Dear Mr. Hakainde Hichilema,

I write to you this open letter after visiting Mr. Sean E. Tembo, the leader of Patriots for Economic Progress -PEP, who as at today, Sunday 4th September 2022, has been unlawfully detained at Woodlands Police Station in Lusaka falsely accused of defaming you as President of the Republic of Zambia.

My brief chat with our brother Sean, through the bars of the cell door triggered memories of my own arrests. During one of those arrests when I was leader of an opposition political party, as you will surely recall, you spoke to me on phone. I had been arrested in Kasama on 6th January 2014 on false allegations of defaming the President, the popular “chumbu munshololwa” case. In our short conversation you made it clear to me that my arrest was a violation of my constitutional right to free expression. You unequivocally condemned the arrest and reminded me about the need to unite and work together as members of the opposition.

You made it clear that your presidency would mark the end of such violation of human rights and intimidation of people with divergent views. As you know, every Zambian knows the position you held on such arrests as Mr. Tembo’s and many others. Of-course, you too were arrested and during such arrests you reiterated your views about the abuse of power to silence opposing views.

Against this background, I wish to add my voice to those of many Zambians who are saying that the unlawful and senseless detention of Mr. Sean Enock Tembo is an indelible mark of shame on your once very promising presidency. It represents a growing notorious violation of human rights under your leadership. Moreover, it is a prominent dent on your image. This recent detention of Mr. Tembo and the many arrests of Zambians with divergent views distinguishes you as a tyrant determined to crash all opposing views in a futile attempt to create a society that sings your praises.

I know that you will with disdain say that you don’t instruct the police to arrest people but that they operate independently. Please remember that your paramount job is to protect the constitution of our country. Hence, the responsibility to safeguard our constitutional rights and freedoms including freedom of expression rests squarely on your shoulders. Therefore, you cannot wash your hands like the biblical Pilate when the police are violating human rights in Zambia. Moreover, when you and others were arrested in the past, you directed your condemnation at the President as well using the same rationale.

Mr. President, please be reminded that these senseless arrests fly in the face of your own claim of more democratic space in Zambia upon your becoming President. Therefore, heed the call to stop this abuse of power by your administration. It is time for you to shake off intolerance and begin to repair your image which has been dented by the numerous violations of the rights and freedoms of innocent Zambians under your presidency. Please don’t be misled by praise-singers around you claiming that your record remains untainted. The contrary is the reality.

Yours truly,
Frank Bwalya
Member of the National Council Management Committee
Socialist Party Zambia
LUSAKA
4th September 2022

By Maiko Zulu

(PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU COMMENT)

I had a chat with Dr Sishuwa Sishuwa yesterday. He posed a few questions and said something that left me troubled. I asked him for permission to reproduce part of our conversation. Here is part of what he wrote to me during our chat:

“More people have been arrested and jailed for defamation of the president in Hichilema’s first year than were under six years of Lungu. On average, a Zambian is jailed every month for insulting President Hichilema. Take the last 4 months as an example.

In May, Andsen Zulu, a 46-year-old driver of Evelyn Hone College in Lusaka was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment for defaming Hichilema.

In July, Danny Kapambwe, 28, and Justine Chimpinde, 19, both unemployed and from Chiengi, were jailed for two years with hard labour for insulting the President on TikTok!

In August, Benson Tembo, a man of God in Chipata, was sent to 15 months imprisonment for calling Hichilema a satanist.

I will not take about the arrests of citizens using the law on defamation of the president because these are a regular staple under the Hichilema presidency. Just the other day, on 1st September, police in Lusaka arrested Lawrence Bwalya Muchinda, an unemployed 35-year old man for alleged defamation of the president. On the same day, police arrested Sean Tembo, a 42-year-old opposition leader, for allegedly insulting the president.

I have two questions.

First, why isn’t this new onslaught on human rights and democracy in Zambia attracting much outrage from the Human Rights Commission, from broad sections of civil society organisations, from international human rights bodies, and from Western diplomats – as the old onslaught did under Lungu? Is there a specific threshold of human rights violations that these actors and institutions are waiting for before they can raise their voice against these continuing attacks on political and civil rights?

Second, how does Hichilema sleep peacefully amidst all these arrests and imprisonments of citizens, for “insulting” and “defaming” him, that are being carried out in his official name? This is a man who, when in opposition, promised to repeal the defamation law immediately he assumes office but he is now presiding over the arrests and jailing of citizens using the same law he criticised and condemned under the PF. What really happens to people after winning power? Repeal of an Act of Parliament only requires a simple majority!

Argh!

Politicians sometimes behave like they are born from the same mother…open to feedback when in opposition but easily get intoxicated when handed power. Worse, they don’t even learn from those before them and yet they get surprised when voters give them the boot for their arrogance. Their behaviour is similar to that of minibus drivers…very nice to you before you jump on their bus but they will either haul insults on you or be quick to flex their muscle once inside, especially when you remind them of their responsibilities.

