HICHILEMA’S DISASTROUS LEADERSHIP
It is no longer in doubt that Mr Hakainde Hichilema and his corrupt regime are a disaster. And like many people in the country today, we are numb with the growing sense of helplessness and hopelessness.
There is nothing working in this country at the moment. People are hungry and miserable. Their livelihood has transformed rapidly into a worse situation than they could have imagined. Indeed, this has been a long, exhausting, and unbearably painful period for the entire country.
Oddly, Mr Hichilema and his corrupt regime have failed to see the effects of their poor leadership and economic disorder on the population. They have failed to see the monumental mess they have created and how they have impoverished multitudes of Zambians. And they keep saying and doing things like its business as usual. What is even more painful is that when people complain against this untold suffering and hardship, they are lectured in a sarcastic and unempathetic tone.
Further, apart from the reckless abandonment of principles, integrity and credibility, Mr Hichilema and his league have also exhibited a serious lack of ability to recognise, comprehend and experience the emotions, feelings and thoughts of the people. They have chosen to put on a cold-blooded governance style as a substitute to an emotional, humanistic way, and they are unapologetic about it. No wonder Mr Hichilema finds it easier to blame the people for his failures and acts like he is doing Zambians a favour by being president. He has unashamedly refused to be answerable to the people. But where will all this callousness and arrogance take them?
Mr Hichilema doesn’t understand that broadly, the people already know that he is a liar and a manipulator. They know that he is not one whose word should be taken seriously. In simple terms, the people are fully aware that the country is in a deep mess and nothing seems to be working anymore. Zambians also know that, a larger part of this mess starts from Mr Hichilema and his league’s extreme corruption and looting of public resources, tribalism, abuse of state institutions, lack of constitutionalism and democracy, breakdown in the rule of law, and shrinking of the democratic space.
This is a government that is not only undemocratic and repressive but predominantly worships and believes in trafficking with and aiding foreign interests at the expense of its own citizens. Their cause has nothing to do with the suffering masses of this country but has everything to do with boosting foreign interests as well as the profits of Mr Hichilema’s friends and business associates. To them, the present pain and misery they have inflicted on our people is not a priority. It’s an administration that is filled with detached and self-indulgent individuals who only care about themselves and their business interests.
Zambians have lost hope in Mr Hichilema and regard every statement from him as meaningless talk, intended to trick them or conceal the truth about the situation facing the country. Mr Hichilema and his corrupt regime have lost honour, credibility, and acceptability of the people.
It’s just a matter of time. Otherwise, Mr Hichilema is gone already.
Fred M’membe
President of the Socialist Party