel John Sangwa featured on Radio Phoenix’s Let the People Talk programme, which garnered a lot of press coverage and following, where he said that he never expected that things could get worse.
The UPND administration has consistently defended itself against these clear charges to mutilate democracy in the country, and barring a miracle, the nation should expect the same defence in the promised response the administration has promised to the pastoral letter.
The fact that a wide range of stakeholders have observed the shrinking democratic space should not even be a debatable matter, even for the most fanatic of UPND supporters. It is always important for those in government that when such serious matters are raised, they should take a moment to reflect and understand why there is so much outcry in the manner they are going about handling matters.
There is a very clear depiction of what is happening right now in one of the verses in the Holy Bible in Matthew 13:14. It states: “They have ears, but they don’t listen. They have eyes, but they refuse to see. If their minds were not closed, they might see with their eyes, they might hear with their ears, they might understand with their minds. Then they might turn back to me and be healed.”
There is more strength in accepting mistakes and changing for the better. However, there is actually more weakness in denying reality as you do not only alienate those who are opposed to you further but also the many independent thinkers. It’s like one who has a boil, squeezing it may seem painful but keeping it may actually have long lasting repercussions to the body. This applies to Hakainde Hichilema and the people he is leading in his administration. They will actually find more strength in just admitting that their actions against democracy are at odds with what they promised and what Zambians aspire for, just like on many other issues.
Hakainde rightly complained during his many years in the opposition about having his rights as an opposition leader to mobilise and hold rallies curtailed. He also complained about the rogue and endemic biased coverage in favour of the ruling party in the public media as an opposition leader, and promised that as president he would ensure that there was free speech, free assembly and objective coverage in the public media. Alas, to many that are witnessing what is happening now, that was just simply another song politicians always sing to get elected. Because there is simply nothing that has changed.
There are no structural reforms happening right now to enhance the people’s liberties in the country and in order to make institutions of governance and public institutions more democratic to respond to people’s demands. Even the Access To Information bill was only announced to the public in what some may argue was an act to show that something was being done following the outcry from Sangwa’s radio appearance. We hope the bill will reflect the true aspirations of the public, devoid of any inclusion of clauses which may actually want to kill the spirit of the bill itself or make its effectualisation more difficult, simply because those in the administration just want to make a name that a bill was presented to parliament.
There are so many outstanding reforms which should have already been addressed if the UPND was true to its word. Two years, running towards the third year of their time in government, there is continued existence on our statute books of the many laws they vehemently condemned. Zambians are asking why the same Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act is still in force today, why promised reforms on the Public Order Act have not materialised for the benefit of society.
Zambians are still asking why the police are acting in the same partisan and unprofessional manner, and why they continue carrying out the same actions which the President seems to speak against in public. Or could it be what Sangwa said that one may speak one language in public and a totally different one in private?
It is indeed very true to everyone with an open eye and reasonable mind, that the democratic space in this country is shrinking. Probably, those in government may not see it because they have become diseased with the same sickness that only affects those in power to fail to see what everybody else is seeing.
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