The truth is that all these arrests and jailings of Hichilema’s critics are happening because the legal architecture that enabled the authoritarian tendencies of Lungu and previous leaders remains unchanged under Hichilema. We often forget that it is not about the persona or goodness of the President; it is about institutional reforms.

Although it has slightly improved under Hichilema, Zambia’s democratic trajectory remains most concerning. Based on its track record over the last 12 months, the Hichilema administration has shown a lack of willingness to make structural changes to strengthen accountable, democratic governance. As a result, Zambian institutions will remain as susceptible to manipulation as they were under Lungu.”

Source: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02qnKAEiYexfvWGTgDDtM9ZiAuPCSJRX7FBQYqmYQV8U2yDv93rfPhK9qGAhw3dhHSl&id=100044152703455&m_entstream_source=timeline&anchor_composer=false

By Chibamba Kanyama

One African country, Ghana, provides us with incredible lessons about how not to manage an International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme. In 2015, Ghana accessed an IMF loan worth US$918 million to help it stabilize the economy. Unfortunately, it seemed the leader of the country had its own ‘most urgent’ priorities outside what was agreed with the lender. It is a case of getting a loan from a bank to finance your chicken business but children are out of school for lack of fees; you have a long list of relatives requiring urgent help in India and you owe the local tavern in unpaid bills stretching two years. The tavern owner has heard about the loan and wants a settlement at gunpoint.
In the case of Ghana, knowing that the IMF was watching, it decided to secretly print money (estimated to be equivalent to US $20 million) to finance pressing needs, most of them related to elections. Political pressure can easily make any country under an IMF programme go off the terms of the loan agreement.

Here is what government officials, political leaders and citizens should know from the moment you sign for an IMF loan: you are simply naked! There is a full requirement you disclose all government initiatives. You cannot spend money on any project outside what is agreed (the budget) and the IMF must know and possibly approve if there is any slight change to the plan. It is all about transparent dealings, openness to scrutiny, accountability and integrity. This is what the previous regime in Zambia feared. Full stop!

IMF HAS INCREDIBLE EYES!

Ghana thought the printing of money (which is a form of borrowing) would not be known by the IMF. But even in pregnancy, there are signals something happened before. The rate of inflation rose amidst an IMF programme when the opposite should have happened because that was the intention of the loan: stabilize the economy.
Civil society in Ghana, which had been thoroughly oriented to the IMF programme and its core terms of agreement, blew the whistle. I was at the IMF at that moment when the information leaked, that Ghana had borrowed money without the knowledge of the IMF, a key line in the loan agreement requiring disclosure of any intention to borrow during the period of the programme. The IMF reaction was adverse. It suspended the programme within a year of signing it (though restored after the vice President visited Washington DC a year later to plead for resumption).

The worst thing you do not want to have as a country under an IMF programme is a suspension. It signals to the entire world that you have messed up. Investors panic and all those other cooperating partners freeze support. Your new position can potentially be worse than your situation before the IMF programme.

IMF PROGRAMME CAN FAIL

Once you sign to the programme, you must behave! It is strict discipline. You cannot start a course of Tuberculosis medicine and discontinue midway because of the inconvenience associated with it. I know the IMF programme can fail in Zambia if it is left to the government alone to manage it.
The only other critical player capable of helping the government implement the medicine for the full course of the programme is civil society. The IMF itself fully appreciates the role that civil society plays in ensuring government fully commits to the terms of the loan agreement. This is the reason Action Aid country Director Nalucha Ziba and colleagues are pushing for the Government and the IMF to fully disclose the terms of the agreement. Though I doubt there are any undisclosed information on the terms of agreement, I support the position taken by civil society that they should understand what has been agreed. This is because of the role that civil society will play going forward.

MONITORING PERFORMANCE

The IMF deal captures several areas that will define government focus and they basically form the terms of the agreement. For example, there will be need to rationalize subsidies on energy and agriculture, reform of non-performing parastatals, increase revenues, prudent expenditure, rationalise debt acquisition, transparency, and accountability in disbursement of social cash transfer, effective procurement systems and elimination of corruption. The IMF will closely monitor how government manages all these elements. These will form part of the milestones for further disbursement of funds.

One way IMF will monitor the behavior of government is through Ministry of Finance data, the periodic information that government agencies will release. The IMF, through its local office, will occasionally access media reports to ascertain the efficacy in the implementation of the terms of the agreement. For example, if there is any piece of information on corruption in government, IMF will take that as a lead to have responses from government. If there is a story saying elderly women in Kasama have not received social cash transfers for two months (possibly due to technical glitches), the IMF will want to have an explanation from government.

However, much of this feedback on the roll-out of the IMF progamme will come from civil society. The IMF has always engaged civil society in Zambia as part of the Article IV consultations. This engagement will deepen. Civil society will be the whistle blowers about any misbehaviour by government.

Civil society has its eyes everywhere, including in the communities. It is for this reason government and civil society will need to quickly orient themselves about what is expected of each other in the next three years and even beyond. The IMF deal will certainly succeed but with the full involvement of civil society.