By Sishuwa Sishuwa

Until recently, the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) has been a rare bright spot amid Zambia’s increasingly inactive and ineffective civil society movement. Under the leadership of Linda Kasonde, the association’s first female President, who chose not to seek re-election when her first term in office expired in April this year, LAZ exerted every effort to fulfil its legal mandate of defending the rule of law, protecting our country’s Constitution, and proactively using the law as a shield for the weak and the ordinary citizen and not as a sword for the elite and those in power. This naturally brought LAZ into conflict with the government and members of the ruling Patriotic Front (PF) such as President Edgar Lungu, who has demonstrated little regard for the rule of law, especially when it gets in the way of his personal ambitions.

Throughout their two-year tenure, Kasonde and her colleagues in the previous LAZ executive were subject to a constant barrage of baseless and hostile attacks from PF partisans, who viewed the association as an opponent and generally regarded its resolute defence for constitutionalism, social justice and democratic principles as a political crime. Because of the PF’s inability to respond to criticism with argument and reason, there were even spiteful attempts by lawyers aligned to the ruling party such as Kelvin Bwalya Fube and Tutwa Ngulube to oust Kasonde’s executive and amend the statute that established LAZ, all in a short-sighted attempt to nullify the association’s check on power.

Other efforts, less public, focussed on simply taking over the association by way of capturing its leadership or advancing PF supporters to lead or run the body and rendering it ineffective. I regret that this latter effort appears to have now succeeded, as can clearly be seen in the lacklustre and shameful statement issued by the new LAZ executive last week on Lungu’s purported land ‘gift’ in eSwatini, formerly Swaziland. It would appear that like many other civil society organisations, the law association has finally fallen into line or been captured by the PF. Zambians should be aware of the character and greatly changed nature of the new LAZ executive, from whom little that is in the public interest should be expected in the future. Many people and institutions have highlighted the flaws of the statement that LAZ issued on the purported land ‘gift’ and noted the lack of precision and clarity of its legal argument that were characteristic of the association’s statements under the previous executive. It is not my intention to repeat or restate these arguments. What I seek to do here is to provide an understanding of the vested interests that permeate the new LAZ executive within which the recent statement, or a future one, is better understood.

To recap: in April this year, paid-up members of the Law Association of Zambia elected at their Annual General Meeting a 16-member executive to replace the Kasonde-led Council. The new office bearers include Eddie Kalela Mwitwa (President), Andrew Musenga Musukwa (Vice-President), Mwenya Andrew Mukupa (Secretary) and Milingo Lungu (Treasurer). The rest are ordinary Council members and these are Gertrude Musyani, Priscilla Bwembya, James Mataliro, Friday Besa, Gilbert Chama, Ngosa Simachela, Mutumu Nzala Mwape, Chishimba Kaela, Chileshe Matilda Kaoma, Nkusuwila Nachalwe-Mbao, Peter Sokwani Chilembo and Lungisani Zulu. Half of those elected recently served in the previous executive, so one should ordinarily anticipate continuity in the strategies and policies of the association. Unfortunately, this is unlikely to be the case as the new executive is home to individuals with strong partisan interests.

There appears to be three factions within the new LAZ Council. The first comprises those supporting the PF and holding positions both in the ruling party and LAZ. A few members of this faction were present even in the previous executive, but the most recent elections in April saw them ascending to influential positions. The extent of their partisanship has not previously been made apparent, not least because they appear to think few would expose their political leanings. Take the case of Milingo Lungu, the new Treasurer of LAZ, for instance. Milingo Lungu has not publicly disclosed that he is also the current deputy chairperson for legal affairs in the PF. One would imagine that this is a clear conflict of interest that should have been disclosed, especially in the wake of his election to the LAZ executive, so that his colleagues and the nation at large are not misled into believing that he is an impartial member of the new Council. The fact that he found no reason to do so suggests that Milingo Lungu may have gone into the LAZ Council to advance the agenda or interests of his party.

What is more disturbing is that the new LAZ Treasurer is one of the lawyers representing the petitioners in the case relating to President Lungu’s eligibility to stand again in the 2021 elections, which is currently before the Constitutional Court. When the case came up for pre-ruling final arguments on 7 May this year, Milingo Lungu, rather than declaring interest, appeared before the ConCourt at a time when he was already the LAZ Treasurer, arguing that President Lungu is eligible to seek another term of office. His position, one that arguably amounts to professional misconduct, clearly contradicts that of LAZ, which is part to the case (the association is represented by John Sangwa) and seeking a counter declaration. How can a Council member act against the interests of an institution he is elected to further? This example shows the difficulty that awaits members of this faction, especially on cases that affect the PF or the executive arm of government. Most importantly, Milingo Lungu’s dual membership undermines the credibility of the new LAZ executive. In the absence of clear information to the contrary, the public is likely to view Milingo Lungu as potentially representative of a group of PF supporters who are now the dominant force in the new LAZ executive and who will act in a concerted manner to advance the interests of the ruling elites and undermine potential legal cases against the government.

The second faction on the new LAZ Council consists of those who have close links with State House. The most notable members of this faction, which is not as organised as the first one, is Mwenya Mukupa, the new LAZ Secretary and Andrew Musukwa, the Vice-President. Mukupa and Musukwa enjoy a close relationship with President Lungu’s Special Assistant for Legal Affairs, Sukwana Lukangaba, who is also a lawyer. The LAZ Secretary and Lungu’s legal advisor even holiday together. Can Mukupa or the LAZ Vice-President take a principled stand on legal issues that might affect the political interests of their presidential advisor friend or will they and others like them attempt to frustrate those cases and protect their ally and effectively the President?

The third faction comprises those who are, for whatever reason, apolitical. Among these are Eddie Mwitwa, the President and several ordinary Council members. As earlier pointed out, the latest LAZ executive is not entirely a new one. Many members sat on the previous executive, but sources within LAZ revealed that some were not among those who pushed resolutely for the association to take a principled stand on legal issues that affect the group. Members of this group take a studied disinterest in cases they deem to be political, especially those that affect the executive branch of government. Some within this ‘disinterested’ faction, one that is arguably the most dangerous, may be apolitical simply because they seek to stay on ‘the right side’ of government. Others likely have their eye on future appointments as judges, who are of course appointed by the President. Like many at the Human Rights Commission, they may be calculating that if Lungu is successful in his bid to extend presidential term limits, he may be in power until at least 2026 and would not appoint someone who had publicly opposed him. To enhance their career prospects, affected members of this faction may have decided to remain ‘apolitical’.

The net result of this factionalism within LAZ is a weak and polarised executive that is only capable of issuing statements that are as vague as the one on the eSwatini land ‘gift’. If there is anything that the public should learn from that statement, it is that we should expect little from the new LAZ executive in the future, and Zambia is poorer for this. It is instructive that criticism of LAZ from PF-aligned lawyers has fallen silent since the election of the new executive. Essentially, they have got what they wanted, for LAZ has effectively laid down its shield and appears to be willing to discard or compromise its stated values of integrity, honour and justice. The association has been transformed and, because of its shameful statement on the controversial land ‘gift’, is now likely to be seen by many Zambians as a supporter of the government. As a result, future statements from LAZ will most likely be treated with extreme scepticism. They are unlikely to represent an informed legal perspective in the eyes of many members of the public, but rather a careful defence of the executive arm of government, couched in legal terminology. It is highly revealing that, as did the editors of News Diggers, I received copies of the LAZ statement on the eSwatini issue long before it was officially released. This did not come from any source within LAZ but from different PF supporters, effectively making it evident where power lies now. Can the new LAZ executive redeem itself or recover from the devastating setback of its vague statement on the eSwantini land ‘gift’? Only time will tell. What is apparent for now is that without an effective and independent LAZ, the public is left almost defenceless.

