12 Key Areas Bally has relegated to Amateur League from Champions League: Why HH should be fired as the worst coach in 2026
By Dr. Chris Zumani Zimba
1. In 2019, Dr Kennedy Lishimpi, Director of Cancer Control at the Ministry of Health reported that “Zambia had comprehensive cancer treatment centre with a 252-bed in-patient facility, intensive-care unit, eight high-dependency wards, outpatient department and an 80-bed outpatient chemotherapy administration suite at UTH as a regional centre of excellence for training, diagnosis and treatment for cancer”. Thus, under PF and Lungu, Zambia became a regional role model for cancer treatment while mobility and death were significantly reduced.
On 10th March, 2024, Diggers Newspaper reported that Zambia was now ranked number in the world for “most death from cervical cancer” and morbidity is also among the highest globally. This is under Bally’s administration. Our cancer centre once regarded as the best regional hospital has now been ruined to a death centre and BID status. Our patients mainly wait being sent to either South Africa, Tanzania or India for ages while many just die waiting in vain. So, HH has moved this sector from best to worst in three years.
2. Between 2015 and 2018, the “World Democracy Index” of Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) ranked Zambia on 8th’s most democratic in Africa out of 54 countries and 99th in the world out of 167 states. This was under PF and President Lungu and all these scores were consistent with Freedom House’s annual study of political rights and civil liberties worldwide for the same period. At this stage, Zambia was truly in the champions league politically although democracy faced many challenges.
Since 2022, the former Catholic Archbishop of Lusaka, Telesphore Mpundu has repeatedly said that “Zambia is now under a one man dictatorship”. His views are supported by most key governance stakeholders in Zambia. Thus, ranking Zambia under HH as 3rd most democratic state in Africa for 2023 by “V-Dem”, some unpopular outfit is loudly laughable and questionable: this V-demo ranking is a pure relegation of Zambia politically.
3. For Electricity Supply, HH promised heaven on earth for all Zambians with zero load shedding as long as he was president. Today, Bally is the first president to have declared a countrywide load shedding of 8 hours per day while it is still raining. This is against his 2021 prior national elections commitment. Remember, when PF and Lungu were in power, they made loading shedding a historical story. So, HH has relegated this sector to the worst level.
4. While Lungu was giving our farmers 2 to 3 bags of fertilizer plus crop seeds per year, HH’s government has repeatedly made 5 to 10 farmers to share one or two bags of fertilizer in form of “MEDAS”. In the Agricultural sector, Bally has moved Zambia from being food secure to being a food begging state. PF consistently kept more than 2 million metric tons of maize reserves with Food Reserve Agency (FRA). However, HH’s dealership spirit told him to export more than 1.5 million metric tons of FRA reserve maize to DR Congo and Tanzania without shame or remorse. Today, Zambians are smiling starvation, hunger, anger and death from food crisis.
5. In terms of cost of living, PF and Lungu left basic commodities and services as follows by August 2021: 25 kg mealie meal at K90 to 130, 50 kg of fertilizer at K560, 50 kg cement at K80, fuel at K15 per liter, bus fair from Chipata to Lusaka at K260,000, bus fair from Chelston to Lusaka City Market at K10, 2kg sugar at K28, 1 kg pork was K56, 1 kg beef was K42,2 liters of cooking oil at K55 and so on.
6. In less than three years, HH has doubled and tripled the prices of all the above commodities and services-the total opposite of what he promised. HH promised to reduce market prices and “fix it” for everyone. Today under Bally, many Zambians cannot afford to buy what they easily afforded four (4) years ago under PF. From “Bally will fix it”, HH has delivered “Bally will bury them” with tags of “political failure” and “economic disaster” at his presidential gate.
7. Apart from moving Zambia from being some functional democracy under PF and MMD, HH has speedily pushed the country into an emerging one party authoritarian state by throwing all state institutions to derail or destroy PF and Lungu politically through Miles Sampa and his gladiators team. Under Chiluba, Levy, RB, Sata or Lungu, the three wings of government maintained some degree of autonomy (separation of powers). But now under HH, the executive, legislature and judiciary have all been butchered and reduced to run under the strong hand of one man’s “Mingalato” new politics-Bally.
8. HH has moved Zambia from a corrupt state to a ripe kleptocracy (rule by theft) and Kakistocracy ( rule by the worst people). The Auditor General’s Report as well as Financial Intelligence Centre Publications for 2022 and 2023 are best first evidences. The famous 2023 KK Airport gold scandal, the resignation of Foreign Affairs Minister, Human Rights Commission corruption scandal, etc all confirm kleptocracy under HH’s rule.
9. Under Lungu and his PF, government ensured that Zambia got an equal or lion’s share from our mineral resources by taking bigger stake in KCM and Mopani Mines as well as Kansanshi’s FQM mine. The PF government refused to give tax concessions to foreign mining companies and made sure they yielded huge profits and revenue for the country from this sector. Since 2021 to date, HH has unilaterally auctioned our mineral resources to foreigners by giving them tax breaks while milking every coin from poor Zambians. To date, Zambia is foolishly begging for loans with harsh conditions from the IMF while we lose billions of dollars in mining tax holidays.
10. While PF and Lungu feared God or/and promoted religion, traditional values and cultural diversity by creating ministries of chiefs and traditional affairs as well as religious affairs and national values, ordained 18th October as national day of prayers, HH’s government brutally condemned all these institutions and consequently relegated them to the toilet of their cabinet. HH has even abandoned the construction of the “National House of Prayer” and disrespected every Christian by simply not having anything to do with God while his UPND top officials even mock prayers.
11. While Lungu and PF are on record to have openly denounced homosexuality repeatedly and practically deported a known American ambassador who was a gay and lesbian activist, HH is merely coughing to be against homosexuality on paper while his actions speak the opposite. Today, Western embassies are free to fly gay flags on our soil, self confessed gays and lesbians are celebrated as social media icons. Zambia police can even cover peaceful protests by lesbian activists while HH has Tony Blair, a known homosexual champion globally as one of Bally’s key presidential foreign advisors. This is how Bally has relegated everything we hold morally dear to our hearts.
12. In the past, we have seen some conservative and remorseful practices of political tribalism. But for UPND, ethnic politics and regionalism is now open and ‘normalized’. Since 2006, UPND has been formally a tribal and regional political party following the death of Anderson Mazoka and the birth of ‘Chuindu Chaitwa’ Movement of ‘only a Tonga can succeed a Tonga’. All these years today, UPND has remained a political outfit of tribal and regional demagogues with HH as their only anointed ethnic leader.
Dr Chris ZUMANI Zimba is a Political Scientist, Researcher, Author & Consultant specialized in Comparative Global Governance and Democratic Theories. He holds a PhD, MA, BA and Cert in Political Science. Zimba was President Lungu’s Political Advisor from December 2019 to August 2021. By philosophical approach, Dr. Zimba is a Pan Africanist as well as Afro-Christian by religion.
Email:chriszumaniZimba.cz@gmail.com