Do not fall into the evil and bloody trap Hichilema and his UPND government have laid!
By Azwell Banda
If you are an adult Zambian and have eyes to see, ears to hear, and a functioning brain to think, by now you know that Hakainde Hichilema and his UPND got into government by false pretences, by deception, and they are absolutely cold and unresponsive to the mass suffering they have unleashed upon the majority of Zambians.
You will also have seen and heard the contempt and arrogance with which Hichilema and his entire Cabinet and praise singers dismiss the cries of the majority of Zambians, for a lessening of their excruciating suffering. Any adult Zambian with a half functional brain by now understands that Hichilema and his UPND government are dangerously dividing Zambia by pitting the Zambezi region (Southern, Western and North Western provinces) against the rest of Zambia. Hakainde Hichilema and his UPND, contrary to their election promises, have planted their surrogates and sycophants to lead the Judiciary, Parliament, Executive, the armed forces, the crime investigating wings, the police, the Electoral Commission of Zambia, the Industrial Development Corporation, ZCCM-IH and all other key centres of political, economic and social power in Zambia. This way, they also create the false impression and illusions that Hakainde and his UPND imposter government are protecting, defending and advancing the interests of all the people of the Zambezi region. No, they are not. They are advancing their own personal pocket agendas, and those of their foreign backers.
You do not need to be a genius to understand that Zambia has two economies: one, for an extremely tiny filthy rich Zambian minority with its foreign backers which is centred largely on mining, energy and banking. The second Zambian economy is the one in which the majority of Zambians break their backs to eke out a living: the largely unregulated and extremely impoverishing small and medium enterprises dominated so-called “informal sector”.
The past 33 years of unbridled neo-liberal colonialism in Zambia has all but wiped out the formal economy the Kaunda regimes created, in Zambia. It is not surprising, therefore, that nine out of every 10 able bodied and fully qualified Zambians looking for formal work cannot find it, and six out of every 10 Zambians nationwide are extremely poor while eight out of every 10 Zambians in our rural areas are suffering historical levels of poverty.
It is not important whether your heart, brain, tongue and stomach come from the Zambezi region or from the rest of Zambia; or you are a cognitive dissonant praise singer of Hichilema and his UPND: in the past almost three years now of Hakainde Hichilema’s government you are starving, and your head is swelling from the permanent headaches induced by the historic massive high cost of living Hichilema has unleashed in Zambia. You now usually contemplate suicide as you float freely in and out of hunger and poverty induced insanity. Most now drown their sorrows in illicit unhealthy and very dangerous cheap alcohols and illegal drugs, and inter-personal violence.
Corruption and prostitution roam the land of Zambia freely. All kinds of criminal conduct and begging to secure food, rent, transport and a small basket of essential human goods is the order of the day, throughout the country.
The 12 hours or more electricity blackouts do not spare the Zambezi region: every Zambian and all other human beings currently in the entire country of Zambia are affected by these draconian and historic electricity load shedding which are clearly chaotically managed, by ZESCO.
The water crisis is countrywide too, including in the Zambezi region. The ever-rising high prices of maize meal, diesel, paraffin, petrol, electricity, charcoal, candles, gas, saladi, tomato, sugar, fish, meat, vegetables, and everything else do not discriminate: they hit every Zambian including those in the Zambezi region. The half of the country now hit the hardest by hunger include the Zambezi region. The 6.6 million Zambians now suffering famine are also from the Zambezi region.
Hichilema and his UPND government have not discriminated in their generous showering of hunger and poverty in Zambia: we are all suffering the same fate.
Immediately upon being ushered into government, Hichilema and his friends in government trebled their efforts to hand over Zambia’s finance, economic, social, governance and therefore full political sovereignty, to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank (WB), therefore to the US and its Western allies and our so-called “donors”.
Dubiously, and typical of the liars they are, Hakainde Hichilema and the UPND have falsely claimed theirs is a “home grown” sadistic economic and social austerity programme involving the sudden and rapid rise in the prices of maize meal, diesel, paraffin, petrol, electricity, charcoal, candles, gas, saladi, tomato, sugar, fish, meat, vegetables, and everything else essential and necessary for domestic and economic wellbeing, and national security of our country.
They have done this in order to protect and rehabilitate the extremely small economy in which they, being rich, live: the economy of large agriculture, mining, finance, tourism, manufacturing, construction, and energy.
Under the false pretence of promoting investments in the mining sector and others, while punishing the majority of already hungry and extremely poor Zambians with the cold, insensitive, uncaring, draconian and sudden withdrawal of government regulations and subsidies from diesel, paraffin, petrol, electricity and therefore directly causing the historic rise in the already high cost of living, Hakainde Hichilema and his friends in the UPND government have lavished upon themselves and their foreign backers massive government subsidies in government lost taxes in mining, agriculture, manufacturing, construction, tourism, energy and just about all the key sectors of the formal economy in which they exist and thrive.
As Hakainde Hichilema and his UPND political choir punish, mercilessly, the majority of Zambians throughout the country with hunger, poverty and the relentlessly rising already high cost of living, Hichilema and his UPND government have banned the opposition from holding mass political events to engage Zambians, while Hichilema continues to have his pathological craving for fake mass adulation satiated by government rented crowds throughout the country.
Nothing best confirms the deeply rooted contempt and hatred Hichilema and the UPND have for the majority of Zambians – all Zambians including those in the Zambezi region – than that as Hakainde and the entire UPND government punish the majority of Zambians with untold hunger and poverty, he wants Zambians, all Zambians, to praise him, to adore him, to love him like their saviour. Hichilema and the UPND government want Zambians to love them and praise them for the mass torture of hunger and untold poverty they have unleashed upon them. It is pure evil hearts only parasitic neo-colonial capitalism can breed, which beat in the hearts of Hichilema and his UPND government, and their praise singers.
