HH ‘SECRETLY’ APOLOGISES TO CATHOLIC BISHOPS…and orders the arrest of Sishuwa on trumped-up charges – Cabinet Minister

HH ‘SECRETLY’ APOLOGISES TO CATHOLIC BISHOPS…and orders the arrest of Sishuwa on trumped-up charges – Cabinet Minister

By Larry Moonze(The Mast)

A CABINET minister has disclosed that President Hakainde Hichilema has secretly apologised to the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) over the conduct of the police towards the Bishop of Kabwe Clement Mulenga and former president Edgar Lungu.

But State House says the President’s stance is to dialogue and not “exchange unpalatable issues in the media.”

Meanwhile, the senior official whose job would be jeopardised by its disclosure revealed that police have been directed to find a pretext on which to arrest South Africa-based academic Sishuwa Sishuwa when he returns to Zambia to launch his book.

The minister expressed concern that the President was losing the plot.

“You know, there are things that we are doing that do not make sense. I can tell you that even those of us who are inside government we do not know if the President knows what is going on or he simply does not understand. Because how do you explain a situation where we are doing the very things that we condemned Lungu and PF for? We are preventing opposition parties from holding rallies, making it appear like we are afraid of these people. We are allowing our cadres to beat and insult people sometimes in full view of the police,” the source said. “I am sure you saw those cadres who insulted the former president when he escorted his family to DEC for interviews. We are arresting people and keeping them in detention longer than necessary. All these things are making us unpopular with the people and the results will be counterproductive. But it is like the President together with the Minister of Home Affairs [Jack Mwiimbu] and the police IG [Graphel Musamba] simply don’t care. Sometimes I ask myself, has this man lost the plot?”

The source complained that the conduct of the police is making the government unpopular.

“The incident that happened in Kabwe on 17 May where the police stormed the office of the Bishop of Kabwe the Right Reverend Clement Mulenga when the former head of state was paying a courtesy call on him was totally unnecessary. That incident really put us in bad light. When such things happen, the President should be willing to sacrifice certain people. He could have either publicly reprimanded that overzealous policeman or his boss the IG or even the Minister of Home Affairs. That way, you send a strong message to the public that you don’t condone lawlessness or what happened,” the source said. “But everyone remains in their position to date. This is bad because it creates the impression that the President approves the shocking conduct we saw from the police or that it is him who sent the police to do what they did. No wonder you saw that strong-worded letter from the president of the Catholic Bishops, Reverend Ignatius Chama who is also the Archbishop of Kasama. It tells you that the Catholics are angry with us. Mind you, there is already a perception that the government is fighting the Catholic Church, that we are out to contain their influence. It is hard to overcome these perceptions when we keep on picking up unnecessary battles. The attacks by the [UPND] SG [Batuke Imenda] on the [Arch] bishop of Lusaka [Dr Alick Banda] set the stage for this bad blood between the Catholics and us in government. Even in that instance, the President should have immediately distanced the government from the SG’s comments, but he did not. That makes it look like the SG’s attacks were sanctioned by the President. And you will recall that when Sean Tembo sued the SG for hate speech, the DPP [Gilbert Phiri] blocked the case. All these things make us look bad.”

The minister revealed that to reduce tension between the government and the Catholics, President Hichilema has since apologised to the ZCCB.

“I do not know if it is true but [name of the person withheld] was telling me that the President has written and sent an apology to the president of the ZCCB on what happened in Kabwe, but on a letter labelled SECRET. I said you should have told the President to make the letter public, just like the Catholics themselves did with their own letter to him, because no one can discuss classified information. Making the letter public shows that you mean what you are saying and goes a long way in bridging the divide. I am saying this because if it is true that a letter of apology was issued and that it is classified, it means no one can talk about it. Even the recipient cannot share the letter of apology with other bishops because that would be unlawful,” the source said. “I did not see the letter or its contents but when I asked [name withheld] how they expect the same letter to be disseminated, I was told that the purpose was stop people like Given Lubinda who were quoted in Daily Nation saying ‘HH cannot apologise to the Catholics’. The other objective is to enable the government to respond to this incident in future by saying ‘the matter is now water under the bridge as the issue has been amicably resolved between the two parties’. But I do not think the Catholics can easily be fooled that way. The bishops are not stupid. We really can do better, but the President must step up and take charge of the ship.”

The source bemoaned President Hichilema’s failure to manage relationships.

“The arrest of Mr Changala was totally unnecessary. There are people whose job is to talk. Who in this country does not know that Mr Changala is a civil rights activist? You don’t arrest such people. You simply ignore them and let them talk. Do you know that Mr Changala is a close friend of the boss? Now look at the way he was treated. They kept him in custody for a week over what he said in relation to the disappearance of Hon [Emmanuel Jay] Banda. Now if you are going to charge him with espionage, it means you are conceding that the state was involved in the disappearance because espionage has to do with access to state secrets. So what information about the disappearance of Hon. Banda did Mr Changala access that was State secret or classified?” the source wondered. “You see why I am saying police are making us unpopular? But I also blame the boss because that is not how you treat friends. You see Larry, relationships are built over a long time. You do not destroy them over politics. The life span of politics is short, but the boss is very poor at managing relationships. Do you know that as I speak to you now, he has given instructions that the police must arrest and slap trumped-up charges such as sedition, hate speech or espionage on Dr Sishuwa Sishuwa when he comes from South Africa for his book launch next month? If you ask me, this would be another unnecessary blunder that would just attract bad international coverage. Is the guy really a threat to anyone? I personally don’t think so. Just ignore him. He is not that important. I was talking to someone from Cabinet Office the other day who mentioned that Dr Sishuwa has even invited the President to the same book launch, and for me, that is an excellent opportunity for the boss to show that he is above petty politics, is a stateman who can easily interact with his harsh critics and rise to the occasion when the moment demands. So why arrest a person who is offering you an opportunity to show leadership? And for what? I really don’t understand what is going on because it is mind boggling. I am amazed that at a time when we should show leadership over many issues that seriously affect our people, we are concentrating on arrests, the PF, and other useless activities that simply make us look bad. There is so much excitement with power. You can probably get away with arresting politicians but when you start touching scholars or civil society activists like Mr Changala, you attract bad public reaction and even international media headlines.”

Asked why they cannot confront the President and advise him properly, the source said: “I prefer my peace. I do not know what has happened but HH has changed. He is not the person I knew when we were in opposition. Of late he is aggressive. I wish you would see how he tells off some of my colleagues in Cabinet. It is embarrassing. So unless he asks for my views, I will keep quiet and go with the flow.”

When reached for comment, State House chief communications specialist Clayson Hamasaka said he needed to cross check about the President’s apology.

“As you might know, the President’s stance is to dialogue and not address issues in the media. We don’t exchange unpalatable issues in the media. If you see everywhere we go the President engages the clergy,” explained Hamasaka. “You can’t solve anything in the media. Ultimately society loses out if you engage through the media. And you lose direction. That’s the stance of the President, dialogue.”