Hichilema´s close ally Sishuwa unmasks him
…condemns loud silence to criticise the President´s failures
By Staff Reporter
11.06.22 LUSAKA
Dr. Sishuwa Sishuwa, one of the most ardent supporters of President Hakainde Hichilema and the UPND has cast aside diplomatic decorum and called Mr Hichilema´s bluff.
Before the 2021 polls, Dr Sishuwa, a political scientist and Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences at UNZA was a “die hard” academic supporter of Mr Hichilema who blazed the trail of Mr Hichilema in Europe and part of the United States.
The current President secured himself a berth as an “upcoming” African statesman through the personal works of Dr Sishuwa, but the love affair has ostensibly faded and lost its glow like a candle in the wind.
In a fiery blunt no holds barred tweet, the normally quiet and respected Dr Sishuwa wrote: “I sometimes wonder what explains the ´deafening silence´ of intellectual and professional elites such as lawyers, journalists, academics, economists, and activists who were critical of the governance pitfalls of the PF. Or is everything in Zambia now fine for them?”
Dr Sishuwa´s candid question comes at a time scores of Zambians are outraged about the critical shortage or lack of drags in hospitals and health centres countrywide, including the prices of fuel that increase every month in Zambia since Mr Hichilema assumed office on the chant of making life better for Zambians.
Dr Sishuwa, an ´A´ grade scholar from Oxford University called on Zambians to call a spade a spade and not bury their heads in the sand when it comes to providing checks and balances on Mr Hichilema´s administration with the same vigour they checked President Edgar Lungu´s administration.
His candid objective observations have, however, not sat well on the tables of known sympathisers of Mr Hichilema such as former broadcaster Chibamba Kanyama who has quickly sprung to Mr Hichilema´s defence in a counter tweet.
Mr Kanyama said, “We (in reference to his own person) here advising government on what ought to be done. We are not career critics my younger brother. We only come in the open when there´s gross negligence. We talk but very privately.”
Pundits, however, Kanyama currently on government assignment in Finland has not business springing to Mr Hichilema´s defence when he never got his hands as dirty as Dr Sishuwa did publicly.
Dr Sishuwa who is never shy of an intellectual jibe went back at Kanyama, a known Hichilema supporter with full force.
Dr Sishuwa likened Kanyama and others like him to “hypocrites” that spoke loudly when Zambians were treated unfairly under the PF but choose silence under Mr Hichilema.
CHIBAMBA KANYAMA AND HIS LIKES ARE COWARDS AND HYPOCRITES TWEETS DR SISHUWA SISHUWA
“You criticised Lungu, but you stay quite when the same (harassment) happens under HH. This is hypocrisy. I remember that even under PF we had opportunists and cowards claiming to be advising Lungu privately,” Dr Sishuwa reflected.
Kanyama has since remained mute after Dr Sishuwa´s brutally factual comeback on cowardice and hypocrisy, setting into motion mixed emotions amongst Mr Hichilema´s once upon a time staunch disciples that would take a bullet for him.
Discontent and disquiet has been mounting in Zambia less than ten months of Mr Hichilema´s take-over of power at a last August poll, as the cost of living continues to rise.
THE HIGH COST OF LIVING IN ZAMBIA ANGERS MANY
The prices of basic essential commodities such as mealie meal, cooking oil and transport have been shooting through the roof daily leaving many wondering whether voting Mr Hichilema was a better option. Many families are going hungry in Zambia today according to independent studies by NGOs.
Away from the public spat among Mr Hichilema´s disciples, impeccable word is that “all is not well” in and outside State House as his followers wait to get a bite at an elusive pie in the sky.
But as long as he continues to enjoy silent support from the usual critics and even the donor community such as the EU and the US, Mr Hichilema will continue leaving in a bubble, insulated by complacent praise singers.
About Dr Sishuwa Sishuwa below ahead of a much-anticipated analysis of Mr Hichilema´s rule so far to be published in the Washington Post and Mail and Guardian among others:
