The usual for defamation is excessive for a reason, you don’t wish to have the same headache every time you say anything else remotely derogatory about public officials. But the threshold seems to be specifically low in Zambia, because a baby-kisser there has been arrested and charged with defamation as a result of he reportedly said President Michael Sata as a potato.

A potato.

Frank Bwalya is the leader of the political group Alliance for a Higher Zambia, and he by hook or by crook received in trouble for gourd-invoking.

[He] allegedly mentioned president Michael Sata as “Chumbu Mushololwa” all over a are living radio broadcast Monday.

The Bemba time period actually refers to a sweet potato that breaks when it’s bent and is used to describe any individual who does not heed recommendation.

This is not the first instance of vegetable-primarily based defamation inflicting a stir in Zambia, one Zambian newspaper was accused of defamation via relating to then-president Levy Mwanawasa as a cabbage.

[photo by the use of Shutterstock]

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Practice Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac