Friday, March 29, 2024

Brigadier General Godfrey Miyanda makes his last post as ZICTA deadline passes

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Heritage Party leader Brigadier Godfrey Miyanda holds a note and pen during the meeting to demand for the release of the draft Zambia constitution
Heritage Party leader Brigadier Godfrey Miyanda holds a note and pen during the meeting to demand for the release of the draft Zambia constitution

STATEMENT: “THE LAST POST”

[By Brigadier General Godfrey Miyanda – 31st January 2014]

Fellow internet partners and the Social Media family, I wish to inform you that the Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA) have reminded me that by midnight this day they will cut me off from civilisation by arbitrarily deactivating my SIM cards without just cause. I have NOT committed any crime, neither is there a credible record of the prevalence and/or abuse of these communications gadgets to justify any derogation from the said guaranteed rights.

By this single act ZICTA is attaching the condition that before I can enjoy my guaranteed freedom of expression I should first apply to the Authority or their agents to be registered. By the same token ZICTA are infringing my right to privacy and other proprietary rights. I contend that these freedoms and liberties cannot be taken away arbitrarily or traded for a few minutes of airtime. My communications to ZICTA and the Mobile Service Providers have remained unanswered. This means that by midnight I shall not be able to communicate or use my purchased implements for such communication. In short until this issue is resolved I shall be off air, including off the internet. This is my Last Post for now.

GODFREY MIYANDA,
BRIGADIER GENERAL,
ONE OF THE CONCERNED CITIZENS
[31ST JANUARY 2014]

59 COMMENTS

  1. It does not means always that the majority are right. I followed your debate well.
    General, you will still communicate. It time to think of the alternatives….all my relatives radio message rodger rodgers upto 300 KM.

    • Kekekeke that’s fun man.
      Did you see your fellow UnPresiedntial material Sata on cellphone, did he register his SIM card?

    • better to register and fight at the same time; he will lose a lot, actually they wanted to favour him by registering his card

    • Hes been blogging using pamela talk time on his phone, can’t afford broadband at his house or at his party office. Please don’t tell me this guy is serious, how’s he going to organise his party for 2016 without communication.

    • You have won my heart Brig Miyanda

      I sincere apologize for getting a wrong impression about you, I hope you find it in your heart to forgive me

      Stay well

      Thanks

    • Funny thing is I once voted for this man and his heritage party.Damn that was a wasted vote in 2001.His arguments against sim registration have been shallow.Maybe it is old age catching up with him.This paranoia is something else.

    • When you see presidential candidates frequenting blogs like LT just know that their political fortunes are almost non-existent.

    • @Selina@Kabwe@Natubalondole, are you able to argue point-for-point with the points the General has raised so far with regards to the sim cards registration? Have you understood the looming danger your voiceless relatives back home are exposed to?

    • @ Cactus, stop misleading yourself and others using Gen. Miyanda’s paranoiac reasoning. What dangers are u talking about? Don’t you understand anything about ‘customer due diligence’? Having customer details is sound practice in any business. Go open a bank account and try refusing to provide your details. It’s the same principle mate. You don’t allow anyone to use your service unless you know them, Period!

    • @Muntu, I have had a pay-as-you-go mobile phone for years and years here in UK. Registration is not required for such a service. Are you suggesting that my service provider is not in business? My close friends have visited me from Zambia, some have come on business trips, and they have bought pay-as-you-go sim cards to use in the short period they are in UK. No registration required. You Muntu can come to UK today and buy pay-as-you-go sim card. No registration required. But thats besides the point here. The main point of contention is that the current Govt cannot be trusted not to misuse such information. History has clearly shown that.

  2. Hahaha, my phone is not registered and am still making calls, I know that MTN cannot afford to lose customers. Many people in rural areas are not yet registered, this will be interesting!

    • @Dontcare, do you even understand the gravity of the matter and whats at stake here? Or are you a toddler upstairs with a physical age of an adult?

  3. There are so many ridiculous laws in Zambia that really need attention. And the problem is we accept them without even taking our Members of Parliament to task. Look at the ridiculous reflectors’ law on motor vehicles. We behave as though we actually manufacture cars and we have noticed a defect!!! Even when ALL cars have inbuilt reflectors. The same goes for this now suspicious law on SIM cards. We must know to what extent it is infringing civil liberties and rights. But alas, such calls usually result in lonely crusades as is the case now.

