By Henry Kyambalesa

It has become common knowledge that the Patriotic Front (PF) administration has often used sedition laws against some citizens who have attempted to exercise their constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech and expression to critique the government’s apparent failure to address the catalogue of socioeconomic problems facing the country and the common people.

Specifically, Section 57 through Section 62 of the Penal Code Act—that is, Chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambia—have become a vital weapon against citizens who dare to decry the widespread destitution and clear-as-crystal socioeconomic decay and backwardness in our Motherland. The following headlines excerpted from a diversity of news sources are good examples of the use (or is it “abuse”) of sedition laws by the PF administration:

“Two journalists in Zambia arrested, charged with sedition.” (July 19, 2013.)

“Magistrate overturns his earlier judgment and dismisses case of sedition against 4 Barotse Activists.” (December 4, 2013.)

“Three Luyungandambo Barotse Activists appear in Court again for sedition.” (December 9, 2014.)

“Zambia charges … presidential candidate with sedition.” (October 6, 2016.)

“Drop sedition charges against HH and GBM – Amnesty International.” (October 20, 2016.)

“Singer Afunika’s wife charged with seditious publication.” (February 23, 2020.)

“Arresting officer testifies in Mushipe’s sedition case – Zambia.” (June 30, 2020.) And

“Emmanuel Mwamba Reports Sishuwa Sishuwa to the Police for writing and publishing seditious material.” (April 26, 2021.)

Recently, a brother of ours is reported as having reported Dr. Sishuwa Sishuwa “for writing and publishing seditious material.” I have had the opportunity to skim through some of Dr. Sishuwa’s articles.

Apparently, the implicit message I have discerned from his articles is his advocacy for a change in the leadership of our beloved country through the ballot box. There is really nothing seditious about this—it is what citizens and non-PF patriots in opposition political parties are supposed to do.

And PF leaders and supporters would have engaged in the same or similar kinds of rhetoric if they were not in power and had a desire to secure the people’s mandate to form government.

In fact, the issues and problems which Dr. Sishuwa has attempted to highlight in some of his articles are actually undeniable, and they affect the majority of Zambian citizens irrespective of the political parties they belong to and the political leaders they support.

Such issues and problems include mass poverty, extreme inequalities, intolerable levels of unemployment, unprecedented economic decline, the worsening levels of corruption, and unsustainable levels of commercial, bilateral and multilateral debts, among a host of other socioeconomic issues and problems.

There is a need for PF officials and supporters to actively counter dissent and criticism with factual, honest and regular defences of their government’s handling of the socioeconomic issues and problems facing the country and the common people.

Some of the issues and problems about which journalists, opposition politicians, political commentators, and scribes like Dr. Sishuwa have continually accused the ruling political party as having miserably failed to address are chronicled by the Bank of Zambia, Amnesty International, Transparency International, the World Bank, the local Central Statistical Office, and other credible institutions.

One wonders why PF leaders and supporters cannot continually defend themselves in word and deed through their monopolised national news outlets—including the Times of Zambia, Zambia Daily Mail, Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (radio and TV), and the Zambia News and Information Services (ZANIS)—which they can freely use in this endeavour.

One would wish to advise our compatriots in the PF administration to refrain from “weaponising” sedition laws against critics. Charging such people with the offence of sedition should, therefore, never be the norm—it should be used sparingly, if ever.

If PF officials cannot withstand the heat, they will do well to stay out of the kitchen, so to speak, in order to spare the citizenry from incessant violations of their rights and freedoms.

Mrs. Michelle Obama, former U.S. First Lady, has provided the following additional leadership morsel for PF officials to consider:

“Being Commander-in-Chief [and Head of State and Government] is a hard job; [among other things,] … you need to have discipline, and you need to read, … you need to be knowledgeable, you need to know history, [and] you need to be careful with your words.”

And one has to make an earnest effort to perform one’s job with dignity, leadership and integrity amidst a myriad of genuine and/or unfounded criticisms.

We, the undersigned, as prominent academics across Zambia, Africa and the wider world, are deeply alarmed at credible reports that the University of Zambia (UNZA) historian, Dr Sishuwa Sishuwa, is to be charged with sedition, as the result of an opinion piece he published in the Mail and Guardian (South Africa), on 22 March 2021.

