Speaking upon his return to Zambia from the AU conference in Addis, President Edgar Lungu asked the nation to bare with him as his government investigates the fire that gutted Lusaka City Market recently. “If it means taking measures which are unprecedented we will do just that, some people will have to lose their rights....

The headline is no exaggeration: the war on cannabis currently being waged by the Drug Enforcement Commission and Zambian judges and magistrates is completely insane and deeply immoral. Consider the sad case of Shakapeter Mzumala, a 52-year-old security guard in Chipata. Mr Mzumala was caged by DEC in September 2016 for “trafficking in 2.5 grams...

Imagine sitting in your living room watching TV and noticing someone outside looking in your window. How would you feel? What if that stranger is looking in the bedroom window at you and your lover? What if that stranger is a police officer, a judge, a pastor? What if they are getting ready to pounce...

Cultural conservatism is once again rearing its ugly head in Zambia, in strange and somewhat contradictory ways. First there was that bizarre bit of  news, which we later heard was fake, where Zambia Police spokeswoman Esther Katongo was accused of issued a statement that police will start arresting any members of the public found to...

Rastafari have become a common sight in Zambia, easily identified by their dreadlocks, “Rasta rainbow” colours, and their entrepreneurship as artists, musicians, and painters. While this “new religious movement” began in Jamaica in the 1930s, the roots of Rastafari are deeply embedded in Africa. Anyone familiar with Rastas know they are peace-loving and god-fearing people....

Question: How can a nation self-declared as “Christian” sentence a woman to death on the anniversary of the execution of the Messiah? This is not a rhetorical question, but a serious moral and intellectual exercise for anyone who holds to the notions of justice, forgiveness, redemption, and treating others as you wish yourself treated. On...

“I have no particular love for the idealized “worker” as he appears in the bourgeois Communist’s mind, but when I see an actual flesh-and-blood worker in conflict with his natural enemy, the policeman, I do not have to ask myself which side I am on.” ― George Orwell As a Member of Parliament, Garry Nkombo...

To my mind, the strongest reason to overturn cannabis prohibition is on moral grounds. Caging millions of non-violent people worldwide for cultivating, distributing, or consuming a natural plant is clearly not the best way to achieve social well-being in most countries. This applies especially well to Zambia, considering we have caged more than 17,000 people...

US President Donald Trump has a significant fanbase here in Africa. This is due in part to his populist rhetoric, as African voters are similarly disillusioned with neoliberalism and “politics as usual”. During last year’s election, Trump’s outsider image was a serious advantage against Hillary Clinton, who was arguably the most establishment-friendly presidential candidate in...

I love salaula shopping. Not only is it one of my favourite things to do in Lusaka, but also I have taken people―including the reviewer from Lonely Planet travel guides―on tours of the Lumumba road area specifically to share what I call the “Salaula Experience”. I firmly believe that the thousands of traders plying their...