RELEASE NAKACINDA: STOP ABUSING THE SEDITION CHARGE
It seems the Zambia Police Service has discovered a new word, a new charge called “sedition”. They are using this to detain and arrest Mr Hakainde Hichilema’s political opponents without method or plan.
The definition of sedition seems to elude the police and they have made it include every conceivable statement that an opposition politician makes that they do not like or do not agree with. What is seditious about one claiming that the police are intending to arrest citizen X? Even if they do not do so, what is criminal about that? What is seditious about that? Is that something a citizen should be sent to prison for? Or is it something that the police can’t refute, if that is not the correct position, and the matter ends there?
This definitely violates the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression and speech. Freedom of expression or speech cannot only be limited or is not just about what is acceptable to those in power or what is right. It also includes what is not acceptable to them, even what is factually incorrect. If citizens lose the right of saying something factually incorrect in the public domain, then freedom of expression and of speech in this country amounts to zero – if not negative.
There is nowhere in this world where people do not get things wrong. Even the police do not get everything right all the time. That is why the police lose so many cases in court because they do not get everything right. For an act to be criminal, there must be malice aforethought. Where is the malice aforethought in this? Where is the intention to commit a crime in this? This is the case of Mr Raphael Nakacinda. What was criminal about Mr Nakacinda saying there is an intention to arrest Mr Edgar Lungu? Can this really be a crime for which somebody should go to prison? Isn’t this something that can easily be rebutted by the police in the manner they have already done, and it ends there?
In any case, how many times have the police issued statements that are wrong or totally false? The Inspector General of Police, Mr Graphael Musamba issued a false statement against me, but was he arrested or detained? Was he ever prosecuted? How many false statements has Mr Hichilema’s rogue media channels Koswe and Zambian Watchdog issued? Who has been arrested from Koswe or Zambian Watchdog? Is it because they are from State House, so they are immune? This overzealousness and selective handling of the matters by the police is purely uncalled for.
We sincerely believe the police are being heavy-handed on Mr Nakacinda and other opposition political leaders of this country, and this heavy-handedness, if not stopped, will backfire badly. Let the police tame their excitement and realise that they are dealing with a deeply frustrated, distressed, and polarized society. They must not be fooled by the smiles they are seeing on the streets, the Zambians are living in pain, they are hurting and suffering inside, for numerous reasons, among them being, the high cost of living, loadshedding, unemployment, loss of business, unstable fuel prices, hunger, starvation etc. So, let us be civilised and humane with the way we treat one another amidst these difficulties.
Fred M’membe
Prresident of the Socialist Party
RELEASE NAKACINDA: STOP ABUSING THE SEDITION CHARGE- Fred M’membe
