The hope had been that the Bill of Rights passes the referendum to have these important clauses enshrined into the supreme law of the land. 3.4 Freedom of expression during the third quarter Freedom of expression and of the media in Zambia has remained a challenging matter in the third quarter as evidence shows from the various media reports analysed as well as from interviews with industry players. Several of the respondents interviewed were unanimous in agreeing that the levels of freedom of expression were deteriorating in the nation. One of them had this to say; “The situation in Zambia in terms of freedom of expression is bad. Media houses like The Post, Komboni Radio, Muvi TV and Itezhi Tezhi Radio were closed. Opposition Political figures and their cadres were arrested for merely expressing themselves”14 Others expressed similar sentiments noting that a number of media outlets had been closed after the elections, apparently because of how they covered the elections, which was seen as anti-government or pro-opposition. However, they concede that closing media is never a good sign of press freedom. Another illustration of the lack of Freedom of expression described by another respondent who sought anonymity; “…freedom of expression was not there in the media in the third quarter of 2016 because most government departments were withholding information and were being asked not to answer any question from a media personnel by a named Permanent Secretary. This made us not to avail most of the happenings to the masses thereby denying them their freedom of expression and right to information. For instance, whenever people are complaining about a road, lack of water or basic needs, there was no response from government as they indicated that they have no money to carryout developmental programs. Some cadres from the ruling party wanted to be given more coverage than those in the opposition.” 15 As observed by others still, the levels of freedom of expression and of media were below average owing to the harassment of media practitioners by the Police plus the suspension of some media institutions by the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA). The continued impasse between the ZRA and The Post Newspaper is another yet another black spot on the freedom of expression. 14 Misheck Wangwe, Chief Reporter, Copperbelt Region, The Post Newspaper, 14 th October 2016 15 Anonymous respondent, 13th July 2016 20