In the last four articles on this column, I have irrefutably argued and demonstrated that Hakainde Hichilema has the worst Cabinet in Zambia’s history. I am right, absolutely right: only to the extent that the Hakainde Hichilema Cabinet has failed the majority of Zambians whom they hold in absolute contempt bordering on pathological hatred. Their sheer arrogance and contempt with which they dismiss the suffering and its complex causes of the majority of the people of Zambia is sufficient proof, of their arrogance, contempt and hatred of Zambia and Zambians; all Zambians including those in the Zambezi region.
There is a fatal flaw in my argument in the last four articles: Hakainde Hichilema and his UPND government Cabinet have demonstrated absolute commitment, thorough precision and virtuoso competence at law, policy and regulation formulation and their implementation in executing their instructions and commands from the IMF, WB, US, European Union, and Western donors. Hakainde and the UPND have successfully managed to secure for themselves a significant terminal cognitive dissonance praise singing choir and youth militant following, and they have, to a good extent, managed to manufacture an unshakable following from the Zambezi region. Hakainde Hichilema and the UPND have successfully managed to secure for themselves a chunk of zombie-like fake, parasitic intellectuals, academics and some elements in our civil society.
Hichilema has the US and the West’s backing, whose economic and political interests he is serving very well, in his torture of the majority of Zambians. Hichilema now has US military boots ready to defend his definition of “serious threats to Zambia’s national security” (read: “serious threats to US and Western foreign interests in Zambia”), through the deepened integration of the Zambian army and Zambian society into the US defence establishment including the USAID and US/AFCON.
There is only one piece missing: Hakainde Hichilema and the UPND government must prove to their foreign masters that they are ready and willing to shed Zambian blood in defence of Western foreign interests in Zambia. Make no mistake about this: for the US and its Western allies, shedding blood and wars are just other means of making profits and securing their interests. Any politician unable to cross this line is not worthy their consistent and abiding support and “aid”. War and bloodshed are the largest economy for the US and the collective West. Just take a look at what is happening in Gaza and all occupied Palestinian lands if you doubt what I am saying.
It is absolutely unstrategic and wrong, knowing everything I have said above, for our opposition leaders to feed Hichilema and his UPND government innocent poor Zambian bodies, by massing such Zambian bodies in one place in an event the police have “advised” should not go ahead, for his extremely unprofessional, cowardly, Hakainde sycophant police command to beat up and kill, in order for Hichilema and his clearly sick UPND to prove to his foreign masters that he is able to “discipline Zambia and impoverished Zambians” on their behalf. There are smarter and infinitely more effective ways to fight and defeat Hakainde Hichilema, his UPND government and his foreign funders and backers, without falling into the trap they have set up to supply themselves Zambian impoverished bodies to physically savage and kill. This is the real challenge and urgent task confronting all Zambian freedom lovers, democrats, defenders of constitutional and lawful rule, and genuine peace lovers who also hate violence and war; especially capitalist and imperialist wars.
There is an infinite array of perfectly militant, extremely effective, mass and non-mass-based methods of fighting tin-pot dictators such as Hakainde Hichilema, his fraudulent UPND government and their foreign backers, without feeding them bodies to brutalise and kill. To invent and craft these methods and run with them is the urgent task of opposition political leaders and all Zambians of good will. Avoid massing thousands of Zambians in one place, organised by the opposition: this is a perfect gift to Hakainde Hichilema and his UPND! It is time to resist and fight, smartly, the political evil which is now freely roaming throughout our lands, with no, or minimum bloodshed.
Send comments to: banda.azwell@gmail.com
Having an opinion, does not necessarily mean being right or intelligent. The problem in our politics is that we are so much full of ourselves, we don’t create enough time to understand issues, most things in life are not either black or white. Yes Mr Banda you have your opinions and you are entitled to them.
If you are as smart as you seem to think, then one would think that you would not be trying to alienate Zambians on regional lines and not even sarcastic labels of “praise singers “. You should be inclusive and creating arguments that bring people on your side, rather than dividing.
Can’t we raise our politics to a higher standard?
Where does HH comes in.
Someon was oout in late hours bulabula….
Later you out of 20million you just say HH this that.
Too much of hate
You mean zambians were rich when your lungu was in power?. You mean immediately hh took over power zambians became poor? Who borrowed the money? From whom did they borrow? And who failed to pay back the money? Anyway unip died in eastern under kaunda, mmd died in eastern under lupiah banda, and died in eastern under lungu all these never that they had lost power they still wanted to bounce back by any means but it didn’t work. The law only follow perpetrators it doesn’t whether hh, or lungu it grinds. You can’t hide in the name of persecution and expect the law to back track. Whether you long article trying to sway the masses it will not work.
AZ fit as language and lit lecturer. But certainly no substance at all. Nothing! Long article for NOTHING. Phew!!!!
The devil himself, OMG! This idyot ArseWell Banda is just one of those typically Tribalist PF cadres. He has nothing sensible to say except always using derogatory, insulting or demeaning words. Typical of UNZASU children but the idyot left UNZA many years ago. In fact he is a great grandfather although he still behaves like 1st year student.
There’s nothing better to expect from this very old fool except insults. What kind behaviour does he impart on his children and great grandchildren? No wonder his wife ran away from him, empty heard.
Please wake up Zambezi people! Every province is suffering! Suffering is a non-political catastrophe! HH and his elites are just using you.Join your brethren from the rest of Zambia Fight for your economic freedom. Community House is for Hichilema alone. It will not sustain you!!!