HICHILEMA: TYRANNY ON THE RISE AS FREEDOM FADES
The escalating crisis of governance and democracy in Zambia under Mr Hakainde Hichilema and the UPND is tragic and most unfortunate for the country.
The dramatic rise in tyranny, ethnic bigotry, grand corruption, tribalism, and other vices under the UPND has left a deep dent on the unity, patriotism, and democracy of this country. Things are no longer the same anymore. Under Mr Hichilema, authoritarianism has returned with vengeance. The escalation of despotism is unbelievable.
It’s painful to see opposition politicians, private citizens, and other critical voices degraded and dehumanised through untold and unseen repression and hardship without any tolerance and restraint from Mr Hichilema and his administration.
It is no longer a secret that Mr Hichilema has set this country on a risky path of destruction. The thoughtless manner in which this administration has been circumventing the law and abusing state institutions in an attempt to destroy political opponents is a clear testament of the criminal intentions of this administration.
This government has literally incapacitated the rule of law and constitutional order in this country, and they are going about their daily business with impunity, without oversight or regard for the moral, political and economic effects of their actions. They have been blatant with their systematic destruction of state institutions with the single resolve of reigning with fear and terror.
All these draconian manoeuvres coupled with the high cost of living, hunger, unstable exchange rate, skyrocketing mealie meal prices, and rampant shortages have made life unbearable for many. The citizens have resigned to fate. They’re hopeless and helpless. They’re pained and frustrated with this incorrigible, manipulative, and fraudulent regime. The people are bitterly disappointed.
But for Mr Hichilema and his league, it’s pretty much business as usual. They see nothing wrong with their repressive tendencies. This is a leadership that is seriously obsessed with power and accumulation and remains distant to the hard-hitting reality facing the majority of citizens on the ground.
Mr Hichilema and his league are trying to entrench themselves without hesitation through manipulation of the law, political and economic exclusion of critics, exercise of physical violence and force, intimidation, and malicious abuse of governance systems.
Under Mr Hichilema and the UPND, a sober, unitary, and visionary solution to the country’s present challenges remains a non-starter. The realistic chance of returning to real governance and democracy under this leadership keeps getting dimmer each day that passes. Clearly, they’re a bad sample of politicians a country must never wish for.
And for democracy to thrive in this country once again, Zambians must recreate it themselves, as Mr Hichilema and his administration won’t give it to them easily. They’re resolved to destroy our democracy. They’re resolved to take us back to the painful past of the one-party rule.
Let’s bravely defy Mr Hichilema’s despotic adventures.
Zambia chalo chesu bonse!
Fred M’membe
President of the Socialist Party