As historians and social scientists who have studied and published in and about Zambia for many decades, we are extremely concerned that the threat of sedition charges is being used to silence the legitimate expression of belief by one of the country’s most prominent early-career scholars. Dr Sishuwa, who has published outstanding and prize-winning research articles in the world’s most prominent African studies journals, is drawing on his research expertise to bring to public attention his concerns about the current direction of Zambian political life. Far from inciting popular rebellion (as the term ‘sedition’ implies), he seeks to address the underlying causes of societal tension as a way to reduce it. We believe it is both his right and his patriotic duty to bring such concerns into the public eye. Article 20 of the Constitution of Zambia guarantees Dr Sishuwa and all other Zambians freedom of expression, that is to say freedom to hold opinions, receive ideas and impart or communicate ideas and information without interference.

As citizens and longstanding friends of Zambia, who have documented the country’s prominent historical role in the political liberation of southern Africa, and its pioneering role in constitutional democratisation, we are worried about the proposed use of an authoritarian tool such as the charge of sedition, and call for any consideration of such charges to be immediately and permanently dropped.

We are further alarmed at the issuance by the University of Zambia of a statement dated 27 April 2021, disassociating the university from its employee Dr Sishuwa. This misleading statement suggests Dr Sishuwa is not currently employed by the university, when in fact he is, as is normal for academic researchers, simply on temporary research leave from it. Indeed, as recently as December last year, UNZA publicly celebrated the achievements of Dr Sishuwa.

All of us have worked at or with colleagues from UNZA, long a prominent university that has, since independence, been a centre of intellectual freedom, often in difficult circumstances. We wholly reject the allegation that Dr Sishuwa is pursuing a ‘personal agenda’ and call on the university to guarantee Dr Sishuwa’s continued employment and his right to academic freedom.

Signatories

1. Professor Rita Abrahamsen, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Ottawa

2. Dr Michael Aeby, Research Associate, IDCCPA University of Cape Town & University of Edinburgh

3. The African Studies Association of Africa

4. Professor Akosua Adomako Ampofo, University of Ghana, and President of the African Studies Association of Africa

5. Professor David M. Anderson, Professor of African History, University of Warwick

6. Professor Kate Baldwin, Associate Professor of Political Science, Yale University

7. Professor Robert Bates, Eaton Professor Emeritus of the Science of Government, Harvard University

8. Dr Nicole Beardsworth, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Pretoria

9. Sarah Bellows-Blakely, Research Fellow in Global Intellectual History, Freie Universität Berlin

10. Dr Eloïse Bertrand, Research Fellow, University of Portsmouth

11. Dr Chaloka Beyani, Professor of International Law, Law Department, London School of Economics and Political Science.

12. Professor Catherine Boone, Department of International Development, London School of Economics and Political Science

13. Professor Michael Bratton, Emeritus Professor of Government, Michigan State University

14. Caesar Cheelo, Research Economist – Trade and Customs Division, COMESA Secretariat 

15. Professor Nic Cheeseman, Professor of Democracy, University of Birmingham

16. Dr Grieve Chelwa, Postdoctoral Fellow, The New School

17. Geoffrey Chibuye, Independent 

18. Professor Simukai Chigudu, Associate Professor of African Politics, University of Oxford

19. Dr Isaac Chinyoka, Centre for Social Science Research, University of Cape Town

20. Roy Clarke, former lecturer in Education at the University of Zambia, 1979-89, political satirist at the Post Newspaper 1996-2009

21. Dr Michaela Collord, Junior Research Fellow, New College, University of Oxford

22. Leila Demarest, Assistant Professor of African Politics, Institute of Political Science, Leiden University

23. Dr Kim Yi Dionne, Associate Professor of Political Science, UC Riverside

24. Professor Gregor Dobler, Institute for Social and Cultural Anthropology, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg

