The
presidents change, the Members of Parliament come and go but the dull ache of
predictability that accompanies intimidation and arrests of people who oppose government
stays the same. If there is anything that one would hope for are the changes in
the way we do our politics and in the promotion of the rule of law.
Last
time it was President Michael Sata when he was in opposition, this time, it is Dr.
Nevers Mumba, leader of the opposition Movement for Multi-party president
(MMD), and who knows; next time, it might be me, you or someone else. Do
politicians ever learn from their own experiences? It seems they don’t. If they
did, we would not be seeing Dr. Mumba and seven other members of his party
being arrested by the state police for what has been termed “unlawful assembly”.
Experts have described these arrests as being politically motivated although
Government through the official spokesperson and Minister of Information, Hon.
Kennedy Sakeni has denied these allegations saying the police “are professionals”
who do not receive instructions from anyone.
It
is easy to see that the police are acting under instructions from the executive
as this is coming few months after the abduction and deportation of a Catholic
priest of Rwandese origin. Father Viateur Banyangandora, 40, was in August this
year deported without being given a chance to defend himself. Reasons for
expelling him have not been made public but the Minister of Home Affairs, Mr. Edgar
Lungu, issued a statement saying his “conduct was found to be a danger to peace
and good order in Zambia”. The Government has since revoked the deportation
order after relentless pressure from the Church, Members of Parliament and some
civil rights groups. According to sources at his parish in
Lundazi, some 800 kilometres east of the capital, his Sunday homily “was about
the haves sharing with the have nots as the readings of the day were saying”.
When the Patriotic Front formed
Government, expectations were high. The nation really thought that things would
change for the better and that the nation, under the PF Government, was poised
for a major take off on all fronts. But with
the arrest and charging of Mr. Nevers Mumba with unlawful assembly, one wonders
where the country is heading to. According to media reports, Dr. Mumba, who is
president of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD), was arrested by the
Zambian police on 10 December, during a visit to Kitwe on the Copperbelt.
Police accused Dr. Mumba of “unlawful assembly” and “conduct likely to breach
the peace.” The eight arrested have since spent two nights in police
custody.
This
has left many people wondering whether what they voted for was (real) change or
alteration in personalities but old tactics of using the police to silence
opponents go. While in opposition, President Michael Sata made a forceful
appeal to the Zambians to vote for him because he was coming to change the way
we do our politics. But from what we are seeing, nothing is changing in the way
the rule of law is being administered.
Mr.
Sata should be reminded that when the people of Zambia elected him on 20
September 2011, they wanted the Patriotic Front (PF) to entrench a democratic
culture, create jobs, improve the earning capacity of the ordinary people,
eradicate corruption and promote of the rule of law. Under the 20-year rule of the MMD Government,
it had become apparent that poor governance, mismanagement and endemic
corruption had become the order of the day.
Soon after his election as Zambia’s fifth
president, Mr. Sata, a practicing Catholic sounded a good start when he vowed
to lead a clean Government which he would govern according to the “Ten
Commandments” - though it has never really been explained what “governing
according to the Ten Commandments of the Bible” means.
The initial steps of the new PF
Government were encouraging. The move by the new President, Michael Sata, to
unconditionally release the Barotseland activists arrested by the previous MMD
Government was one such laudable positive step towards entrenching confidence
in the respect for human rights. President Sata received deserved praise for
pardoning 22 activities.
President Sata went a step further and
appointed a leading Human Rights lawyer, Dr. Rodger Chongwe to head a
Commission of Inquiry that would look into the grievances of the Barotseland
activists -leading to the Mongu Riots. The tragic events
of Barotseland in the Western Province culminated into violence, injuries and
the loss of 2 lives on 14 January 2011. This was as a result of the Zambia
Police opening live ammunition on a defenceless crowd of people. Several
Barotseland activities were detained in the aftermath.
The Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) has
since raised the flag to the worrying governance emerging under the Patriotic
Front Government. The lawyers through their umbrella association have described
what is happening as a “breakdown of rule of law”.
Independent
observers have called on the Government to devote their time to fighting
poverty and joblessness as opposite to waging war against individuals.
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