I spent 8 days at Central Police and one day at Chimbokaila before being released on bail for a case called “Idle and disorderly”, a misdemeanor case which is also given to people for curfew (Shishita). At Chimbokaila, I was in cell 13, the same cell where president Hakainde Hichilema was when he was arrested for treason.
That is why, when I Iook at the people taking credit for a fight they were not even a part of, and a raw deal, it makes me laugh.
We started fighting for the restructure of the HELSB policies in 2018. In 2021 during campaigns, the president simpathized with us and promised that he was going to remove the high and draconian interest rate and monthly deductions which sometimes goes up to 60% of an individuals basic salary immediately he was voted into power, but this was not the case. The fight solidified in 2022 after I launched a massive mobilisation campaign on social media and other media platforms. We formed a committee called the HELSB Restructure Campaign Committee (HELSB-RCC) from a WhatsApp group comprising of at least 850 graduates and students. The committee has played a huge part in terns of planning and contributing resources for programs such that without it, nothing would have happened and I would have been in jail right now.
We started by petitioning HELSB in April 2022, then I did a lone naked protest on 21st May, 2022 where I delivered a petition letter to the ministry of Education. The PS, Mr. Joel Kamoko called us for a meeting, and we concluded that we, as stakeholders, should submit a concept note (position paper) outlining our proposals and that after that, we were going to be called for restructure committee meetings so that we could participate in the restructure process. We were never called for any meeting even after making necessary follow ups, therefore, the restructure was not transparent or participatory.
When nothing happened and our proposals were not included in the 2024 national budget, I did another naked lone protest on 28th September, 2023 where I intended to take a petition to state house. That was when I was arrested taken to Chimbokaila. Many of you saw it, I was holding a pamela and cooking oil in a small plastic, you just thought I was protesting against high cost of living because you didn’t read what was on the placard I was holding. The HESB-RCC committee pushed for my bail and sourced for a lawyer for me through contributions. When I got out, I found that the landlady was a UPND member who even has a position at constituency level, she chased me out of the house, she even reported me at the police station that I was refusing to move out, I had to find a house at a sudden notice and shifted.
The reduction of the interest rate which was done by the government is just a small component of the proposals which we made and a political mingalato(gimmick) which does not even address the many challenges which graduates are facing due to student loans. So it’s only the government, praise singers and uniformed poor students who are celebrating the change they know nothing about. Therefore, we are still organizing a bush protest since the police refused to allow us to go ahead with a normal protest to show our displeasure.
What we proposed was
- Reduction of high interest rate
- Reduction of high monthly charges
- Stopping penalties accrued by unemployed graduates
- The government to rescind it’s decision to list poor and unemployed graduates on the TransUnion’s Credit Reference Bureau.
By DAVID CHISHIMBA
HELSB-RCC COORDINATOR
You may have had a good idea, but your execution was dumb and inviting the police to act on breaking the laws. You know it’s illegal to parade yourself in public naked. You also display a psychotic pattern of behaviour. Assess how you conduct yourself in public, and if you need to protest over a just cause let others you are more grounded lead the protest.