Throughout the year 2021, Zambia experienced no shortage of disappointments and set backs in the political landscape. Yet there are some individuals and institutions whose actions, courage and principles offered hope and inspiration in a year that was dominated by a historic vote that saw the defeat of incumbent president Edgar Lungu and the election...

Today marks exactly 100 days since Hakainde Hichilema was inaugurated as president of Zambia. After a decade and half in opposition, the leader of the United Party for National Development (UPND) defeated the incumbent Edgar Lungu in elections on 12 August 2021. He took office 12 days later. Hichilema’s successful election campaign was aided by...

On 21 October 2021, Zambia’s main opposition Patriotic Front (PF) scooped the Kaumbwe parliamentary election in Petauke district, Eastern Province, defeating four other political parties – namely, the governing United Party for National Development (UPND), the Socialist Party (SP), the Democratic Party (DP) and the Party for National Unity and Progress (PNUP) – and two...

In April 1952, a 26-year old man stood before the Northern Rhodesia Chief Justice, who had been asked by the Attorney General to consider whether this young man was ‘a danger to peace and good order’ and whether he had been ‘inciting Africans against Europeans’. The judge was further asked to consider whether he found...

The last few days have seen mounting calls from many Zambians for President Hakainde Hichilema to dismiss senior civil servants appointed by his predecessor. Those behind these calls argue that such officials cannot be relied upon to implement the new president’s vision because they were either complicit in the worst excesses of the previous administration...

If Zambia descends into large-scale political unrest after the 12 August 2021 general election, there are three major factors that would have driven the country to that outcome. These include the public’s increasing lack of trust in (and outright contempt for) formal institutions – like the Judiciary, the Electoral Commission of Zambia and the police...

Because of our close friendship, Andrew Sardanis many times asked me to speak at his funeral. I always gave the same response: that I would do so provided the need to do so was delayed as long as possible. On 28 February 2021, 13 days before what would have been his 90th birthday, Danae, his...

In response to my column, ‘Class of 2020: Zambians who gravely disappointed last year’, the board of Chapter One Foundation took issue with my inclusion and criticism of the actions of its executive director, Linda Kasonde. In an article dated 28 January 2021 and signed by Sara Longwe, the board chairperson, the advocacy organisation exercised...

Minister of Home Affairs Stephen Kampyongo Stephen Kampyongo is a kind of person Adolf Hitler would have loved to have been in charge of his police – someone who will willfully torture themselves to advance what they believe are the interests of the Fuehrer because they cannot countenance any life with real economic opportunities outside...

UN Resident Coordinator Coumba Mar Gadio Diplomats are international citizens. For the period they are in Zambia, they are actually Zambians. They are the eyes and ears of the world in Zambia. Their job is to objectively shine light on what is happening in the country. If they keep quiet, the world will think everything...