By Henry Kanyanta Sosala

On the face value, it seems a lot of Zambians are very highly educated, however, to me it appears that the greatest amount of intelligence exists in that country where people are best able to defend their moral values and liberties as against anything desirous of undermining them. And in addition try their best to solve their own national problems. I believe that any knowledge, and especially at this critical period in Zambia which does not come down to try and break the vicious cycles of youth unemployment, early marriages, street kids and high poverty levels especially in rural areas, no matter how brilliant is just an illusion. Education can only be valuable to us and to those around us when we grasp its essence and properly apply it to our daily realities. It is not the acquisition of book knowledge, but the application of that knowledge to serious national issues at hand that counts.
Former Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere wrote that learning has not liberated a man if all he learns to want is a certificate on his wall, and the reputation of being a ‘’learned person; a possessor of knowledge………..The accumulation of knowledge, or worse still, the accumulation of pieces of paper which represent a kind of legal tender for such knowledge is nothing.’’

What is heart-wrenching is that our newspapers are just full of stories of people insulting each other and totally blind to such national challenges as youth unemployment, street kids, early marriages etc. And Zambian politics does not induce any sense of reality and one current notable feature is that politics is based on reactions to issues and not on principals or on sound reasoning. The political scenario appears to bear hallmarks of simple blind and personal struggles and hence with no ideology to sustain it except the monotonous recitation and of trading insults. And someone crudely put it: ‘’We just keep on barking at each other like mad dogs.’’ Ngande Mwanajiti wrote: ‘’Those who resort to unpalatable language and insults are just not capable of dealing with issues at hand in a reasonable manner. It is not any different from the case of war lords or terrorists who measure success by the number and level of destruction.’’(Daily Nation 1st July 2015).

Ba Sikota Wina hit the nail on the head: ‘’We inflate little things and pretend they are big…. Our complaints and our controversies, our commotions and our causes have grown ridiculous and we have all of us, become specialists in transforming the trivial into momenta. Even deeply personal matters have become public debate, even President Mwanawasa’s baptism can cause political controversies.’’ (The Post 15th March 2005)

And we are just slowly recovering from ‘’a political tsunami’’ that took the entire nation on edge in which Swazi King Mswati had given land to President Lungu. And on which few people thought was the King’s reciprocal to the same gift that his Royal Highness Senior Chief Mujimanzovu had earlier bestowed on him. And when such ‘’great controversies’’ appear on the scene and especially when they concern the head of state, politicians compete as to who will become the champion in doing more damage on character assassination of the President. And in this instance a opposition presidential hopeful took the lead and after hard work and sleepless nights of perusing various law books, the Anti-Corruption manual and various previous constitutions. And he jubilantly announced to those whose ears are always itching to hear bad news on President Lungu. He came up with sections in the Anti-Corruption Commission Act that President Lungu had breached the Act for receiving a land gift. However, the Law Association of Zambia found no merit and simply rubbished it off.
All those fighting President Lungu maliciously must bear in mind what Eckhart Tolle wrote: ‘’Whatever you fight, you ignite and strengthen and whatever you resist persists.’’

What is the problem? The power of the spirit of hatred and jealousy can easily distort a person’s way of thinking where one can even go to the evil extreme of claiming that people are praying for President Lungu to die. Does one really pray to God for a person to die or do you pray to the devil since he is the master of destruction and here is what Katherine Ponder wrote:

‘’When you hold resentment toward another, you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. The release of the supposed ‘victim’ is the only way to dissolve that link and get free.’’ And unfortunately there is only one Presidential vacancy and which is not so easy to fill and that is why the Americans say: ‘’Unum Pluribum Est’’ i.e., ‘’Out of Many One.’’

The problem of irresponsible child marriages is a very serious and complex issue since it hinges on the moral fabric of our very existence as a nation. Sex drive is very strong in teenagers and sex is something very difficult to be reasonable about. And even the apostle Paul had to warn Timothy, ‘’……. avoid the passions of youth and strive for righteousness (purity)’’ (2 Timothy 2: 22). And one fact that our ancestors were aware of it and I only learned of it through Mr. Colin Cunningham, the best lawyer this country has ever had, when he was defending a rape case. He emphasized on the point that the tropical climate like ours is a catalyst for sexual arousal and according to him was compounded by the use of ‘’roots.’’ And our ancestors made sure that a boy and a girl should never be at close contact with each other and especially in isolation and hence the saying, ‘’Cikwi tapalamana na mulilo’’ i.e., ‘’Don’t put a petrol-soaked cloth near the flame of fire.’’

