ZAMBIA LISTED AMONG 34 COUNTRIES WORLDWIDE THAT EXPERIENCED DIGITAL AUTHORITATIVE RULE

 


By Alfonso Kasongo 

The shutdown of internet to block access to social media during the 2021 general election has earned Zambia a slot among 34 countries worldwide that experienced digital authoritative rule last year.

According to a research conducted by Keep It On ,182 internet shutdowns from 34 countries were last year recorded and are documented.

Sadly 19 of the 34 countries are African countries, an indication of the return of the digital authoritatism.

The report  discloses that the Zambian authorities shutdown the Internet during the the tight 2021 general election to block access to social media platforms which  include among others WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
 
The report however ,suggests that the country experienced digital authoritative rule which undermined the democracy of the country. 
 
It further notes with pleasure that the shut down was fought swiftly by Chapter One Foundation through the court of law and that the High  Court ruling remains a precedented in the fight against digital authoritarian rule.

Meanwhile the report commends the civil society organisations in Africa for the role they continue to play against digital shut downs on the continent. 

Comments

Francis Maingaila said…
The article has two factual errors, cyber platform is new in the world and the authorities are trying to restrict it because they don't want people to meet there and gossip. Today the internet shut is a return of internet authoritative rule is not correct. The best expression cluks have been the emergence of internet authoritative rumw would be correct.


The report from which the story was grown does my tell the cause for the internet shut down. To make the conclude that internet shit down was meant for internet authoritative is wrong
May 15, 2022 at 5:56 AM
THE EDITORIAL NEWS said…
Maingaila, the title of the report is " Internet shutdowns in 2021: the return of digital authoritarianism" so what is it that you want to mislead people as we just. quote the report
May 15, 2022 at 9:17 AM
Francis Maingaila said…
Kindly clarify, how is the digital authoritarian return when it has no th gone any where??? It can only be a return if and only when it had gone for some reasons and has come with a full false whi h unfortunately l, is not the case at the moment. What is the issue at the moment is the authoritarian rulers trying to interfere with the operation of the internet
May 15, 2022 at 10:48 AM
THE EDITORIAL NEWS said…
Don't bring your analysis and your feelings in the news report, it is not me to justify the facts in of the report.
According to the report Zambia is among the 34 countries that shut the Internet in 2021 and the report clarified that all these incidents demonstrate the return of digital authoritism
So challenges the report itself.
We will not bring our feelings in our reporting and we will remain objective, factual and we will not be intimated by people like you who want to bring person feelings to news reports.
We know you have been against the theme of this year's press freedom, especially on the sub theme digital journalism under surveillance.
We advise you to challenge the report itself than what we have published
May 15, 2022 at 11:13 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ZAAB QUESTIONS GOVERNMENT'S SILENCE ON PBR BILL

Image
  ZAAB QUESTIONS  GOVERNMENT'S SILENCE ON PBR BILL  By Alfonso Kasongo  A collaborative network of concerned citizens, civil society groups, faith and farmer-based organisations, working together to strengthen the growing movement for agroecology and food sovereignty has questioned government's failure to avail the proposed new Plant Breeders Rights (PBR) Bill.  Zambia Alliance for Agroecology and Biodiversity (ZAAB) maintains that controversial Bill is inappropriate for the country and must not be enacted as it aligns the country to the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) 1991 standards. The Consortium fears that once proposed PBR Bill is enacted in its current form, the new seed law may trigger price increase and corporate capture of seeds, as well as  country's food system.  The Alliance argues that government through the Seed Control  Certification Institute SCCI  has never presented the actual changes and amendments in the draft PBR
Read more

ZAMBIA'S CLIMATE FINANCING UTILISATION LACKS TRANSPARENCY, ACCOUNTABILITY

Image
ZAMBIA'S CLIMATE FINANCING UTILISATION LACKS TRANSPARENCY,  ACCOUNTABILITY ...hence prone to corruption risks,posing threats against building climate change resilience, TIZ report reviews. By Alfonso Kasongo Zambia's quest to remain climate change resilient might veer off course, if gaps such as weak climate regulatory frameworks, corruption risks and lack of transparency in the management of climate financing remain unaddressed. Ànd tackling of how the country supports mitigation and adaptation to climate change remain critical to building resilience to the worst effects. Climate resilient is generally defined as successfully copying with and managing the impacts of climate change while preventing those impacts from growing worse. This year's unprecedented global temperatures and stark devastating of climate change stress the urgency requirement for Zambia and many other countries to build climate resilience, hence the need for strong regulatory framework and transparency
Read more