By Austin Mbozi
President Hakainde Hichilema’s advisors should advise him to voluntarily refund the State costs of his 26 January South African trip.
First, refunding will make him extremely popular in Zambia and abroad as a role model sacrificing for his poor compatriots. Ideally, I should have secretly advised him without publicity in this newspaper so that the idea should seem to come right from his heart. But some advisors around him cannot let me access him, just like they were preventing me from seeing him while he was in opposition. Why? Because they fear that he will like me once he meets me. Why? Because everyone who chats with me ends up liking me even when I don’t dress smartly and I only ‘drive’ a mere bicycle. Yet, I hate being liked, especially by my fellow males.
I speak my mind and usually annoy dishonest people because I don’t strive for jobs or promotions. Why? Because I have already achieved far more than my childhood ambition. My hard studying to pass number one at Namayani Primary School in chief Mungule was not motivated by ambition to enter university. With many of my male classmates we were motivated to learn English so that we should be able to propose in English those beautiful village girls like Charity Kambela while our ‘chick’-rivals proposed ‘chicks’ in our Lenje language.
Second, refunding will prove his seriousness with his ‘refund-and-be-forgiven’ policy against former ruling PF thief-thugs. Yes, President HH neither broke the law nor stole his trips funds. But his own policy forced Faith Musonda to return the K65 million even when no evidence of theft was given. Corruption fighter hero Levy Mwanawasa showed good example. When he realised that the plot, he legally bought from Lusaka City Council belonged to UNZA he voluntarily and secretly returned it in 1992. When he was President in 2002, opposition FDD leader Simon Zukas media-publicised about Mwanawasa’s ‘corruptly-obtained’ plot. He was embarrassed. Mwanawasa’s press aide Jack Kalala disclosed that Mwanawasa had already returned the plot. The one showing a bad example is former South African President Jacob Zuma who refused to refund the 215 million Rand used to refurbish his Nkandla home, forcing courts to order him.
Okay, yes, President HH may have gone on a working visit but merely passed through his friend Greg Mills to help him sell his book. But what will stop his appointee press aide Clayson Hamasaka from going on government-funded working visit to Mazabuka but drive the government vehicle all the way to his Gaali village in Mbabala to visit his childhood village footballer-mate Rusmas Chiyuni? The fact that financial controllers of an African state have approved a president’s cost does not mean that there is no problem. They fear presidents and can even release money from his verbal instructions. Even Edgar Lungu whom we condemned was not breaking the law by travelling expensively with huge personnel.
Third, refunding will earn him support for his future foreign trips. President HH has rightly reduced his costs per trip. But his trips’ annual costs will not differ from Edger Lungu’s if he adds controversial trips to his already increasing number of trips.
Fourth, there is some merit in what the opposition/ media are complaining about that trip. But as the President’s ardent supporter I am not accusing him of intentionally using State funds to go ‘galavanting’ (as Socialist Party president Fred M’membe humorously put it). But we must also understand the opposition’s view in this analogy. Imagine a kapaso (village headman’s clerk) in Bweengwa village wants to visit his girlfriend in Shantumbu village, but he has no cash and bicycle. So, he makes a plan; he asks his headman Bweengwa to give him a bicycle and ‘lunch money’ so that he takes the headman’s letters to headman Shantumbu. Headman Bweengwa does not really need to urgently send these letters but because kapaso has volunteered to take them he allows it. The kapaso then goes to deliver the letters at the headman as a ‘courtesy call’, then he visits his girlfriend. Has he abused his privilege? The opposition thinks he has because delivering the letters was not necessary. So they think President HH just wanted to visit his friend but cooked up an official visit because he had ‘kaso’ (stinginess) to use his personal money.
Mwebantu! Just what are a sitting President’s privileges? Supposing a Zambian President wants to visit his friends locally or abroad, should she or he use their personal money and security? Recall that the opposition complained that President HH needed to use State security personnel trained to protect presidents, not his private body guards he had while in opposition. And News Diggers newspaper suggested that it is not right security-wise for him to travel to USA using ‘public’ aero planes. They advised him to just use the Presidential Challenger plane but arrest PF-thief thugs who bought it irregularly. If so, then who pays fuel, security costs and lodging for a president who travels on the private visit? Anyway, refunding is the best compromise in response to such boarder-line questions.
Fifth, President HH, with personal wealth estimates of US $389 million, loses nothing by refunding. As a private citizen he global-travelled with his wife and family members. And with his CV as former president he will for life receive State support while his businesses are to expand because of this very CV. We admire HH because he earned his wealth from pure hard work. Nobody respects properties, even honestly earned, from political jobs like the property of Cornelius Mweetwa, Bowman Lusambo, Amos Chanda, Edith Nawakwi or Edgar Lungu. We respect politicians who serve diligently like Edify Hamukale.
Sixth, refunding will prove he listens to opposition leaders so that Zambians do not re-vote for PF thief-thief-thugs like they tried in the recent Kabwata by-election.
The author supports UPND while agreeing with Thomas Hobbes that absolute power corrupts absolutely, even to UPND appointees. Phone: +260 978 741920. Email: austin-mbozi2017@gmail.com.