“And if it is a fear you would dispel, the seat of that fear is in your
heart and not in the hand of the feared.”
- Kahlil Gibran
- Kahlil Gibran
Well, not too long ago
a journalist friend asked me what I think of the obtaining democratic space in the
country. My answer was simply that, “perhaps, we don’t need democracy!” And
this is because, when one comparatively observes the presently obtaining
practice of democracy to that in the past, one is left with a cold chill up his
or her spine. It is a parody of democratic practice!
The fact that one organized
his or her party, campaigned and voted freely (or not so acceptably freely) in
September 2011, is evidence enough that at least the government adhered to the fundamental
principles of democracy. Respect for human rights, and in particular the right to
choice (personal liberty) and, freedoms of expression, movement, assembly and
association.
In arguing this, I am
also aware of the fact that in 2011 there were instances of disrespect of
freedom of expression, and assembly. Disrespect of freedom of assembly, being mostly
through use of the Public Order Act by the police to deny assembly for
political party campaigns.
Thus, for instance, the
2011 CSEC election Report observes that of a total of 770 political campaign events
observed, only 4.3 percent cases of denial of freedom to assemble were recorded,
with “no incidents of denial observed in Northern and
Western provinces”[1].
But interestingly and ironically,
the Report also notes, “As a proportion of the total observed political
campaign events, the right to hold an event does not evidence any critical
incidents, but for marginal incidents for MMD (1.9%), PF (0.9%) and UPND(0.9%).”
The party in power was
also denied the right to assemble![2] A case of police non-partisanship
and professionalism? Maybe.
Anyway, Plato,
observes, “Tyranny naturally arises out of democracy”, and I cannot fault him. This
is mostly because in our impoverished country, the most people know about
democracy is “euphorically and sometimes dementedly shouting the need to vote
for their candidates”, waiting to vote and voting.
That democracy, in
addition to the holding of periodic elections by universal suffrage, is also
founded on respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, is alien to most
of our people.
This is unfortunate and
a serious mockery of democracy. Perhaps, nobody (CSOs included) teaches the
general populace of the link between respect for human rights and fundamental
freedoms, and their ability to assemble and communicate the ideals of their
preferred candidate or political party.
An election does not
occur in a vacuum. That one is able to vote freely is evidence of one’s ability
to express themselves on who should represent them and why. This is linked to
the fulfillment of freedom of choice or the right to personal liberty. It is
also linked to freedoms of conscience, expression, assembly and association, and
movement.
Further, for there to
be elections in a democracy there has to be groups of individuals (political
parties)[3] competing
to be chosen by the people to rule on
their behalf. To do this, they need to freely exercise their fundamental
rights and freedoms. This is because they need to both organize themselves as a
political party, and to communicate their ideals to their members and the
general populace.
Clearly, the present government’s unequivocal resurgence of exercise of repressive colonial laws (in
particular the Public Order Act) that negate fundamental rights and freedoms
critical to a democracy is making citizens impotent with respect to participating
in their own governance.
We must understand that
human rights as proclaimed in the Constitution of Zambia and international
instruments are simply a socio-political and economic contract between the
citizenry and the government. In this contract, the government is compelled not
do to something against its citizenry (like not to impinge on freedom of
expression, assembly and association). The citizenry on the other hand is compelled
not to do something that can likely constrain the government in its pursuits of
its obligations, in so far as there is no State failure.
Today, we are in a catch-22.
Media reports of people trying to hear a political party’s message, being beaten
up; political parties being denied the right to assemble; and, international
human rights observer Reports providing evidence of escalation in human rights abuses
is certainly clear evidence that the government is not meeting its part of the human
rights bargain.
Undoubtedly, the
understanding that respect for human rights and democracy are mutually
reinforcing, and are a precondition and foundation of democracy is not only
lost on the current government, but also on us the people.
In hindsight, thus,
like I said in the beginning, perhaps, we don’t need democracy. But we should
know that the consequences can be terrible. There will be breakdown of
acceptable democratic governance, and increased civil and political
dissent.
Is this what we desire
as a country? The answer is no. Our plea to the government of the day is that acts
that are criminalising the right of a
people to freely assemble or dissent should be stopped. We plead, as we also
know that the most manifest dark side of democracy is legitimised illegal acts.
Ora pro nobis.
[1] Civil Society Election Coalition (CSEC) 2011 Election
Report, Zambia, December 2011. Section 5.2.4 Freedom of Assembly).
[2] This is
not the only ironical incident observed. The CSEC Report also notes, “.. observed incidents of use of Government resources for
campaign purposes occurred in 31 constituencies. Fifty-eight point one percent(58.1%)
of the incidents were observed at MMD campaign events, with those observed at
PF and UPND events constituting 16.1% and 12.9% respectively.”
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