It is, however, saddening to note that we as a nation and to borrow Mwine mushi’s expression have not critically tried to dig the ‘’root causes’’ of child or early marriages since we only look to the investors to solve all our problems. However, this is a worldwide problem that includes even the western countries. The only feeble and monotonous pronouncement that we daily hear from the crusaders against early marriages campaigns who are sponsored by foreign-funded NGOs is: ‘’the girls are being married off.’’ And by which they imply that parents ‘’sell off their children,’’ to anybody who can give them some cash. And they usually end up by condemning the parents who ‘’sell off’’ their children in marriages! And threaten them with imprisonment.

It was recently reported in the Zambia Daily Mail that about 500 school girls got pregnant in Eastern Province in 2017. If one follows this shoddy, shallow, disgruntled, distorted and perverted reasoning, of the foreign-sponsored crusaders means that the parents ‘’send off’’ their children to commit adultery and thereby get pregnant. However, in our African cultures, if they get pregnant, then they automatically declare themselves ready for what I refer to as ‘’shot-gun marriages.’’ And in this case, we as un-sophiscated parents can no longer accept them back into our homes since it now becomes the responsibility for their ‘’husbands’’ to look after them. And we are very poor to keep the girl who is pregnant at home. And so we ’’do not marry them off,’’ but they themselves ‘’marry themselves off.’’

The first major problem is the abandonment of our rich African cultures for the western cultures and which means, ‘’sex has now been liberised.’’ And we are actually face-to-face with the bitter consequences of fleeing to what seemed the attractive sex restriction-free western cultures. In fact the then Secretary for African Affairs, R.S. Hudson, distressingly noted as early as 1930s that ‘’when an African settled in town, he ultimately ceased to belong to a tribe and no longer fitted into the native authority system.’’ And other colonial officer Orde-Brown sadly wrote: ‘’A disquieting feature of compounds of all kinds is the large juvenile population without occupation or control. Children and adolescents of all ages throng the vicinity, finding amusements as they can and devoid of training or teaching. In native villages this would not be the case, since almost all the tribes have very definite arrangements for training the young people according to their ideas.’’

David Punabantu added: ‘’ In other words, children were being born in towns without any knowledge or concept of village life. These children produced other children ____ compound kids and their concept of development at that time was to follow the white man into shops. These compound kids then, became compound adults and ended up, as street vendors, while others became street adults as seen today. And against this, Zambian rural culture in the colonial era was seen as the only tool to deal with this cultural genocide that occurred in urban Zambia.’’ (The Post {supplement} 24th November 2004).

On the other hand, in this liberated sexual scenario, we see teenagers publically kissing each other and they even go out to dances, cinema shows and other entertainments and bring back the girl later in the night and that is now accepted by the girls’ ‘’modern, educated and civilized’’ parents, since this is within the context of Children’s Rights in accordance with the Human Rights Charter. However, there is the problem of peer pressure within the liberated sex scenario because if a boy takes a girl out for three or four times without any attempt whatsoever to have ‘’ a go,’’ since other ‘’couples’’ are doing it, then the girl might begin to think her partner ‘’is not man enough,’’ and could eventually if it continues be declared impotent.

We must also critically try to find answers to the fact that girls reach or attain ‘’womanhood’’ at the age of 13 years and in whatever culture as soon as they reach the stage of ‘’womanhood,’’ they are ready for marriage. However, the determination by the authorities at the age of marriage, for example 18 years in this country is only meant for the physical maturity of the girls. The difficulty arises especially in rural areas when they drop out of school, should they just be watching stars for five years until they attain the age of 18 to get married! I have recently heard that they want to make 21 years now as the year of marriage. The problem is that we are indeed blind to our own realities because those who tell us to make such decisions are able to keep their children up to 25 years because they are in universities or colleges. On the other hand, the flowery beauty of a woman is from 14 to 20 years that is when they are at their peak of beauty and then at 21 years their beauty slowly begins to fade. And do you expect our young men to be marrying finished women? ‘’Wailasha kwa Zecco.’’ And surprisingly some of these useless suggestions come from our womenfolk themselves!