  4. If ZICTA indeed carry out this deactivation of SIM cards, then its is really a sad day for Zambia. Our Country, which has been a pace setter in the region in terms of liberties and rights of individuals, will go to the back of the queue in Africa. Personal liberty and privacy are a virtue. Therefore, no one has the right to take away other people’s liberties by whatever means for personal gain. No one. President Sata’s short history in power has evidently shown that he is hell-bent on taking away people’s liberties by hook or crook for personal gain. The evidence is as clear as daylight.

    • f.u.k.u…where in a developed country wil u buy a sim and not register it?u morons live under a rock.u must out of your cotton picking mind

    • @bovix, Here in UK. I have pay-as-you-go along with million other people. My friends from Zambia have visited me a couple of times and have also bought sim cards for use whilst in UK . No registration required for pay-as-you-go. And btw, your lack of ability to contribute to a debate without name calling and using profanity speaks alot about your level of maturity.

  5. Even a good idea if wrongly implemented, is bound to fail. All what the network providers needed to do was to lock their simcards such that activation requires to visit an outlet shop to register. Not self activation as the case is, even when you buy a simcard “pa kantemba”. This exercise ought to be a slow process where you just say, from now hence forth, all new simcards are locked and can only be activated by a service provider. Then slowly the un-registered ones would be falling out. But do we have such logistics in the remotest rural areas of the country, where they may want to register but have nowhere near to do so? This is assuming we are moving towards a command economy where everything has to be on the computer as a database!

    • The beauty of embracing those in the diaspora is accessing good ideas at no cost and if allowed on good terms attracting investment and implementation. The ordinary Zambian is being raped by both govt (ZICTA) and cellphone service providers and everyone is comfortable with it! If for a week all subscribers decided to switch off the phones some of these service providers would fold up! Luckily my simcard is not going to lose access to services, how I wish many more of my Zambian counterparts would gain access to universal international simcards!

  6. I hope the General is reading this positive debate today. I like the SIM locked phones like Vodafone down here. Any abuse of my phone i will know to go. Look at their customer care,,,,,,we remind that the call will be recorded?

  7. Good bye general.Trust me we won`t miss you.It is actually good riddance cheap politicians/attention seekers go offline for a while.Hope you will invest the now available time to re-strategize on your failed village concept.

    • Good bye general.Trust me we won`t miss you.It is actually good riddance when cheap politicians/attention seekers go offline for a while.Hope you will invest the now available time to re-strategize on your failed village concept.

    • And your point w.r.t. sim card deactivation is?? …And what is this about Failed Village concept? Did you know you currently live in a developed Country in Europe founded on the village concept? See my comments below.

  8. elo lwanya, let us be law abiding citizens. am sure if General miyanda was the director of zicta, he could have done the same

  9. @ 9.Saulosi, the reason you have failed to argue point-for-point with the General on the issue of SIM card registration is simply because you do not have any credible points at all. So, instead you bring in politics and vainly try to ridicule the Village Concept. You forget that the Country you currently live in (I am guessing you are in Europe) evolved and developed on the village concept albeit a different name. The village concept provides a better model for balanced development between rural and urban areas in our Country. There is a seamless joint between rural and urban in infrastructure and services. Its therefore safe to say the village concept is ahead of its time for Zambia.
    For instance, I live in a village in UK along with the majority of the UK population, and easily …

  10. Cont’d… easily commute to work. The design of the buildings, tarred roads, security, health services etc…are as good as in the urban centers, and if anything more spacious. Industrial Areas are not restricted to urban centers, but evenly spread in villages too. Such a model for Zambia would answer urban drift, shanty township, cholera, corruption, etc we face. And it makes it easier for a Country to make a case in getting developmental funding from big money lenders like World Bank in many many ways.
    It is therefore very hypocritical of you to ridicule a concept that developed a Country you chose to go live in. Perhaps now we can get back to the topic at hand i.e. SIM card deactivation in Zambia.

