HH says “There is nothing like Climate Change, it is just lack of visionary leadership” : Yes, our President is right here
By Dr. Chris Zumani Zimba
This article is written in the spirit of providing checks and balances, promoting transparent governance, enhancing political integrity and holding our national leadership accountable. Let’s quickly walk the political talk and focus only on twelve (12) points and conclude.
1. While in opposition before 2021, President Hakainde Hichilema (HH) repeatedly said that ‘government leaders should never use natural occurrences such as climate change (droughts or floods) as an excuse of failing to deliver quality public services. Any leader who blames climate change lacks visionary leadership and is not fit to govern a country’, one HH used to stress and boast.
2. Yes, president HH is very right and correct. There are many examples that justifies and supports his philosophical policy approach. As he correctly points out, it is political leadership that is a key determinant on wether citizens sink or float during natural disasters such as droughts, earthquakes, floods or volcanic eruptions. Leaders are supposed to solve problems or prevent problems from happening.
3. The presidency is an institution of supreme leadership for the nation under the state. A president is elected to identify issues affecting the people and provide solutions to them. He/she is a citizen chosen by fellow citizens to resolve, manage and mitigate their problems in all areas using the state. So, HH is correct:”there is nothing like climate change but lack of visionary leadership”.
4. Libya is a desert with limited surface water resources. But Muammar Gaddafi as its ruler created the Great Man Made River in the 1980s of more 1,600 km to tap groundwater. Today, more than 70% million citizens depend on this water for drinking and Agric irrigation projects. Like HH said, it was the great leadership of Gaddafi here that has made Libyan people and economy to survive harsh climatic conditions for decades using this man made river.
5. In September, 2023, Morocco was hit by a violent earthquake that killed more than 2,900, over 5,500 injured, up to 500,000 displaced and affected nearly 2.8 million of Morocco’s 37 million inhabitants. Here is a case of climate change and natural occurrences imposing a huge disaster on Morocco in unexpected circumstances.
6. Did the Moroccan leaders curse God and throw excuses to justify their people’s hardships and malaises? No. Like Bally said, Morocco has a visionary government in place and does not give excuses to climate change or natural disasters to deliver quality public services to their people and govern them accordingly to government’s supreme mandate.
7. An organized Moroccan government announced a U$12 billion for disaster recovery program, and every affected household to receive U$250 monthly for a one-year period. Compensation for destroyed properties was set at U$14,000 and U$8,000 for partial destruction respectively. An account was opened to collect donations from companies and citizens, and High Atlas Development Agency was created to supervise the recovery process among other interventions. This is great leadership!
8. By end of 2023, Jesko Hentschel from World Bank said: “Morocco has shown strong resilience in the face of a number of shocks, most recently the September earthquake”. Today, Morocco’s economy is back on track with the tourism, agriculture, FDI and manufacturing sectors booming stronger again. Due to visionary leadership, Morocco is still an icon of the region today as if they never kissed a huge earthquake.
9. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), they are engulfed in deep ocean waters, heavy sand and hot deserts. Temperatures are abnormal and humanly unbearable. But today, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Umm Al Qaiwain, Fujairah, Ajman, and Ras Al Khaimah are among the most developed and visited cities in the world with shared citizen prosperity. As HH said, it is the visionary leadership of UEA that has distinguished itself: no rhetoric excuses for bad whether conditions or climate change.
10. But the case of Zambia under President HH himself is the total opposite. When he took over power in August 2021, HH found food security with maize reserves of over 2 million metric tons at FRA. This is stock made by President Edgar Chagwa Lungu from 2019 to 2021 itself. The PF government was visionary enough to keep maize reserves that could feed Zambia for two years in case of drought or any natural catastrophe affecting agriculture.
11. President HH, his Agric Minister, Mtolo Phiri and cabinet impulsively saw money and not national maize reserves. Against expert advice, they promptly exported over 1.5 million tons to DR Congo for cash. Now, HH is declaring the 2023 drought as a national disaster and crying for relief food with GMOs already on the market. Zambia is now sinking into a food crisis: thousands of people face hunger, starvation and death.
12. At the funeral of Julius Caesar, Mark Antony said: “I have not come to mourn Caesar, but I have only come to bury him “. Today, l have also not come to mourn HH for declaring the 2024 drought as a national disaster, l have only come to hold Bally accountable about what he said on climate change before 2021. I have come to remind and agree with him that “there is nothing like climate change here, it is simply lack of leadership vision”.
Let me end here. By declaring the 2024 drought as a national disaster, president HH has not only conceded policy defeat about what he said and promised before August 2021, he has confirmed that he is only a vainly sweet talker: a rhetoric politician only anointed with lies without true leadership vision and competences. Therefore, l am not fit to mourn or bury such a man, I leave it to our voters in 2026 to finish what they brought upon themselves in August 2021.
Dr Chris ZUMANI Zimba is a Political Scientist, Researcher, Author & Consultant specialized in Comparative Global Governance and Democratic Theories. He holds a PhD, MA, BA and Cert in Political Science. Zimba was President Lungu’s Political Advisor from December 2019 to August 2021. By philosophical approach, Dr. Zimba is a Pan Africanist as well as Afro-Christian by religion.
Email: chriszumaniZimba.cz@gmail.com
HH put his measurement of the PF vision at 10 degrees while placing that of the UPND before even getting into office at 360 degrees. Could we say now that the UPND is in office and they wiped out our maize reserves by selling to the DRC without taking into account meteorological forecasts of drought that their vision is at 360 degrees? HH overrated himself and thought he was more intelligent than those that ruled before him. As the English say, PRIDE COMES BEFORE THE FALL. HH even called the national day of prayer useless. It reminds me of PK Chishala’s song in which he sang: “mwilashenteka Lesa mwebanandi pantu Lesa alasebanya ilingi line pa menso ya bantu.” God is still humbling HH for thinking he is the best thing that ever happened to Zambia.
One matero doctor encouraged by another matero doctor…….nga temungulu Nishi it’s just 2 plain stupid pfidiot doctors!!!!
For those hell bent on demonising HH, one of the challenges associated with climate change is load shedding. HH and his team didn’t sort it out in one day or in an instant, but today the extent of load shedding is not as it was during chipante pante PeeEfu era. Solar plants to generate electricity are in the pipe line to supplement hydro power.
Learn to appreciate you farken idiots.
The other climate change related issue of food security is also requires consistent application of alternative solutions over many years.
Zambians elected a visionary leader, not a magician.
Feel free to relocate to Zimbabwe or South Africa where they have 12 hours or more per day of load shedding.
Hakainde is just a conman. You can never take anything he says seriously. He always does the exact opposite of what he does.
As voters, we have a simple duty to perform in 2026. No more ama rubbish.
Hakainde is just a conman. You can never take anything he says seriously. He always does the exact opposite of what he says. A liar.
As voters, we have a simple duty to perform in 2026. No more ama rubbish.
Some Paparazzi Stalker Bloggers just spend the whole their time looking for and negative commenting on any Article directly or remotely connecting the President. Do some people never get tired of hammering on the same Subject or it is an incurable Addiction, eish?
Just admit you promise HEAVEN then you deliver HELL, anyway they both start with H may be hence HH.