ABOUT DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR: A CASE OF STARING FAILURE IN THE FACE AND NOT BEING ABLE TO RECOGNIZE IT- Sean Tembo

ABOUT DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR: A CASE OF STARING FAILURE IN THE FACE AND NOT BEING ABLE TO RECOGNIZE IT

By Sean Tembo – PeP President

1. On 26th August 2021, when Mr. Hakainde Hichilema was sworn into office as President of the Republic of Zambia, the following was the status of the Zambian economy, vis a vis today:

i) a K100 note could buy you 5 liters of petrol with change, as the pump price of the commodity was K17.68 per liter. Today, a K100 note can only get you 2 liters of petrol, as the pump price is about K35.56 per liter;

ii) the cost of living, as measured by the JCTR basic needs and nutritional basket (BNNB) index was about K5,671 per month, compared to the current cost of living of K10, 348 per month, as at April 2024;

iii) On 26th August 2021 when Mr. Hakainde Hichilema took over as President, the average exchange rate was about K17.4 to the US Dollar, compared to the current average rate of about K27.8

iv) the total domestic debt was about K78 billion, compared to the current total domestic debt of about K239 billion as at 30th April 2024. A threefold increase in domestic borrowing, within 3 years!

v) a 25kg bag of mealie meal was about K120, compared to an average of K360 today. A 7kg bag of potatoes was about K55, compared to K230 today. A 5 liter container of cooking oil was about K85, compared to about K250 today.

2. In short, almost everything has moved from bad to worse for a common Zambian. And yet, President Hakainde Hichilema and his UPND party want to argue that they have delivered on their promises. Which promises have you delivered on sir? Are you delusional? The challenge which the President has is that he very much wants to be Zambia’s best President, and possibly Africa’s best President ever. And yet, he does not have the faintest idea of how to achieve that. He has no clue about what kind of economic policies to implement in order to achieve that. He has no inkling of what caliber of people he needs to surround himself with, in order to deliver on his mandate.

3. Although other people have pointed out what they think is wrong with the President, my considered view is that he suffers from a conflicted identity. For instance, President Hakainde Hichilema very much wants to portray himself as a democrat who fled the nation from the shackles of dictatorship under the previous regime, and yet his actions totally betray the kind of person he wants to portray himself as.

4. Three years along the line, him and his Inspector General of Police have refused to give even a single opposition political party a go ahead to hold a rally. Within 3 years, he has arrested more opposition political party leaders than KK, FTJ, LPM, RB, MCS and ECL combined. Under President Hakainde Hichilema’s short spell at the helm of this nation, the conduct of the Zambia Police Force makes the Gestapo under Adolf Hitler pale in comparison.

5. Harassing Catholic priests, cutting down front doors with a grinder for misdemeanor offenses, brutally arresting political opponents in the middle of a church service, disrupting the sermon. State institutions such as Immigration, Zambia Police etcetera, ignoring Court Orders. Weaponizing state institutions such as the Office of Auditor General to target specific citizens by preparing half-baked audit reports to be used by the Police to make frivolous arrests. Appointing a highly partisan and compromised Director of Public Prosecutions who engages in malicious prosecution of opposition leaders but fails to do the same when ruling party leaders like Batuke Imenda commit similar offenses.

6. And yet, just like President Hakainde Hichilema’s delusional behavior regarding the economy, the effects of his conflict of identity equally lingers on the governance and rule of law for this nation. Despite his clearly evident dictatorial behavior, the President believes he is the best democrat that ever happened to Zambia.

7. Another clear example of President Hakainde Hichilema’s delusional personality is his false public portrayal that he wants to develop the nation, and yet his actions indicate that he merely wants to develop his tribe and region at the expense of the nation. It is self-contradictory for a President to claim to want to develop the whole nation, and yet at the same time seek to develop his tribe more than other tribes. A President who is serious about national development will have no regard for tribe. The only thing that should matter is that you are a Zambian. Only a nationalist can develop a nation. And Mr. Hakainde Hichilema is not a nationalist. We know that because he is a tribalist and a regionalist, and one cannot be a tribalist and regionalist and yet still be a nationalist. So by exclusion, President Hakainde Hichilema is definitely not a nationalist. And that in my view, is his biggest handicap in his lame quest to develop the nation.

8. When l took a matter to the Constitutional Court early last year, under cause number 2023/CCZ/009 in which l argued that President Hakainde Hichilema was dividing the country by making tribal and regional appointments, some people thought l was a rabble-rouser. But fast-forward one year later, the picture that President Hakainde Hichilema is a tribalist is so vivid to every Zambian that it is no longer a subject of debate. Honestly, how can more than 80 percent of all parastatal heads come from one tribe? A tribe that constitutes less than 10 percent of the population of the nation? And you know, the funny thing is that when we argued this case in the Constitutional Court a few months ago, l was shocked with the shallowness and pedestrian nature of the arguments from the Attorney General. His argument was that the individuals in question qualify for their respective jobs, despite the fact that they come from one tribe? I asked him whether they are the only ones with the qualifications or people from other tribes also qualify for the respective jobs in question? He never quite answered my question.

9. The bottom line is that President Hakainde Hichilema is a failed president. For 16 years, he cried to be given a chance to lead this nation. In 2021, the Zambian people from all corners of this nation, not just his tribe or region, gave him an overwhelming landslide victory. However, instead of utilizing his platform to unite the nation and deliver development for all citizens, he has decided to be a President for his tribe only. Indeed, what a lost opportunity to unify this nation and breath life into the motto of One Zambia, One Nation.

10. Instead of delivering a decent standard of living to the masses, he has delivered misery and destitution. He claims to have restructured Zambia’s debt, yet he has accumulated three times more domestic debt from K78 billion to K239 billion within 3 years. It is like applying lotion to a pig which is still in the mud. Instead of reducing the cost of living, or at least keeping it the same as he found it, he has more than doubled it. Instead of leveling the political playing field or at least keeping it as he found it, he has effectively banned opposition politics and declared a defacto one party state. And yet, in the midst of all these self-evident failures, he wants to claim that he has succeeded. Indeed, President Hakainde Hichilema is suffering from delusions of grandeur. He is staring failure in the face and yet he is not able to recognize it.

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SET 05.05.2024