Kasebamashila Kaseba
HOW UPND IS DUNUNA REVERSING ON CONSTITUTION, CYBER ACT, ATI FASTER AND WORSE THAN PF
— 20 (2) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution a law shall not make any provision that derogates from freedom of the press. —
— Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. U.S Constitution First Amendment —
Firstly, change of government, as say in the first 100 days and the rest of the term, is not change of persons, from EL to HH or personnel in the civil service but change of laws in Zambia change of the Constitution.
Zambia of UPND, MMD, PF and UPND inherited colonial or predecessors’ bad laws they maintained or worsened enjoyed than repealed.
For example, the Public Order Act or UNIP re-declaration and maintenance of State of Emergency.
Unfortunately, UPND like PF at its end has no law reform agenda at its beginnings.
UPND has not prioritised the draft Bill of Rights with stand-alone press freedom, stand-alone ATI article.
Instead, UPND has prioritised UPND media self regulation (self censorship) contrary to Article 20 (2) above.
In other words, the works of self regulation is against the Constitution as it stands in agreement with the US Constitution first amendment.
Otherwise, the best example of self regulation or self censorship is self-regulating and IBA-indepenfent ZNBC of PF doing damage especially to UPND denied the right of reply (now in the draft Bill of Rights) through “was not available by broadcast time” or “the phone went unanswered”.
Further, UPND government is pushing the agenda of UPND media self regulation when it is UPND itself and not media regulation and is using non media-trained Minister among others as part of and leading self regulation.
UPND is also working with some media NGOs that themselves rejected the PF NGO regulation or NGO self regulation.
That is how PF also enforced MMD’s SI 65 of 2011 through ZICTA enforced SIM Card regulation targeted at PF radio phone callers than protect citizens and their more expensive phones or gadgets.
UPND has changed its position on SIM card registration or regulation as well as Cyber Act.
Just as UPND is working contrary to its own Zambia Law Development Commission report (MMD and PF bequeathed) submission of the repeal of defamation of the President section 69.
Where the Constitution has clearly guaranteed of no derogations or crawbacks, UPND reneged to instead guarantee press freedom with the words of mouth of HH.
Where the PF sponsored draft bill of rights (UPND blocked in the 2016 referendum) even expressly provides for ATI, UPND wants its own UPND media self regulation.
Where the PF of EL in its early days lost a High Court judgement without appealing it when the judge expunged the Penal Section 67 on False news, UPND and HH seem to reinstate it especially and ironically at his two press conferences right under the media lights.
For where would a press be a press without freedom or access to information or democracy without press or a press accountable to government than vice versa?
Other political parties, democracies, IMF are watching with interest
the shrinkage of media space and UPND expanded press coverage or enjoyment of press freedom and expression or UPND derogation of press freedom by UPND media self regulation.
In the end, the ‘progress’ PF made in Constitutional and media law reforms, UPND media self-regulation has made regress or dununa reversed or donchi kubeba-ed to self-censorship worse and faster than PF and EL or MCS.