Oh, so they rioted!

The fact is, I am not one that keeps quite when the rights of another are tramped on. I am a firm believer in human rights, and civil liberties. I believe the freer we are as individuals to exercise our individuality the better we become as communities.

Top of the list of civil liberties is the right to free speech and association and all such things as rights to assembly –including right to protest. However, the months September, October and November in my view witnessed some of the most illogical protests in Zambia.

Agreed, everyone has the right to choose their own path and make decisions as they please, however, some of the reasons advanced for protesting left me wondering and asking if this had been a misuse of freedom. I mean, how would you explain students rioting because they heard that a secretary general of a political party had been dismissed? How would you explain school pupils rioting because the examination papers given to them had different questions from the ones which had been leaked to them illegally?

Well that was the absurdity of some of the protests we have witnessed recently. I appreciate it is everyone’s democratic right to protest so as to let the world know that they do or do not support a particular cause or whatever reason they have for protesting. However the protest must be legal because even in respecting the protestors’ right to demonstrate, they also have to respect the rights of the others who do not agree with them. This means respecting the rules of the state as well without turning into dissenters.

University Students at the popular monk square

The University Students

In saying all this, I am not in any way suggesting that students for instance cannot voice out their opinions on issues that do not concern them ‘directly’ such as politics or any other topics even outside of the country. It is the right of students to voice out concerns on anything. In fact, I expected the students’ bodies to have voiced out concerns on the killing of young black men by police in the United States of America. In the same vein, I expected the student bodies to share with the Zambian populace their opinion on the circus that has characterized the Zambian political scene since the death of President Michael Sata. By sharing their opinion, I mean just that – giving a statement and nothing more.

However, rioting because of a political party news story that is trending online is a big NO. What am I talking of here? President Michael Sata had just died on 28^th October and acting president Guy Scott gave a directive to all Patriotic Front party members that there would be a ban on meetings during the period of the national mourning in order to show dignity to the departed head of state. What followed was that a few days later, Dr Scott announced that he was revoking the appointment of then PF secretary General, Edgar Lungu for having disobeyed the directive and a new SG was appointed.

Within few hours after the news went viral on social media and other online news media, there was a protest by some students at the University of Zambia. By the time I was on my way home, there was commotion on great east road as students had blocked the road with stones and lit fire from huge logs of wood. When police moved in to try and control the situation, all hell broke loose and this had become a full scale riot.

I don’t think this was one issue that the students needed to be involved in. Those students aggrieved by the decision Guy Scott made to fire Edgar Lungu should have just voiced their displeasure through a media statement. At the time of this riot, there were more pressing issues that the students needed to address such as the issue of delayed payments of meal allowances and the issue of student accommodation and the Commonwealth Center which had been a thorn in the flesh for the students in the preceding weeks.

In addition, there was also the hot topic of student bursary system which gained public attention after a first year student committed suicide ‘in protest’ of being denied government sponsorship through the bursary committee that reduced the number of students on bursary. The students had on days before rioted and fought running battles with the police. Before getting to a point where a student committed suicide and others rioting, a student Union leader had been arrested for having a lone protest by walking to state house where according to news reports he had intended to seek the attention of the head of state on the looming issue of reduced number of students on bursary.

The union leader’s actions were an act of bravery and I personally commend him because he got the attention of the nation without throwing a single stone. He didn’t inconvenience any motorist (the tax payers that fund university education), by lighting fires on the road and causing great panic, commotion or damage to vehicles. This is the type of protest I agree with. I know for sure that a peaceful protest doesn't always end up peaceful because mob behavior doesn’t always guarantee peaceful endings.

In addition, there are many times when police mishandle the students while trying to contain the situation. Many a time the police 'ignite' the protests to turn into full riots by firing tear gas canisters onto campus and at times in the rooms where even the more peaceful students would be studying or even sleeping.

