Africa-Press – Zambia. The Zambia Police arrest of KBN’s Journalist Petty Chanda for “destroying evidence”–the source of the leaked audio between State House Aide Levy Ngoma and Home Affairs Permanent Secretary Joseph Akafumba–is a major act of cowardice from the New Dark Regime. Aside from being implicated in this corrupt conspiracy, President HH is spending sleepless nights wondering what other information she may have. Who is the mole? With the entire house on fire, and pants down, intimidation is the machiavellian key to ensuring political control even when one is dead afraid. Yet Ms. Chanda exposed a crime, which in a noble nation should have earned her respect. But not in Ballycountry where the President claims to be democratic, but then leads an onslaught of vicious campaigns against freedom of expression. Ms. Chanda is arrested to bully her into silence, and to send a message to other journalists–don’t expose President HH’s corruption and expect to walk free. Yet in democratic nations, shouts for HH’s resignation will be heard across all political spectrums.
As with cadres, wako ni wako appointments, politically motivated arrests and prosecutions, the administration says one thing, and does the other. It is a waste of time to pay attention to what it says in public–one is better served to watch its actions to understand its deadly dark agenda. It is this truth that that audio revealed–the grand agenda of the global-trotting “democracy and human rights upholding” singing President, whose own home agenda is to corrupt the courts, the Police, and all branches of government, and ultimately to kill democracy!
Freedom of expression and of the Press are the pillars of democracy. A democratic nation ought to protect journalists as opposed to hunting them down. Autocratic governments only expect journalists to support it, and lock up those who oppose it. We are not far from it. Ms. Chanda’s leaked audio does not break any law aside from exposing the President’s true colors–he is corrupt! Hence I find the arrest uncalled for, and the violation of human rights. Ms. Chanda has a moral duty to protect her sources–thus expecting her to give the police this information is abusing her rights and professional ethics. But it is also a crime. The source could easily sue KBN if the agreement was that the name would not be revealed.
The police want to hide behind the Cyber Law–but unjust laws are immoral to be obeyed. Again, didn’t HH himself denounce that Bill? So why knowingly enforce something you know to be unjust? As for privacy, these persons are public officials discussing an issue of public interest–thus the privacy concern does not apply. Besides, if you have information about someone trying to kill me, would you keep it to yourself or would you inform me and relevant authorities? Assuming authorities are compromised, would you provide that evidence to them or post it on social media so as to make it harder for authorities to ignore? Moreover, the media industry is always in competition. Scoops or breaking stories first is an important credibility element in journalism–hence once the story is confirmed as credible, the Network is quick to break it first! These are some of the ethical judgements KBN had to make–they chose to provide the evidence to the public since the information was abuse of power, a conspiracy to undermine democracy and of public interest. So the issue of how the journalist got the audio is immaterial!
Importantly, President HH, and not the journalist, should be on trial! Levy indicated that he had discussed the issue with HH and Nalumango. To ask for Levy and Akafumba’s heads is unfair. Rather we need answers to the issues raised in the audio. When did Levy meet with the President and the Vice President? When did he meet with the Registrar of Societies and others? How about Mr. Nshindano? What does he know? How about the letter? Did the President abuse his power? We need answers to these questions–they are central to democracy. Unfortunately, we don’t expect HH to investigate himself. Neither the Registrar, nor other individuals involved in this scandal–they owe their lives to President HH. Firing them won’t give us the truth, but knowing what transpired will. This is the only way to stop the New Dark Regime from corrupting public offices while claiming to fight corruption!
I am afraid that President HH’s nepotism and cronyism is exploding. People with integrity are demeaned as “infected,” among them is a Mr. Nshindano, who without this audio would have lost his job for upholding our laws. Such individuals are losing their jobs, and replaced with criminals affiliated with the New Dark cartel. The cleansing of the Civil Service which has happened under the New Dark Regime is now explained–it is getting rid of the “infected”–the negative term that demands further investigation by itself. It is immoral to entertain the thought that some of our own citizens could be termed “infected.” Thanks be to God–the secret is finally out!
It is on all of us to hold President HH to account for his role in this scandal. We shouldn’t be fooled into viewing him as incorruptible–thanks to the courageous Journalist, we now have it before us. The President directed someone to knowingly commit a crime to enhance his political power. It is a clear violation of the law. The police shouldn’t be investigating the poor journalist or KBN–it is not a crime to expose the corruption of the President. We cannot investigate Levy and Akafumba, without accessing cellphones and computer communication of all accomplices identified in this scandal. Sadly, Ballypolice, Ballyacc, and Ballycourts only exist to torture heroes like Ms. Chanda, while criminals fly around the globe to take pictures with white people as with gods! The good news is, we have one sound case for future prosecutions once HH leaves Power!
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