Abandon Pursuit of Archaic Laws, Foster Freedom- Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba
Abandon Pursuit of Archaic Laws, Foster Freedom
Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba wrote;
President Hakainde Hichilema took time to explain and justify his heavy-handedness and approach against human rights.
He claims he has instead fostered media freedoms and the press is thriving as no media has been closed.
He claims his government is clamping-down on social-media because rights of some citizens are being abused.
But his own government has arrested and persecuted more persons on offences of speech than any previous government before.
But he won’t allow Koswe and other online rogue media under him and the UPND media to be subjected to the same laws.
Koswe is run under his nose at State House, he won’t arrest or allow the arrest of its administators.
Koswe defames, peddles hate speech, falsehoods and tribal speech, even publishes falsehoods of war naming neighbouring states, and constantly humiliates Hichilema’s critics with lies.
Sadly the victims, Church leaders, members of the Opposition, members of civil society have no remedy or relief as both ZICTA and the Zambia Police will never investigate or touch the rogue media run by Hichilema’s own media team.
The Zambia Council of Catholic Bishops( ZCCB) and other stakeholders have repeatedly requested President Hichilema to shut rogue media that could have benefitted him in Opposition but he is now expected to be President for all Zambians.
Despite pledging to repeal or expunge from statute,the repressive Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act of 2021, it has become his biggest weapon to arrest and harrass political opponents.
He also pledged to repeal laws like the Public Order Act and criminal defamation.
He has actually reprised archaic laws such as the laws on Sedition last used in the 80s and laws such as criminal defamation to punish political opponents.
He did some window-dressing by repealing the Criminal Defamation of the President because he knew very well that there were, far worse and repressive laws that could do the same job or better!
He was exposed when in 2024, when he actually brought and presented to Parliament, more repressive laws.
But following a barrage of demands from stakeholders, Government was forced to defer Bill No. 17 designed to clamp down on freedoms of speech and expression and proposing jail sentences of upto 20 years for hate speech.
This bill proposed amendments to the Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act of 2021 and an entirely new Bill No. 30 of 2024, Cyber Crimes Bill, which proposed specific clamp down on social-media.
With this talk from President Hichilema, it is clear that more repressive laws will be re-introduced.
Ignore the banter,rhetoric and pledges of goodwill, he is implementing an authoritarian and repressive State.
