DON’T PROTEST OUTSIDE, COME INSIDE STATE HOUSE – HH

By Kellys Kaunda

DON’T PROTEST OUTSIDE, COME INSIDE STATE HOUSE – HH

In a calculated move, Hichilema has invited would-be protesters not to go ahead and protest outside State House but instead get inside and sit down with him.

Outside, the protests would be broadcast to the rest of the country and beyond.

He can’t influence the narrative if the protest is outside.

It would make him look bad in the eyes of both Zambians and the international community.

But inviting them inside would make him look good – a good leader and a statesman.

Sitting down with them would give him an opportunity to study each of the protesters up close and personal hoping to see vulnerabilities he could exploit for his own political ends.

However, he is not under-estimating this lot. He knows that together, they are a tough nut to crack,  a stubborn lot.

Even inside State House, they have the potential to foil his agenda and embarrass him.

If HH capitulates, it may seem a sign of weakness. But that’s just on the surface.

Inside, it’s a sign of a leader who listens, credentials that must endear him to the public.

Hichilema really needs this. The energy deficit in the country must be giving him headaches and threatening his continued stay in power.

So, he needs something that could give him hope of staying at the helm.

The prospects of losing power just after one term while his nemesis, PF, is regrouping, must be a nightmare that must be giving him sleepless nights.

For the would-be protesters, their “threat” of embarrassing him by staging a protest on his door-steps would have achieved its purpose.

Protests are potentially a very powerful political device to extract concessions from stubborn regimes.

There is enough dataset from around the world to prove their effectiveness.

Especially protests that have taken place at the gates of palaces, official residencies of public officials or their offices, they are powerful displays of people power that have scared even the strongest of dictators.

With his infamous trip to Tanzania recently (where he faced regional criticism) fresh on his mind, Hichilema may want to use this interaction with protesters to indirectly dismiss suggestions that he can be as vicious to those opposed to his views as his counterpart in the East African nation.

It therefore seems to be a win-win-situation. It may be the right time to steer him away from Bill7.