  11. Too bad, I actually thought it was such a brilliant idea to be able to debate with leaders on blogs, exchanging first hand data so we could be able to understand each other alittle bit better than just throwing rocks at each other ( ordinary bloggers). Imagine if we could have, HH, Chipimo, Nervous, Dora, Father etc, we would be more better acquainted with each other on different political matters affecting the nation, the debates would be more meaningful and of value which would ensure a command of respect for each other. I hope you come back soon and others follow suit. This is actually how we should be blogging, exchanging positive ideas for the development of our minds as well as that of the nation, I like this step you have initiated indeed very wise, keep it up, next Mr Chipimo pls

  12. zambia are too polarised in terms of policatical inclinations such that even when a good argued point like what the general is bringing is brought to the fore, we still have people like saulosi talking about village concept that they know very little about. for you saulosi, let me break it down for you – 1. the constitution of zambia says that you have a right of expression and communication 2. handing over your particulars to a foreign based company that changes ownership every 2 or so years is risky business. look at airtel how many times has i changed hands and where do you think our records will end up? the general is not necessarily so much against registering the sim cards but the manner and processes its being handled. i hear so many people say its being done elsewhere – so what?

  13. saulosi on the village concept – you really do not understand what development is because if you did, then you would understand that development is the provision of basic needs as a first level of life and then the increase in opportunities for realization of potential as a second level and these are mutual re-enforcing and so if the general says village concept all you need to know is that we need to enhance the economic and social networks at lowest levels of society for it to contribute to the well being of people. anyway i am not surprised by this because in zambia we never vote for people above us but those we are in the same league with. so the zambian politicians are a reflection of the society’s status in general. if they are liars, then we need to understand generally we are…

  14. Society does not go down because of the activities of CRIMINALS, but because of the inaction of the GOOD PEOPLE.

    It is GOOD to be born a child, but BAD to remain a child.

    My love is with you my brother.

  15. I love your stance General. His simply saying. He can’t betray his principled conscience & never being moved by public influence of “just becoz everyone is doing it.”So let me as well do what everyone is doing whether wrong or right. Sadly to say most of us Zambians just do things by the wind. It tells a big story about our mentality. We fail to speak out wrong even when someone is being attacked in view sight of public. Most of our Zambians wud rather watch. Our constitution today is being stolen but wht hv u as a Zambian done about such a serious matter. The lower Zambezi issue as regards the permitting of Mine is another matter of interest. What’s wrong with my nationals! Yesterday it was so sad to only see handful of 15pipo demonstrating at Pamodzi hotel yet this is a matter…

  16. Hi Cindy! U are right. I’m so impresssed tht the General is I think the first of our leaders to engage bloggers on an issue where he personally responds to clarify his set of mind on an issue of public interest. This is lovely, this is leadership. How I hope other leaders wud follow this line of doing things for sake of mature debate & adding value to our governance approach

  17. I wish we had a constitutional court in Zambia were Gen Miyanda can take up such a matter against ZICTA and have it tested if it is clearly unconstitutional.

    Even now he stands a good chance, but the damage that will be done to him whilst waiting for judgement is just too colossal to handle. Probably, some legal and resource support from third parties can help the Gen push this matter further.

    Its unfortunate that our level of thinking sees the ZICTA issue as a petty matter. Our politics are motivated by food and shelter and not rights nor policy directives.

    However, we still need people like Gen Miyanda to keep sensitising our communities on such matters.

    • Gen Miyanda has shown foresight. In his previous article were he questioned the registration of SIM cards using voters card, he hinted on the possible abuse of voter information.

      Gen Miyanda helped expose how campaign managers will approach MTN, airtel and ask for info on all those who registered with voter cards. Then start campaigning by way of SMS. Even after the closure of campaign, they can still send you SMS on the day of voting remind to you to vote for them.

  18. By your own admission, “I have NOT committed any crime, neither is there a credible record of the prevalence and/or abuse of these communications gadgets to justify any derogation from the said guaranteed rights.” So, what exactly are you scared of Mr Miyanda? The unknown? I do not remember you raising a stink about having to register your land line in your home and office. I hope you DO know that your home and office lines are registered , right? Much ado about nothing, really.

