BUNGLING UP IS ALL OVER HH
“When the gods want to punish someone, they first make them go mad…”
Today I am filled with sadness and fear for Zambia. Sadness and fear fills me up to see how a nation of plenty and known for Rule of Law is fast turning into a State without direction under the new dawn Government of Rule of Law as proclaimed and sung daily by President Hakainde Hichilema.
The Rule of Law song, though sung everyday in a one man show Nation, the nation daily wakes up to face the opposite of the New dawn.
While lawlessness and vindictiveness greets us daily from Community House, poverty levels in the nation increase everyday and the Economy of the nation is on the brink of collapsing while curtailed freedom of assembly and freedom of speech have been thrown to the winds.
No one stopped him, as an opposition Leader not too long ago, from attending yearly traditional Lwiindi ceremony in Monze but today he dares to stop the former Head of State from attending a traditional ceremony of the people of Eastern Province. With his cohorts in attendance and cameras allover, he decided through his messengers that the former President,Mr Edgar Lungu, must be stopped from attending a traditional ceremony at all cost.Be it arrogance covered in ignorance of handling affairs of State or fear of a potential opponent, there is a better way of handling matters related to a former Head of State.
His handlers from Washington and perhaps from EU nations should have made him sit down and give their examples of how former President Donald Trump is handled by President Joe Biden and the establishment. A former President is not an ordinary citizen.
Just that one act of the many of the New Dawn Government horrible acts, many feathers have been removed from the hat of HH and the entire episode is blowing in the region of SADC and beyond.It leaves HH in a mess and especially just after Zambia assumed office of Chair of the SADC Security at the just ended SADC summit in Angola.
Assuming responsibility demands that you take everything that go with that responsibility including how you treat the former Head of State. A former Head of State must never be compared to an opposition Leader.HH must learn this.
What transpired on Saturday August 18,2023 at the Malaila Traditional Ceremony in Mambwe district and where the Former Head of State, Mr.Edgar Lungu, was in attendance should not have happened if those who claim to be leaders, where trully leaders worthy the salt.
Blocking Edgar Lungu from attending meetings or traditional ceremonies will not change the downturn of the economic spectrum of Zambia and the present perception of many Zambians that the New Dawn Government is, after all, just a new doom Government sending its own citizens to early graves because of abject poverty in the nation, will not change.
If HH is from another cloth as he claimed at his inauguration, let him give us the economy he promised us.He said he was taking over a very badly managed national economy and that “Bally will Fix it”. It is time to deliver to the Zambians what he promised. Two years is long enough to fix the economy or at least put it in a shape that sends message that there is direction leading to the promised land but so far, it is all encircled in a bungling state of affairs. As it is written; the work of the foolish wearies everyone, for he does not know how to get to the city.
Going after the perceived enemies like ECL and other opposition leaders and embarrass them in public, in an uncouth manner, will not help to tone down the cry of all Zambians for more nshima on the table, reduced price of fuel, reduced cost of living, fairness in the allocation of Government contracts, paying contractors and suppliers on time,resolved mines saga on the Copperbelt and building a fair Zambia where a job in Government or a contract with Government will not depend on the name on your National Registration Card but on the content of character and what you put on the negotiating table.
Leaders are those who sacrifice self and build nations through inclusiveness and selfless service for the good of all.They build to leave a legacy of service for the good of all without leaving anyone behind.Their content of character is impeccable for their lives are glued to what is is good for all.
Any leader worthy being called a leader must qualify as such under the internationally accepted standards of what a leader must be.That is to lead a people with justice and sense of responsibility that their future lies in his hands and as such he takes care of everyone of them. He takes all of them on his shoulders and offers comfort in times of crisis.Anything else is opportunism leading to a nation’s destruction and it becomes just another “work of the foolish wearies everyone for he does not know how to get to the city”.
Zambia deserves better.
Edwin Lifwekelo
Acting PF Media Director