Recently, the nation woke up to an alarming headline in ex-convict, Richard Sakala’s Daily Nation tabloid declaring thus, “UN sanctions Zambia for rights violations!”
The thrust of this outrageously misleading story was obviously hankered on Emmanuel Mwamba’s (a senior former diplomat in the previous regime) ranting on his Facebook page entitled, “Zambia Removed from the United Nations Human Rights Council.”
In the same offering, Mwamba blatantly and willfully claims that President Hichilema’s stranglehold on the legislature and the judiciary, his government’s attack on democracy, and enabling a shrinking democratic space and the flagrant abuse of human rights especially by the Zambia Police has earned Zambia a boot out of the United Nations Human Rights Council!
As has become fashionable for political upstarts in this country, without taking care to verify the authenticity of this information, another excitable individual, Harry Kalaba, who also happens to have served as the country’s foreign affairs minister, but now struggling to put together a political outfit called Citizens First, immediately jumped on the bandwagon and issued the following misleading statement: “It’s very sad that our country once known as a shining example of a budding democracy that respects human rights is now being relegated to the cesspool of a human rights abuser.”
As the purveyors of such falsehoods gathered around mahogany tables enjoying Cappuccino and patted themselves on their backs for having scored cheap political goes intended to inflict damage on the New Dawn Administration, the United Nations in Zambia responded, fire brigade style, and issued the following statement:
“The United Nations in Zambia notes an inaccurate and misleading story carried in the 13th January 2025 edition of the Daily Nation newspaper alleging that the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHCR) has blacklisted Zambia for alleged failure to uphold human rights standards.”
A check on the United Nations website by this author revealed that there are 47 UNHCR member states of which 13 are African, namely: Cameroon, Eritrea, Gabon, the Gambia, Libya, Malawi, Mauritania, Namibia, Senegal, Sudan, Algeria and Benin.
Since we love to argue with facts, we further took the trouble to study the report on the evaluation of UNHCR candidates for 2025-2027. This report reviews candidate countries seeking election to the UN Human Rights Council for the 2025-2027 term in the vote slated to be held at the General Assembly on October 9, 2024.
The report established that 5 out 19 candidates have poor records and therefore do not qualify: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bolivia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia.
On the other hand, 7 candidates had problematic human rights and/or UN voting records: Benin, Colombia, Gambia, Kenya, Mexico, Macedonia and Thailand.
Out of the 19 candidate countries, only 7 qualified to be Council members: Cyprus, Czech Republic, Iceland, Marshall Islands, South Korea, Spain and Switzerland. A full report is available on the UN website.
What do we make of all this?
In his desperate attempts to win favours in the eyes of ba Lungu, Mwamba has reduced himself to a demagogue…..an alarmist; daily concocting and spewing out falsehoods against President Hichilema ‘s government! What our former diplomat has resorted to doing is no longer politics but actually borders on criminality that may set this country on fire; the earlier he’s caged the better! What he is doing actually amounts to seditious practices with a potential to promote rebellion, insurrection, or violence against a duly elected government.
As political/social analysts who critically observe and analyse activities taking place in this country, we are duty bound to report Mwamba to the police for seditious practices so that he can stop whatever he’s doing. Maybe that constitutes part of their PLAN B….only God knows.
Prince Bill M. Kaping’a
Political/Social Analyst
We need patriots, and yellow journalist Mwamba is not one such. As a trained journalist, he should have cared to verify the authenticity of the story.
This fuuul has damaged reputation of LT.
I scrolled down and I saw it’s another demagogue, a dangerous man to our justice system.
It is know that what Emmanuel Mwamba writes are usually untrue, yet he is published by LT. Why?
LT you are running the risk of losing credibility.
What all politicians say in Zambia is usually untrue: Examples abound. Just go to LT archives and you can see people promise appreciation of the Kwacha right after swearing in.
The Kwacha has fallen like an elephant before a Kafue national park poacher.
UNHCR is United Nations High Commission for Refugees. The one we are talking about here is UNCHR, United Nations Commission for Human Rights. That said, unverified sensationalist intentionally misleading fake news is a threat on many lavels.
Alternatively UNHRC
If Mwamba called Kaping’a a demagogue, He( Mwamba) was going to summoned by police for hate speech.
Stop hallucinating. The story here is about alarmist Mwamba.
#upnd cadre… you start living reality. All provincial police commissioners are now from your tribe. God doesn’t go to sleep. You will remember these words.
The man who has time to note every GRZ appointment according to tribe …….
I’ve always thought of this Prince Bill Kapinga as a demagogue so he as well sees other people as demagogue’s?
@Prince Bill M. Kaping’a, Most patriotic Zambians are willing to second your proposal of reporting Richard Sakala (former convict), Emmanuel Mwamba and Harry Kalaba to be reported to Zambia Police.
Reasons:- Seditious practices with a potential to promote rebellion and insurrection against the state. By peddling and printing falsehood against a dully elected government without verification of contents being published endagering Zambian nation.
Most?
Look up the word sir. Not in present day Zed. UPND has lost support
Ka Emmanuel Muamba wa Kasai uzisunge wena, baza kushuta monga Paul Tembo you notorious bigoted sxx pervert
Mwamba is an effective operator………
I kind of admire his work……
His problem is he is supporting theives and people who are in politics to enrich themselves, in any way possible…….
He is another one who would do well joining UPND and working to develop Zambia, instead of…….
Trying to inhibit development through negative propaganda
FWD2031
DEmagogue by Kapinga’s definition i a politician in the opposition. Why can’t he call the Equally blabbermouthing team at ministry of Mweetwa demagogues? They have been as busy with their lying partisan mouths 24/7.
And UPND vuvuzela Kapinga can’t see them!
Mwamba + LT = baboons
That’s why I don’t read LT much …full of rubbish reporting
Yah you prefer insults uncensored the way you lead them at ZO
In your own small brain the only thing you can think of is to cage everyone who speaks against your failed administration, Zambians are watching you from the terraces you and your HH you shall be the ones in that cage you are always preaching just wait for a little while it’s just a matter of time, so go ahead and keep on persecuting them it’s your time while other people’s time is also coming, just be ready and embrace yourselves when it comes.