The President of the Republic of Zambia Mr. Hakainde Hichilema Statehouse
Lusaka
20th September, 2022 Dear Sir,
RE: GROSS DISRESPECT OF WOMEN AND DETERIORATING PUBLIC DISCOURSE UNDER YOUR LEADERSHIP IS BECOMING A NATIONAL CRISIS
Reference is made to above.
The UPND has been in office for a year now and while there are a few areas were your party has scored, the issues of gender, women and blatant disrespect of women by your officials, UPND cadres and people that surround you is becoming a huge source of concern.
As a member of the opposition and a President of a political party for that matter, I have a Right to provide checks and balances in whatever way I see fit, without being insulted by your party leaders.
The UPND is not the first party to be in office and there were no insults like this from all your predecessors, at least not to this extent.
I wonder why criticisms by female leaders are said to be due to sexual starvation by your party members and yet we do not hear them say the same about the men.
We never say that men are making bad political decisions due to impotence, low libido, homosexuality and other stuff, but stick to and not deteriorate the political discourse to assume bedroom issues of male leaders, as they do with women.
So I urge you, Mr. President, to bring sanity to our politics because if we hit back, the Zambian political discourse will be filled with bedroom assumptions and not real issues, like we see in other countries.
Or as it was before your party ascended to power.
I write this letter to bring to your attention the latest insults that one of your appointees has written against me.
Kindly find enclosed my article on Chellah Tukuta’s appointment and his response on the same.
I know that anyone who insults in your name or is a UPND supporter has immunity for such despicable behavior, but I want to put it on record that these are the kinds of insults that most of your officials hurl at women just in case you never see them. These are people that are working for you and supported by you, all because the insults are against the opposition, they seem to have government blessings.
I have also copied the international community so that they know what is going on in the Country and the levels of abuse that women are undergoing under your watch, by people that are so close to you.
And also the same way we run to the IMF and other institutions for our economic decisions, maybe politically we are also unable to govern ourselves with civility.
For this reason, I call upon your office, the international community and all well meaning Zambians to help stop this kind of discourse because when it deteriorates further, no one will be spared. Even the Sedition law will not work for you as President because you will not manage to jail everyone and people will begin to insult you without yournsupport.
Your people and probably even you, justify that it is in order to attack and insult the female opposition leaders like that. Any political comment we make ends up in our bedrooms and you are watching that.
That is totally unacceptable and has to be brought to a stop, otherwise no one’s bedroom will be safe.
We criticize you and your government based on the policies, pronouncements and decisions you make. We also always try to go beyond the reasons you give to the public and analyse, as well as give the public the reasons we feel you make decisions.
You were in the opposition for a long time sir, you know how this works.
So to always receive insults that leave the political platforms and enter our bedrooms as women is totally unacceptable.
You need to bring a stop to this otherwise, I repeat, no one’s bedroom will be safe. Be it that of men and women, or even yours Mr. President.
And let me emphasise that bedroom Affairs are private and so people make all these disgusting remarks towards women based on assumption.
So there will be nothing stopping us from making assumptions about men also. So if all women that comment on politics are sexually starved, then maybe Zambia is being poorly governed due to impotent men.
Such levels of discourse will continue to make this country look and get filthier and civility in our politics will continue to elude us. I wonder why your people think that sex and politics are one and the same thing and that they can openly discuss women’s sexuality like that. We are sometimes insulted by boys and girls young enough to be our children and as long as they call themselves praise singers and insult us for your benefit they feel protected.
Sometimes it is big people with wives, daughters and mothers that feel comfortable insulting someone else’s daughter, wife, mother, spouse or sister.
As a mother of 3 children, it really pains me to see a Zambia that has lost so much direction and respect for women in just one year of your presidency.
Sadly, most opposition and ruling parties in Zambia never have good relationships, but not what we are seeing under your leadership. This is totally unacceptable.
I look forward to your urgent guidance in this matter and hearing from you soon. Yours faithfully, Saboi Imboela President National Democratic Congress, NDC Phone: 0979- 199644 Email: saboiimboela@yahoo.co.uk