Mwai Daka

Mwai Daka is interested in Digital Rights, Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Speech and Internet Shutdowns across Africa    

Content by Author

Gender-based Violence, LGBTQIA+ Rights, and Christian Values in Zambia

Gender-based Violence, LGBTQIA+ Rights, and Christian Values in Zambia

Since 2019 the Sistah Sistah Foundation (SSF) has marched in protest of sexual and gender-based violence in Zambia. Zambia’s national Gender Based Violence (GBV) statistics allege that a total of 20,540 GBV cases were reported ...
Challenging Draft Bills and the Role of the ECOWAS Court

Challenging Draft Bills and the Role of the ECOWAS Court

Image Description: Ghanian military official gives speech from a podium at a regional summit with flags of West African nations behind In the case of Dr Jacob Abdulahi & 5 ors v The Federal Republic of Nigeria & 2 Ors [2022], ...
Corroboration as Sex Discrimination: The Equality Implications of Sexual Offence Cases in Malawi

Corroboration as Sex Discrimination: The Equality Implications of Sexual Offence Cases in Malawi

Image description: Graffiti on the wall of three women with red blindfolds over their eyes. In Kaliyati v R (Criminal Appeal 109 of 2018) [2020], judge Fiona Mwale asserts that the requirement for corroboration of evidence by the ...
Indemnity clauses in Mining Development Agreements in Zambia

Indemnity clauses in Mining Development Agreements in Zambia

Zambia has signed indemnity agreements with numerous multinational corporations investing in her mining sector. The agreements enable subsidiaries of international firms to be exempted from liability for environmental pollution that ...
Internet Access as a Derivative Component of the Freedom of Expression

Internet Access as a Derivative Component of the Freedom of Expression

The judgement in the case of Amnesty International Togo v The Togolese Republic [2020] asserts access to internet is a “derivative” right within the context of the right to freedom of expression. Therefore, any interference with ...
ECOWAS Court affirms that pregnant girls in Sierra Leone have a right to equal education

ECOWAS Court affirms that pregnant girls in Sierra Leone have a right to equal education

Excluded from school since the civil war, orphaned by the deadly Ebola outbreak, and now quarantined by Covid-19, the judgement in the case of WAVES CWS-SL and The Republic of Sierra Leone is a landmark for pregnant girls in Sierra ...
The High Court of Botswana decriminalises same-sex relations

The High Court of Botswana decriminalises same-sex relations

The judgement of the Botswana High Court in LM V The Attorney General, which legalised same-sex sex relations, is important for gay couples across Africa. The judgement demonstrates that laws, such as Section 164(a), (c), 165 and 167 ...
UK Supreme Court’s Vedanta Case – Hope for Zambian Communities Affected by Mining Pollution

UK Supreme Court’s Vedanta Case – Hope for Zambian Communities Affected by Mining Pollution

The recent UK Supreme Court case, Vedanta Resources Plc and another v Lungowe and others, affirms the principle that UK companies operating abroad owe a duty of care to those affected by the actions of the subsidiary in the foreign ...
Zambia’s police force undermine opposition in Sesheke

Zambia’s police force undermine opposition in Sesheke

Recent reports and video footage of the political unrest in Sesheke’s Parliamentary by-elections have brought to light the disproportionate use of force by Zambia’s police, who opened fire at the opposition party, the United Party for ...
Legal Gaps in Securing Customary Land Rights in Zambia

Legal Gaps in Securing Customary Land Rights in Zambia

The Asa Lato & 30 others case provides an opportunity for Zambia’s High Court to review legal gaps related to the conversion of customary land to registered leasehold tenure, especially those which make communities vulnerable to ...
Governance Gaps Lead to the Displacement of People Living in Rural Communities in Zambia

Governance Gaps Lead to the Displacement of People Living in Rural Communities in Zambia

In Zambia, gaps in governance are allowing commercial farmers to contravene the law. This has resulted in the physical displacement and dispossession of native rural communities as well as the decline in subsistence farming relied on ...