Wynter Munacaambwa Kabimba

KABIMBA VOICES OUT ON HH PRESS CONFERENCE

A Press Conference of Personal Sensitivities.
After a long time without hearing a word from the Republican President I was on edge with great expectation when I heard that he will be addressing the nation on Monday 25th April, 2022 at 10:00 hours. Because of the importance attached to the event I decided to give myself a day off from my schedule of work. I also did not want to read a paraphrased version of what he had said in the print media or indeed hear it from any person.

According to my time, the press briefing was behind time by one and quarter hours. But I remembered and consoled myself that the Head of State is never late but he can only be delayed, and surely my patience finally paid off.


The President began by reminding the nation that he and all his colleagues were servants of the people and that as such they should be subjected to public scrutiny at all time, minus Stanley Kakubo of course. He once again assured the nation that under UPND the rule of law would be the bedrock of the fight against corruption and hence the slow pace at which, to the grudging discomfort of the citizens, it seems to be moving. The success story of the graft fight he said, is seen in the loans advanced to tertiary students from the recovered proceeds.

Hichilema then showered himself with praise as to how he has promoted the rule of law. “I was arrested many times and today Given Lubinda who didn’t give me police bond was himself given bond,’’ he said, without elaborating how the minister of justice is responsible for bonding suspects. He then turned to what became the main theme of his press briefing, his political opponents. “Those who tell lies must face the law,’’ in reference to Raphael Nakachinda who was arrested in Kafue in the morning of the same day of the press conference. Now, all of us who subscribe to the Christian faith know that lying is a sin. It is, however, not a criminal offence, otherwise he himself would have been charged and imprisoned many times when he was in the opposition.

The intimidation which is being perpetrated by the police against Nakachinda is not that he has lied but that by expressing himself in the language which HH does not competently understand, he has criminally defamed him as President. You could see this in his attempted translation of the Bemba word “Ubututu’’ which in reference to a person means backwardness, ignorance or primitivity and not “foolishness’’ or “stupidity’’ which is the translation he preferred to the word. What is, however, surprising is that Her Honor the Vice President who is of the Bemba stock a Christian and a teacher by profession is unable to rise in defence of her native language and vocabulary. Anyway, she has to keep her job at the expense of justice and victimization of innocent citizens like Nakachinda.

In reminiscing his life in the opposition he went on to remind us about the injustice he suffered. “If this president had allowed revenge after 16 August, 2021, there would have been a bloodbath’’ he said. I followed Nelson Mandela during his presidency, a man who spent 27 years in prison on Robben Island under Apartheid but never did I hear from him the level of piety, self-praise and self-righteousness like what I heard from HH during his last press briefing. He also looked and sounded like a man yearning for vengeance and not forgiveness by righting the wrongs of the past. I only hope I am wrong and misreading him.


Another victim of the President was Nixon Chilangwa who blamed voters in his song for voting pa N’gombe. This is about 3 months ago, but this is still sitting well in the chest of the President who claims that he is not seeking revenge against anyone but only allowing the rule of law to prevail.

I am reminded of Mathew 12:34 where Jesus says “For whatever is in your heart determines what you say.’’ We cannot see what is in HH’s heart but let us listen to what he says. This is very difficult for anyone to believe.

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