In rural areas and unlike in urban areas there are no social amenities to keep both boys and girls at least somehow busy and a result the boys resort to heavy drinking of alcohol. When I visited Swaziland (now Eswatini), I learned that girls in rural areas have sex experiences at the age of between 6 and 7 years while in urban areas, it was at the ages between 9 and 10 years.

In one neighbouring country, prostitution has been legal since the colonial rule and a social scientist told me that in order to protect school-going girls from being victims of sex abuse, the colonial government introduced tough deterrent measures for those who impregnated school girls. They could be sent to jail for ten years and received ten strokes of a cane every Saturday. He told me that they have now increased to twenty years imprisonment since they are no longer subjected to be caned. I think we should think in terms of deterrent measures to protect the school going girl-child. For example, it was reported in Zambia Daily Mail of 31st May 2018: ‘’The Court of Appeal overturned a 25-year jail sentence slapped on a 40-year-old defiler by a lower court and replaced it with 45 years imprisonment with hard labour.’’ I believe, it could also help if some punishment could also be effected on the parents who fail to report such a defiler to the authorities.

Dr. Kaunda has a penetrating insight: ’’ …educational institutions turn out streams of technical, professional and scientific people required in central areas of national building….yet the nation that lacks a firm cultural structure is jelly-built and though the people have title deeds to the property and the key to the front door in their pockets, they are still homeless.’’ Dr. Sishuwa Sishuwa in a paper: Chinese Confucius Institute and the Cultural War in Africa wrote:

‘’Culture is the invisible thread that ties people together or separates them…….. the effectiveness control of the world; that is to truly control a people, one must influence the cultural habits, language and belief system of a people _____ that is why they have established Alliance Francaise, British Council, American Cultural Centre etc. All imperialisms recognize that it must empty Africans of their independent human essence if it is to thrive and defeat existing patterns of social practices that inform the locals’ knowledge and understanding of the world; how they engage in that environment and how they re-create and interact with it through customs, moral norms, laws, beliefs, art or other forms of cultural expressions.’’

It’s unfortunate that today many so-called Zambian intellectuals wrongly believe that their cultural heritage is derived from their education and conscious approximation to the western living standards. For example, in an article African Culture and development, Simeo Siame wrote: ‘’Culture for what?….it is futile to mobilize thousands of manpower to paddle a big boat or spend days and nights dancing round a bonfire, when such manpower should have been at points of economic production….this culture can no longer be a tool for modernization and economic development..’’

And cultural genocide was endorsed according to the Report of the Technical Committee of the foreign-drafted Zambian Constitution. In Part V on Bill of Rights, Article 63: ’’Language and Culture states in 63 (3): A person shall not be compelled to- (a) perform, observe, participate in, or be subjected to, any cultural practice or rite; or (b) form, join, contribute, maintain or pay allegiance to any cultural, traditional or linguistic association, organization, institution or entity.’’
It is general knowledge that no one forces the other to do what have been itemized above i.e., who goes overseas to force the tourists who flock to watch the Kuomboka ceremony? The chiefs should particularly note: ‘’….NOT to maintain or pay allegiance to any cultural, traditional or linguistic institution..’’

In fact the Members of the National Assembly have surrendered their powers of decision to the civil society groups. The former Germany envoy, His Excellency, Erich Kristof pointed this out when he was leaving the country that the National Assembly was his major disappointment and he went on to state that since his arrival in the country, it was strange to observe that the National Assembly didn’t play a major role in many national matters despite of being elected representatives of the people. ”I wish the National Assembly being elected representatives of the people can be proactive when dealing with national matters instead of the civil society. The civil society is not elected….the chiefs should also play a major role in areas where government is not present.” (Sunday Post 10th July 2005)

Of course, no one can overlook the fact that the white man has brought a lot of good civilization to Africa, but it comes with a sly danger, because while celebrating the generous donor aid such as the distributions of free skippers and such privileges as learning and enlightenment, it can easily blind us to who we really are and come to the fatal conclusion that the white man is the measure of all things. The truth is that you can never outperform the self-portrait you have of yourself. We have been taught never to see beyond the white man. This hypnotizing mentality has subverted the African personality like no other ideology.
And in closing I want to state that the issue of early marriages is the challenge of all Zambians and we should try to put our heads together and try to find viable ways of at least bringing the scourge to the minimum.