I don’t know what the popular view could be, but in my opinion there are more important issues university students can riot about, and a secretary general of a political party being fired isn’t one of them.

female university students wash their eyes after
tear gas canisters were thrown into their rooms

The grade nine pupils

University students rioting over political party internal matters is outlandish, maybe ill-advised, but the protest which was downright ridiculous was when Grade 9 pupils mostly in Kitwe were reported to have rioted after going into examination rooms and discovering that the examination paper questions were not what they were made to believe would be through some fake leaked examination papers. The pupils were said to have been so incensed after discovering that the examination questions were different from what their leaked copies had made them believe and immediately after the end of the examination, they mobilized themselves and rioted.

The question is; are these pupils entitled to a snapshot or even preview of the examination papers before the examination day? How else can anyone justify the actions taken by these pupils if not that they felt a high degree of entitlement to preview the examination paper!

First of all, it is illegal to see or be in possession of an examination paper be it a fake or actual one before the official date and starting time. Secondly why on earth are these students heavily dependent on examination papers leaking before examination date? Aren’t they being taught adequately to enable them take the examinations without any malpractice?

I am glad the Examination Council of Zambia is finally looking like they are seriously fighting the scourge of examination paper leakages. The irony of this all is that these rioting pupils caused damage to some property at schools. This is the same school they expect their brothers and relatives to get an education from. Vandalism of public property which ideally helps many serious pupils to obtain an education!

The epidemic of examination paper leakages was probably seriously spreading in the 1990's. By the time ,I was in the 9^th grade, there were whispers of leaked papers but no one ever publicly saw one or claimed to have seen one or benefited from it. But back then it was made known to all of us through news reports that some examination candidates were having undue advantage over others by having access to examination papers before the examination date. However, as time has passed, many years later today I have heard pupils complaining that they hadn’t any pre-examination access to any exam papers. Over the years it seems most pupils feel it is their right to have access to examination papers before the examination date. This is so shameful and if I was the teacher of the students that rioted, I'd not allow the boys and girls back at the school if by chance they made it to grade 10.

I hope the efforts by government, police and the Examination Council of Zambia to fight this form of examination malpractice continues to yield results. We cannot get to a situation where these pupils even feel it is their enshrined rights to gain undue advantage or they will riot and damage public property. This the lowest level of senselessness a pupil can get to. Downright pathetic!

A picture mocking university students that made rounds on social media
after the recent riots at the institution

The other rioters…

When it comes to rioting, ruling party political cadres always think this is their number one right enshrined in the constitution, and they were never on this earth ever going to be left out when it came to protesting on the matter of Edgar Lungu. Some of them were gathered at Belvedere lodge on Leopards Hill road where some of the mourners during the president’s funeral had gathered when news broke that Edgar lungu had been fired as SG. They soon mobilized themselves on the busy road and blocked traffic with burning tires on the road. I won’t say much about political party cadres rioting over a political issue.

Suffice to say news quickly spread outside of Zambia and some travel agents quickly sent travel warnings stating there were full scale riots in Lusaka and that international travelers to Zambia were being advised against going to certain parts of Lusaka. I won’t dwell on what really happened that evening so I will leave it there.

After all is said and done, there are protests that are well meaning and are in my view laudable. I can mention a few and I’d start with the foil Vedanta protests in London. Besides the foil Vedanta protests there have been other worthwhile protests like the Hong kong protests which began in September. There have been many other protests of late, including protest against the Nigerian government’s alleged lack of decisive action against Boko Haram and of course the protests in the USA by black minorities against white police officers who have been trigger happy when the victims are all black men.

It's not my intention to end with any ounce of irony, but hey what do you make of this? In commenting on the protest in London by Foil Vedanta, Afrika Diaspora and other groups who besieged the Zambian High Commission in London, former Zambian minister of mines and minerals development, Dr Kalombo Mwansa is quoted to have said; “Zambia should ably benefit from it’s minerals wealth. It’s not acceptable that the total Zambian labour force of 600,000 should contribute more to the treasury … than all mining companies put together…”

 Really! Oh!