Campaign of lies

ZAMBIA is under siege from a deluge of lies, disinformation and calumny designed to destabilise and create consternation, in the face of tremendous strides that the country has made in its social, economic and political development. For example no effort is being spared to undermine and disparage the strides that make Zambia an oasis of political stability and economic resilliance. The reality is that truth is sacrosanct and no campaign of lies, however formidable and convoluted will controvert the truth. There is a Machiavellian cliché suggesting that the greater the lie and the more important the people involved the more believable the lie. Indeed, Zambians deserve the truth, they need to know the truth that lies behind the incessant and virulent attacks against the major pillars of Governance including the Judiciary and the executive. Daily spin doctors render their jaundiced analysis of the news casting it in the worst possible light to engender discontent and in the process demoralize the nation. Social media has become the purveyor of vicious fake news against the very many positive attainments that the country has achieved. Fake news has been described as a type of yellow journalism or propaganda that consists of deliberate misinformation or hoaxes spread via traditional print and broadcast news media or online social media with the intent to mislead in order to damage an agency, entity, or person, and/or gain financially or politically, often using sensationalist, dishonest, or outright fabricated headlines to increase readership, online sharing, and Internet. None other than a British Parliamentary Inquiry has concluded that Democracy is at risk unless the government and regulators take urgent action to combat a growing crisis of data manipulation, disinformation and so-called fake news. It observed that the “relentless targeting of hyperpartisan views, which play to the fears and prejudices of people, to influence their voting plans and their behaviour” posed a greater threat to democracy than more familiar forms of so-called fake news, raising particular concerns about the way online data could be manipulated. Zambians must know that a cabal of spin doctors sponsored by failed politicians have launched a sustained campaign against Zambia, taking advantage of every possible weakness to undermine the vital pillars of governance. Some of these spin doctors are our proverbial egoistical sociopaths who have no kind words for anybody else except themselves. Fortunately, Zambia has had the misfortunate of being first hand witness to a campaign of media disinformation that has resulted in futile public stampedes It is much easier to dismiss the senseless rantings of such intellectual midgets as Chishimba Kambwili who lack any form of depth, but make such outrageous statements as to offend the senses of any normal person. The suggestion by his party for example that KCM has been smuggling cobalt out of Zambia has gained some traction in a seemingly reasonable institution such as the Zambia Union of Financial Institution and Allied Workers which has demanded for a multisectoral investigation led by the Zambia Revenue Authority to thoroughly investigate cobalt smuggling by KCM. Not satisfied in making a specific accusation, Mr. Chengati Msiska has gone to town expressing deep concern at the exploitative behaviour of multinational corporations especially those in the extractive industry. This is the danger of fake news. It is as emotive as it is compulsive evoking all manner of negative, destructive and disproportionate reaction.