CANNABIS CULTURE – The Zambia National Service is the country´s peacetime quasi-reserve army that “train citizens to serve the republic, develop infrastructure and enhance national food security.” In February the reserve army announced it will now shift attention to planting cannabis.
Commandant Lieutenant General Maliti Solochi says his force has secured 20,000 hectares of land “freely given” to the plantation project by traditional leaders.
An interesting factor to note here, in Zambia cannabis prohibition is still firmly in place for individual citizens – however it is legal to cultivate and export cannabis on a large scale.
If this plan comes to fruition it will mark what observers call “cannabis militarization” – a phenomenon that seems to be underway in Zambia and neighboring Zimbabwe. And with “cannabis militarization” comes the difficulties of land grabs, cannabis corruption.
Commandant Solochi, the general responsible for Zambia´s national service army told reporters that his force will acquire land in several provinces across the country to grow medical cannabis, and plantation is expected to commence this March. Over 3000 jobs are expected to emerge from the cannabis venture. Interestingly, customary leaders, who are the traditional custodians of land across Zambia have “agreed” to freely give up part of their lands for the cannabis rollout.
Zambia´s cannabis slumber
Zambia, unlike her neighbors, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Lesotho are one of Africa´s slowest countries to latch onto the thrilling cannabis legalization, cultivation, and exporting revolution.
“Zambia has some of the richest ecological scenes soils in Africa and terms of the country´s gigantic size, dense virgin lands that, on paper are fantastic for high-grade cannabis. It´s a mystery that Zambia has until now been so absent on the raft of cannabis deals like those being struck in Lesotho, South Africa, Malawi, or Zimbabwe,” says analyst Dennis Juru, of the South Africa International Cross Borders Traders Association.
According to reports, so far Zambia´s parliament has only “approved the publication and introduction of a bill in parliament for the legalization of the cultivation of cannabis”.
Army´s sudden cannabis interest?
As her neighbors race ahead with cultivation and export, Zambia has suddenly woke from its cannabis slumber it seems – and its army is on the prowl for weed.
“Zambia sees cannabis as a security crop, hence the army moving ahead of legalization to grab land for cannabis,” says Deogracias Kalima, an independent ecology writer for Unsustainable Magazine and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in neighboring Malawi, where Mike Tyson has been appointed cannabis ambassador.
“Zambia, on paper, explicitly describes itself in the wording of its constitution as a so-called “Christian country.” In short, Zambia is so moralistic and conservative that it´s in terms of amending the law, it´s still weighing the dilemma of what to do with cannabis whilst neighboring countries have rushed ahead and welcomed foreign players from Canada, China, the EU. In Zambia, cannabis is viewed in the prism of militaristic terms and banned for recreational use, hence its army feels it´s best positioned to carve a spot in cannabis.”
A pattern of cannabis militarization
To put into context, Zambia is not the only regional country that appears to be militarizing cannabis. Her neighbor to the south, Zimbabwe, can be lumped into the same category. Zimbabwe, which moved fast to legalize cannabis and invite foreign companies, on the other hand, it´s also a place cannabis has been militarized. First, the Zimbabwe police and prison service, which are heavily militarized organs of the state, in February 2020, grabbed the first licenses to grow cannabis plantations at prison sites for medicinal export use.
“Zambia´s army, just like in neighbor Zimbabwe, is the ultimate “deep state”, and has obviously been observing this trend of Zimbabwe, her neighbor, partially militarizing lucrative cannabis deals – and said well, why can´t we do the same here?” says Kalima.
“Securitization of cannabis, I think it´s a pretty poor cannabis policy to build your weed industry on.”
Consequences of cannabis militarization
“It´s no brainer, Zambia´s army foray into cannabis could lead to fresh human rights problems of land grabs by a feared institution,” says Obrien Nhachi, an independent social scientist.
“It would have been wise for the army in Zambia to actually pay a fair market value for the cannabis land that it´s acquiring from rural dwellers. Asking citizens to “give up” land for cannabis mass cultivation doesn’t really sound like there was free consent.”
Zambia, as a country, has a troubling legacy of land grabs. Because Zambia has extensive minerals which attract global corporations mainly from China, Europe, and South Africa, Zambia´s government´s liberal mining policy has seen it offer free land to foreign miners as well as lavish tax breaks. And this has meant misery: poor, rural Zambians evicted from their farmland, without compensation, to make way for foreign corporations.
“With Zambia´s army edging into the cannabis sector, the ugly head of unfair land grabs could pop again,” adds Nhachi.
Is it wise for armies to foray into cannabis?
Armies, police, prison authorities have little capacity to run cannabis farms. “If armies, police become star players in cannabis cultivation and export this amounts to quasi-nationalization of commercial agriculture,” argues Juru the president of the South Africa International Cross Borders Traders Association.
“Past experience is a good reminder: In Zimbabwe when the state grabbed private agriculture land and nationalized it from 2000, mass hunger, 1 million percent hyperinflation, and a general farming collapse ensued. Hence, that´s why I think Zambia´s army doesn’t appear competent to run commercial cannabis plantations.”
Armies conflicted about cannabis
Armies and police, if they delve into the cannabis plantation and export sector, bring up significant conflict of interest problems in countries where aspects of cannabis are still criminalized like Zambia.
“Zambia´s cannabis laws, still being developed at parliament bill stage, are still vague. The rules say possession of cannabis is a jail-able offense. Only export for medicinal purposes is permitted – and Zambia´s police, army, and prison services are mandated to aggressively crackdown on domestic cannabis recreational and possession use. This a confusing legal regime,” argues Pious Moyo, a commercial solicitor in Zambia´s capital, Lusaka.
“So imagine the conflicting dilemma of the police/army which sniffs out cannabis cargo at all airports and border entries in Zambia, being the same army/police grabbing citizens for cannabis cultivation?”
Command cannabis
Apart from the legal fix – armies foraying into cannabis, damages the good cause of cannabis legalization because armies in places like Zambia and Zimbabwe are naturally accused of gross corruption in the lucrative agriculture and forestry sector.
So armies’ foray into cannabis could widen the nets feeding trough of the corrupt. For example, in Zambia, senior army officers have been routinely accused of ecological corruption whereby they facilitated illegal logging and export of precious timber to China. Transparency International has previously called for a wide-scale investigation into the Zambia army’s part in forestry corruption. Zimbabwe the army, especially unaccountable generals, are said to hold vast tracts of land, obtained during the country´s drive to seize land from white commercial farmers in 2000-2005. In fact, the army is the implementer of “Command Agriculture”, a corrupt-ridden exercise, whereby $3 billion of taxpayers’ dollars are given to farmers to grow farm maize with no stipulation to pay back the money to taxpayers.
“You don’t want the army-led corruption of other commercial agriculture crops to seep into the noble cause of cannabis crop – hence this is unwise for Zambia´s army to position itself as a cannabis grower. Leave cannabis to commercial players and small-scale indigenous farmers,” cautions Moyo, the attorney.
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