Open Letter To MTN and Airtel: Zambia's Democracy Doesn't Have An Off Switch
Dear Bart Hofker (CEO, MTN Zambia) and Apoorva Mehrotra (CEO & MD, Airtel Zambia PLC),
As you likely know, next month Zambia faces its most important elections in a generation. On August 12th voters will get to determine the future of their country as it stands on the verge of mounting debt, widespread hunger and rising youth unemployment. These elections are a chance to change all of that.
As Zambia’s largest telecommunications providers, you are tasked with a unique responsibility in defending these elections. Together you provide mobile internet connection to 84% of Zambians and with that control the vast majority of voters’ access to information, including about how and where to vote. This connectivity is also crucial to ensuring that instances of electoral fraud and political violence are duly reported, as well as enabling election monitors to communicate and properly carry out independent checks such as parallel vote tabulation (PVT).
Sadly, Zambia faces a threat to this vital connectivity in the form of President Edgar Lungu and his Patriotic Front government. Just days after his election victory in 2016, President Lungu instigated two days of internet shutdowns in order to disrupt opposition protests. In February 2020, he instigated another two-day shutdown amid rising political tensions and in April he set up a specialised unit of bloggers and hackers tasked with manipulating Zambia’s online conversation. Earlier this year, Lungu’s government passed the highly controversial Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Bill, which allowed authorities to prosecute Zambians for criticising the government online. Evidently, this regime is not a defender of online freedoms but rather sees the internet as an unwelcome check on its ability to cling on to power.
Regrettably, however, we note that your reputations in this area are also far from exemplary. We were appalled to see MTN support the internet blackout in eSwatini earlier this month, which was aimed at suppressing ongoing pro-democracy protests. We note that MTN was also complicit in the blackout during Uganda’s general elections this January, which saw President Yoweri Museveni secure his sixth term in office amidst what the US State Department termed “many credible reports” of electoral fraud.
Airtel has a similarly chequered history and we strongly condemn its part in disruptions to Tanzania’s internet during the country’s last round of elections in October 2020. Most disturbingly, we recall that both networks were complicit in a shutdown in the Republic of Congo on the day of the country’s presidential elections in March 2021.
This record concerns us and ought to concern every voter in Zambia. This election, the only thing standing between Lungu and a total internet blackout are your networks. Though you may claim your hands are forced by government threatening to remove your operating licenses, the sheer scale of your networks in Zambia means authorities will find it incredibly hard to fill your market share. You must not kowtow to pressure from would-be dictators. You must stand up for Zambia’s democracy.
As such, we call on you – the executives of MTN and Airtel – to issue a statement pledging to safeguard Zambia’s democracy by doing all you can to keep the internet on this August. This statement must be made available to the media in Zambia and should serve as a promise to the Zambian people that their rights are never for sale.
To any Zambian voters reading this letter, we also call on you to help us hold these networks to account. Sign our petition below to show these multi-million-dollar companies that Zambia’s democracy doesn’t have an off switch.
Yours,
Open Zambia
SIGN HERE: http://chng.it/mBJ9FF5bMT