25. Professor Lindiwe Dovey, Professor of Film and Screen Studies, School of Arts, SOAS University of London

26. Dr Boniface Dulani, Senior Lecturer in Political Science, University of Malawi

27. Dr Jonathan Fisher, Reader in African Politics, University of Birmingham

28. Dr Alastair Fraser, Department of Politics and International Studies, SOAS, University of London

29. Dr Elena Gadjanova, Lecturer in Politics, University of Exeter

30. Courtney Hallink, PhD student, University of Cambridge 

31. Professor Antoinette Handley, Department of Political Science, University of Toronto

32. Dr Anne Heffernan, Assistant Professor in Southern African History, Durham University

33. Sacha Hepburn, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, Birkbeck, University of London 

34. Professor Samuel Hickey, Professor of Politics and Development, University of Manchester

35. Marja Hinfelaar, Director of Research and Programmes, Southern African Institute for Policy and Research

36. Professor Alan Hirsch, Emeritus Professor of Public Governance, University of Cape Town

37. Dr Dan Hodgkinson, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, University of Oxford

38. Professor Kristine Höglund, Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University.  

39. Dr Chris Huggins, Assistant Professor, School of International Development and Global Studies, University of Ottawa

40. Professor Faizel Ismail, Professor of Public Governance, University of Cape Town

41. Zenobia Ismail, Research Fellow, Governance and Social Development Resource Centre, University of Birmingham

42. Samson Itodo, Yiaga Africa 

43. Professor Hambaba Jimaima, Department of Literature and Languages, University of Zambia

44. Diana Jeater, Associate Dean, Department of History, University of Liverpool

45. Dr Will Jones, Senior Lecturer in International Relations, Department of Politics, International Relations and Philosophy, Royal Holloway, University of London

46. Dr Walima Kalusa, Senior Lecturer in African History, University of eSwatini, and former Head of the Department of History, University of Zambia

