IRIN Focus on political clampdown

A government clampdown on perceived dissidents over the weekend could undermine Zambia’s fledging democratic culture ahead of general elections set for the year-end, political analysts told IRIN on Monday. They said the clampdown - the most extensive since President Frederick Chiluba invoked a temporary state of emergency after a failed military coup in 1997 - could also see international donor and investment flows to the impoverished southern African country slowing down. Lusaka police announced on Sunday that they had launched a manhunt for two opposition leaders and two newspaper journalists for criminally defaming the president. At the same time, the authorities ordered the closure of a private community radio station in the capital. Police secured a warrant for the arrest of Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) leaders Edith Nawakwi and Dipak Patel over the weekend after they accused Chiluba of misappropriating US $4 million that had been earmarked for maize imports. They also secured warrants for the arrest of editor Fred M’membe and reporter Biven Saluseki of ‘The Post’, a privately-owned daily, for repeating the alleged libel. M’membe was initially arrested last Friday, but was released by a Lusaka court on a technicality. Neither M’membe nor the other three suspects had been arrested by Sunday evening, and ‘Post’ officials said the two journalists had gone into hiding. If convicted, the four could be imprisoned for up to three years. Some media watchers see the government’s actions as an attempt to divert attention from a growing crisis within the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) and to slow down the opposition’s increasingly strident electoral campaign. “This action by the police, based on an obnoxious and archaic law ... which forbids criticism of the President under the guise of ‘Defamation of the President’, is a further indication of the declining political atmosphere in the country as we approach the presidential, parliamentary and local government elections. The executive is stifling free expression of views and opinions using the police,” Zambia Independent Media Association chairman Masautso Phiri told IRIN. The association said that the government’s ban of Radio Phoenix, the country’s oldest and most influential community broadcaster - purportedly because it had not renewed its operating license - was intended to limit opposition coverage. That was a view shared by the Non-governmental Organisations Coordinating Committee (NGOCC), an umbrella body of civil society organisations. “The arrest of ‘Post’ managing editor Fred M’membe on Friday 17th August 2001 and the closure of Radio Phoenix today 19th August goes to confirm our fears that the MMD government is corrupt ... that is why they do not want to be exposed. The ‘Post’ and Radio Phoenix (to some extent) have been the only voice of the citizens and it has been the only mechanism of having more information than from the state orchestrated propaganda. This clampdown means citizens will be denied information on the true status of this country,” NGOCC said in a statement released on Sunday. The ruling party, which rose to power on a wave of popular appeal in historic multiparty elections 10 years ago, has seen a sharp reversal of its political fortunes in recent months. A campaign by party hardliners to manipulate the electoral process and allow Chiluba to run for an unconstitutional third term early this year split the party, with several cabinet members quitting and forming the opposition FFD. Now, with the general elections due any time between November and March 2001, the MMD is yet to name a new presidential candidate. Meanwhile, several of the major opposition parties have named their presidential flag bearers and are already running aggressive nationwide campaigns. The campaigning has become increasingly strident in recent weeks partly due to startling new evidence of official excess. The mud slinging reached a crescendo last month after a High Court found two members of the cabinet guilty of diverting two billion kwacha (about US $555,500) from the government’s coffers. Since then, Chiluba’s opponents have publicly accused him and his ministers of graft. But while they agree that the authorities are deliberately targeting the opposition, some government opponents believe that irresponsible action by the government’s opponents may be forcing it into a hard-line stance. For example, two opposition parties - Heritage Party, led by former vice-president Godfrey Miyanda and the National Citizens Coalition, led by tele-evangelist Nevers Mumba, have condemned some of their colleagues for their “dirty” campaigning. They, and other observers, fear that recent actions by some opposition parties and the anti-government media may have given the embattled government a timely excuse to stifle its opponents. “If they tried to renew the license and they were stopped, then we condemn the government for having with-drawn the license,” Inter-African Network for Human Rights and Development’s (Afronet) Muleya Mwananyanda said of Radio Phoenix. “They should have ensured that they gave the government no opportunity to take such a drastic action against them since they know that they are perceived to be anti-government.”