The Media statement of August 24, 2012 by Kennedy Sakeni (Chief Government Spokesperson and Minister of Information and Broadcasting) in response to Hakainde Hichilema’s statement dated the same day, is a statement that intelligence necessitates should be attributable to a political party functionary.
That it is, attributed to a Government Spokesperson and Minister, is surely a microcosm of ineptness in reasoning the relationship between the State and an individual. A Government spokesperson or Minister is a State Actor, and hence in so being acts in the interest of the State. The State or a State Actor can not deride an individual or citizen in a manner that serves to degrade an individual’s integrity or standing in society as is evidenced from this Statement. Such a Statement, however, irrespective of its content may be acceptable within competing political players.
If it where that Hakainde Hichilema’s statement was of a nature that can be construed a threat to the public interest (which was not (though may depend on which side of the pendulum one is sitting)), then Kennedy Sakeni should know that there are several laws in the Penal Code Act Chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambia that the State can use to protect the public interest. These include offences against public order or public tranquillity.
Without seeming to bemock Kennedy Sakeni, it is undoubtedly clear that much has to be done in this country to make Government representatives understand the underlying principles of the relationship between the State and an individual. The best Kennedy Sakeni could have done is to submit unambiguously why Hakainde Hichilema’s statement was a misrepresentation of fact relative to the PF government’s performance. If this, he could not do, then he could have requested that his Party’s spokesperson issues a statement. And not, him, a State Actor!
http://www.zambianwatchdog.com/2012/08/25/sakenis-response-to-hh/comment-page-2/#comment-476196
http://www.zambianwatchdog.com/2012/08/24/hh-outlines-satas-one-year-of-dictatorship-lies-corruption-under-performance-nepotism/]
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