47. Lillian Kamusiime, Independent

48. Dr Julius Kapembwa, Lecturer in Philosophy, The University of Zambia. 

49. Victor Kanyense, Indeepndent Social Scientist & Development Specialist 

50. Professor Chammah J. Kaunda, Assistant Professor of World Christianity and Mission Studies, Yonsei University

51. Kalaluka Kapungu, Citizen of Zambia

52. Stephen Kamugasa, Independent Researcher

53. Rita Kesselring, Senior Lecturer at the Institute for Social Anthropology, University of Basel

54. Aikande C. Kwayu, Honorary Research Fellow, Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

55. Stephanie Lämmert, Researcher, Max Planck Institute for Human Development

56. Professor Miles Larmer, Professor of African History, University of Oxford

57. Professor Baz Lecocq, Chair African History, Institute for Asian and African Studies, Humboldt University of Berlin

58. Professor Staffan I. Lindberg, Director, V-Dem Institute, of Political Science, University of Gothenburg

59. Sworo Nelson Henry Lo’boka, Africa Call, South Sudan

60. Dr Terrence Lyons, Associate Professor, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University

61. Professor Adrienne LeBas, Associate Professor of Government, American University

62. Dr Reuben A. Loffman, Lecturer in African History, Queen Mary University of London 

63. Professor Gabrielle Lynch, Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick. 

64. Dr Ainara Mancebo, Research Scholar, Ronin Institute

65. Hugh Macmillan, Research Fellow, University of Oxford

66. Kuukuwa Manful, PhD Researcher, SOAS, University of London

67. Professor Robert Mattes, Professor of Political Science, University of Strathclyde

68. Monte McMurchy, Rector American Christian Liberal Arts University Congo—UCI

69. Professor Henning Melber, Nordic Africa Institute; University of Pretoria; University of the Free State

70. Kelvin Mambwe, University of Zambia Lecturers and Researchers’ Union

71. Robert Molteno, formerly Lecturer in Political Science and Public Administration, University of Zambia, 1968-1976

72. Dr Duncan Money, Researcher, African Studies Centre, University of Leiden

73. Jason Mosley, Research Associate, African Studies Centre, Oxford University

74. Steriah Mudenda, School of Education, The University of Zambia

75. Hassan Mudane, Lecturer, Department of Political Science, City University of Mogadishu.

76. John Munkombwe, Lecturer, Institute of Distance Education, The University of Zambia

77. Dr Patience Mususa, Senior Researcher, Nordic Africa Institute

78. Victor Mutelelekesha, Contemporary Artist, Founder of The Lusaka Contemporary Art Centre

79. Jean Mwape, Citizen of Zambia

80. Dr Mack Ndawana, IFP Subject Lead, Centre for Academic Language and Development, University of Bristol

81. Youngson Ndawana, Lecturer in Media Studies, University of Zambia

82. Professor Manenga Ndulo, Professor of Economics, University of Zambia

83. Professor Muna Ndulo, Professor of Law, Cornell University

84. Daniel Munday, PhD Candidate, University of Birmingham

85. Dr Bruce Mutsvairo, Professor of Journalism, Auburn University

86. Chantry Mweemba, International Relations and Human Rights expert

87. Olívio Nkilumbu – Professor, Politólogo e Consultor Político, Magistério Mutu Ya Kevela e Universidade Óscar Ribas

88. Nanjala Nyabola, Independent Researcher

89. Dr Robert Nyenhuis, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Cal Poly Pomona

90. Dr Ken O. Opalo, Assistant Professor, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University 

91. Dr Dan Paget, Lecturer in Politics, University of Aberdeen

92. Dr Michael Panzer, Adjunct Professor in History, Marist College

93. Dr Lazlo Passemiers, Senior Lecturer, University of the Free State, South Africa

94. Dr Justin Pearce, Research Fellow Global Soldiers, University of Sussex

95. Professor Didier Péclard, Associate Professor of Politics and African Studies, University of Geneva

96. Dr Iva Pesa, Assistant Professor Contemporary History, University of Groningen

97. Professor Anne Pitcher, Department of Political Science, University of Michigan

98. Professor Daniel Posner, Department of Political Science, UCLA

99. Dr Deborah Potts, Emeritus Reader in Human Geography, King’s College London

100. Professor Lise Rakner, Professor of Comparative Politics, University of Bergen

101. Professor Brian Raftopoulos, Research Fellow, University of the Free State

102. Elelwani Ramugondo, Chairperson of the Academic Freedom Committee, University of Cape Town

103. Cleopas Sambo, Lecturer, Department of Social Work & Sociology, University of Zambi

104. Dr Sara Rich Dorman, Senior Lecturer in African Politics, University of Edinburgh

105. Professor Oliver Saasa, Professor of International Economic Relations & Chancellor, Mulungushi University

106. Pamela Towela Sambo, Lecturer, School of Law, University of Zambia

107. Dr Edalina Rodrigues Sanches, Assistant Professor, ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon (Portugal) 

108. Dr Jenna Sapiano, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Monash Gender, Peace and Security Centre (GPS), Monash University

109. Professor Chris Saunders, Emeritus Professor of Historical Studies, University of Cape Town

110. Nicolai Schulz, Postdoctoral Researcher, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin

111. Dr Laura E. Seay, Assistant Professor, Department of Government, Colby College

112. Dr Marcia C. Schenck , Professor of Global History, University of Potsdam

113. Professor Jeremy Seekings, Professor of Political Studies and Sociology, University of Cape Town

114. Professor David Simon, Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK

115. Eunifridah Simuyaba, Lecturer, University of Zambia 

116. Dr Neo Simutanyi, retired Senior Lecturer in Political Science, University of Zambia and Executive Director, Centre for Policy Dialogue

117. Doreen Sitali, School of Public Health, University of Zambia

118. Dr Lahra Smith, Associate Professor, African Studies Program & Department of Government, Georgetown University

119. Christian von Soest, Lead Research Fellow, Head of Peace and Security Research Program, German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA)

120. Dr Morris Szeftel, Senior Lecturer Emeritus, Political & International Studies, University of Leeds

121. Professor Blessing-Miles Tendi, Associate Professor in African Politics, University of Oxford

122. Professor Aili Mari Tripp, Wangari Maathai Professor of Political Science and Gender & Women’s Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison

123. Dr Robin L. Turner, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science, Butler University

124. Bridget Bwalya Umar, Senior Lecturer, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Zambia

125. Professor Peter VonDoepp, Dept. of Political Science, University of Vermont

126. Professor Nicolas van de Walle, Professor of Government, Cornell University

127. Dr Michael Wahman, Assistant Professor, Michigan State University

128. Martin Waithaka, Independent

129. Dr Peter Wafula Wekesa, Department of History, Kenyatta University, Kenya. 

Source: Democracy in Africa