Weekly Reflections with Dr. Mwelwa

Political parties must put all differences aside and work together to improve the image of this country, which is tarnishing rapidly. The citizens of this country deserve to live peacefully; it’s their democratic right to have a Government that can bring prosperity and peace in their daily lives. The corruption must stop. Too much name blaming is taking place in Zambia, and some are made publicly while the majority is hidden. All political party leaders must work together for the interest of all to move this country ahead. The majority of the population does not have a voice, or access of being heard. The violent situation is escalating, while our politicians are engaged in personal attacks. The population is feeling the effects. The elected politicians are just in office for their own political gains and motives, while the population is feeling marginalised and helpless. How will this nation move ahead? When will our leaders get the uncertainty situation under control? The bigges...

The Mkushi Regional Mining Bureau (MRMB) has bemoaned the escalating pattern of illegal mining activities taking place in both Mkushi and Luano districts. The foreigners aka foreign investors have continued to raid the wealth of Mkushi’s resources – our timber, gold, emeralds, lands, etc. – since 1945 when the natives where pushed eastwards into sand soils leaving the best of our land in the hands of the whites. And after they have enriched themselves and their chosen cronies – they now want to take over bedroom responsibilities. After many years, without the mention of any gold, the world knew that Mkushi was a treasure channel of mineral wealth. Additionally, the work ethic of the masses by far built the empires of the western exploiters. Yet the hardships inflicted on our people by all traders and investors, have driven, and continue to drive us from our native land. Mkushi does not need gold for its citizens to experience the good life now being touted as crumbs from the masters’...

The subject, mystery or significant of fair and appropriate representation in as far as governance is concerned is not a current phenomenon. This is true whether it is representation in form of figurative aspects ( such as stones ) or actual human beings. Although it is not my intention to present this important subject matter in form of an exhaustive Theological enquiry, I find it expedient to start by referring to Biblical scriptures. In Exodus 28:10 of the New International Version, the Bible states; “…in the order of their birth—six names on one stone and the remaining six on the other. 11 Engrave the names of the sons of Israel on the two stones the way a gem cutter engraves a seal. Then mount the stones in gold filigree settings 12 and fasten them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod as memorial stones for the sons of Israel. Aaron is to bear the names on his shoulders as a memorial before the Lord.” The scripture above shows that representation was in form of engraving tri...

There is promising evidence on social media improving transparency of organisations and government ministries, but less evidence on whether this improves accountability. As critical as this plan is, it poses challenges. How, for example, do we avoid putting legitimate activity at risk? Many human rights organizations commonly use Facebook to spread educational messages around the world. The wrong kind of transparency could put governance in real danger in many countries. But according to researchers, as well as screenshots of group chats from as recently as that I have read, these WhatsApp group chats frequently contain and disseminate false information and hateful rhetoric, much of which comes from forwarded messages. The challenges faced by WhatsApp are not limited to misinformation, but also the exploitation of personal data for political ends, mudslinging, character assassination and insults. Constituency-level volunteers popularly known as cadres, who often know many of the people...

1. Introductions 1.     The exact number of goats in Zambia is not known at the moment as there has been no research conducted to ascertain this fact. Goat farming is relatively a small business compared to cattle and or poultry farming. Goats are easy animals to look after as they can survive under harsh conditions. This write up is meant to benefit those contemplating goat farming as a business and has been necessitated by information gap in the rearing of goats. The writer is an entrepreneur and a budding small – to – medium livestock farmer who conducted a research to:   (i)                   Understand the available goat breeds in Zambia (ii)                 Get insights into the viability of management of goats as a business (iii)            ...

As an unpredictable general election approaches, some big names in politics can no longer be certain of holding onto their constituencies. And while we tend to find out a lot about candidates before polling day, we often hear little about what happens after members of parliament lose their seats. Defeated politicians suddenly lose a demanding, busy but valued role. Suddenly they are no longer relevant to any political debate. Their deeply cherished values and beliefs seem to have no place. To add insult to injury, many of the people receive very little or no acknowledgement of their contribution over the years in office – nor had any interest been shown in putting their skills and experience to good use, either to help their party or wider society. Former politicians often seem to disappear, for example, “Nobody seems to want to know you after and you just fade away…there are those skills that could be used to encourage other people.” The experience dislocating at best, but devasta...

Maturity when it comes to human growth and development is a stage whereby one learns to do things on his or her own. The self-evident ruin of being a crybaby is that it can be unacceptable and humiliating. It gets to be indeed more of a challenge after you have grown to be a parent and must begin driving by case. In the Bible, there is a quotation: “When I was a child, I spoke like a child; I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away my childish things.” These words could be used to reflect the general state of mind between mature and immature leadership in the country.   It is true that as children, we thought and reasoned as children, but when we grew up, we quit our childish ways. However, it appears that the leadership from both sides of the isle did not get the script. There comes a point in life when he or she is no longer a baby, toddler, teenager but an adult. A baby cannot be said to be mature in that it lacks capacity to use ...

One of the greatest threats facing peace and cohesion in the world today is disinformation. In recent years, the world has seen what havoc a sophisticated disinformation campaign can wreak – from enabling wholly unqualified persons to lead powerful countries to fuelling continued discontentment among the majority. Disinformation spreads quickest on the Internet and social media where alternate “facts” are peddled by “truth” merchants who have access to empirical data that the established media, relevant experts, principle actors and the universal laws of mathematics do not. Thanks to confirmation bias, persons are likely to only listen to the “facts” that support their already held views. This is catastrophic for highly partisan communities, particularly during moments of crisis during which all hands are needed. In a closely-knit society like Zambia’s, one of the most popular methods of sharing information is “He say, she say” – hearsay. This is problematic even for innocuous purposes...