  19. Your inflated ego and craving for cheap publicity will not allow you to stay away from blogging, Mr Miyanda. We all know it. So please spare us the cheap stunts! I give you exactly one week and you will pop up your ugly head on some unsuspecting blog! Meanwhile, any minute without seeing your empty statements on the internet is a moment to be cherished by all of us. So, please for once DO try and keep your word and stay away, I beg you.

  20. I can infer from your statement General Miyanda that it is just pride that made you not to register your sim cards. If everyone is registering why can’t you do the same?
    Your postings are public and there is nothing sinister to hide. It therefore, follows that you comply with the law and obey ZICTA

  21. After the sad failure of the ‘village concept’, you are at wits end with ICT. Whatever next, comrade general?

  22. That man is always general Miyanda, he is always contravecial. Sometimes you would think that he is a rebel who wants to create some catastrophe in the country. Look here in Noway or almost the world over , it is a mandatory for every citizen to register his mobile and there is no problem with whatever you can call as infringement in privacy. Infact it helps a lot of people to be assisted by any institution in time of emegemcy and problems they may encounter.
    What is wrong with my fellow Zambians? what kind of secrets do they have? Is Mr. Miyanda a terrorist or a mesentery for him to be so scared?

    • @Kanowene, you are confusing phone signal tracking with sim card registration, boss. Law enforcement people can track your mobile phone if you ring for help whether or not your sim card is registered..

  23. BA GENERAL JUST REGISTER YOUR SIM-CARDS BECAUSE YOU CAN NOT FIGHT THE GOVERNMENT. REMEMBER YOU WERE ONCE WORKED AS A VICE PRESIDENT AND LEADER OF GOVERNMENT BUSINESS IN PARLIAMENT AND YOU ALSO MADE SOME UN POPULAR DECISIONS IN PARLIAMENT E.G BARING KK TO STAND AS PRESIDENT IN 1996.REMEMBER YOU HAVE A POLITICAL PARTY CALLED NASHALA NEKA PARTY. SINCE YOU ARE ALREADY IN THE QUELL ONE DAY YOU WILL BE PRESIDENT AS LONG AS YOU REMAIN IN THE QUELL. MR SATA WAS ALSO IN-THE QUELL EVEN HH IS ALSO IN THE QUELL.

  24. THE FOOLISHNESS OF IT ALL IS THAT EVEN PIPO WHO ACTUALLY BOTHERED TO REGISTER HAVE BEEN CUT OFF DUE TO SOME LAPSES BY ( ESPECIALLY ) ZAMTEL !

  25. @Kanowene, you are confusing phone signal tracking with sim card registration, boss. Law enforcement people can track your mobile phone if you ring for help whether or not your sim card is registered.

  26. The real reason for this sim card registration is that Sata’ Govt want to use it as IDs in the same manner the colonial masters in Northern Rhodesia used a ‘Pass’ on black people. My father told me you had to have a Pass to go to town from a village for the white Policeman to identify you when they stopped and searched you, especially if you went near 1st class shops. The folly thing about it is that some Africans were so brain washed they supported it. They disqualified themselves too, just like some people are supporting this sim card registration today. What is even worse now is that the Govt is going to track you by name, listen to your private conversation by name, fabricate and frame you with false accusation by name if you are opposed to the ruling party’s way of doing things.

  27. Uncle Miyanda,

    I simpathise with you.
    However, I dont agree with the stance you have taken of finding fault in the SIM registration law. If I may ask you a question: Can you tabulatate the pros and cons of {1) SIM registration (2)The status quo?

    I believ you will find more disadvantages with the status quo.

    • @Me, could you kindly mention and share some of the advantages of blanket registration of all sim cards? I ask this because in developed Countries like here in UK there is no blanket registration of sim cards. e.g. mine is not registered. I simply walked into a T-mobile shop and bought a sim card. Finished.
      But that is besides the main point. The main point is that based on evidence of his performance so far as Head of State, Mr. Sata cannot be trusted not misuse that sort of information for personal gain. He will misuse that information to attack, frame, disable etc.. anyone for personal gain.

  28. You are a true HERO Brigadier General Miyanda. You are one of the few that understand what fighting for your rights and respecting the constitution is. Bless you. Keep the faith and keep fighting for the many voiceless Zambians.

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