PLEASE SIT DOWN, Dr Sishuwa tells Mwiya Musokotwane, the Minister of Finance’s Son

PLEASE SIT DOWN, Dr Sishuwa tells Mwiya Musokotwane, the Minister of Finance’s Son

Sishuwa Sishuwa tweets…

Mwiya Musokotwane, I seek your indulgence to write a few paragraphs so that we can put context to how we got here for the benefit of informed public debate and interested readers. As you know, the public issues I comment on do not benefit me personally in any way.  If anything they bring huge risks but I do what I do for reasons that I have previously stated here: https://diggers.news/guest-diggers/2023/06/14/why-i-do-what-i-do/

Now let us start.  

On 8 July, I wrote and posted a letter to Hichilema in which I discussed real threats to my life and expressed my disappointment with Hichilema’s presidency on several public issues.  Here is the link to the post. https://x.com/ssishuwa/status/1942584154584916146

The following day, 9 July, one of Hichilema’s self-confessed and most vociferous supporters, Laura Miti, dismissed the threats on my life as unfounded and falsely claimed, without offering any supporting evidence, that I have previously published similar claims against other Zambian presidents, so she was tired of me singing the same song. Here is the link to Laura’s post – though she reportedly posted a longer version on Facebook where I do not have any account. https://x.com/LauraMiti/status/1942860504042528975

Here, I should briefly pause to explain why I use the word ‘falsely’. As you may know, I have been a regular commentator on Zambian politics since 2009, and my commentaries are in the public domain. Not once since then have I published anything stating that Rupiah Banda, Michael Sata or Edgar Lungu was after my life. Anyone making a claim to the contrary should provide evidence in form of my published statements that Banda, Sata or Lungu were after my life. So, in addition to dismissing my concerns without talking to me, Laura falsely attributed a position to me and proceeded to characterise what I had said as delusional using that misrepresentation of historical record. 

For reasons that I have stated previously (see here: https://x.com/ssishuwa/status/1778471670979707050), I chose not to engage Laura because I saw her effort as a deliberate attempt to distract attention from the issues I had raised in the letter by turning me into the subject. In recognition of her right to free speech, which includes understanding and tolerating those who speak confidently even on matters they least understand, I only said the following in response to her post:  

“Like any other person, you have the right to express yourself in any way, and I fully support this right.”   Here is the link to the post. https://x.com/ssishuwa/status/1942869111190745513

Enter Distant Relative.

On 9 June,@LankyObserver, who is a good friend, communicated with me to establish the facts around the very recent attempt on my life. After telling him that I had noted a few cars trailing me a few times beforehand, I explained to him that a trusted friend of mine recently asked me to pick them up from their airport. I normally avoid moving at night but made an exception on condition that he would drive on our way back home. Once on the highway, we experienced a scary incident around 8pm when two cars, both without number plates, sandwiched mine between them and almost crushed it. The one in front abruptly stopped and the one behind us came speeding at us. Fortunately, I was not driving. My friend who was driving managed to avoid hitting the one in front and escape though the one behind hit our car, causing a dent.  We reported the incident to the nearest police station after which we went to the hospital.

A police officer told us the event was not a typical car hijacking incident as we had thought. They said car hijackers usually want the car and would not do anything that would destroy it. They suggested the idea was probably to induce an accident and then if we survived, set the car and the occupants in it ablaze. It was a terrifying moment, and police are still investigating the matter to try and see if they can use road cameras to identify the faces of the culprits. This explains why I did not go into much detail in the letter, but since Distant Relative made an effort to communicate with me, I shared with him further details.  Although my main concern was the life of my rather innocent friend, I expressed my concern that had I died, no one would have known that it was me in the car or that it was my car, especially if it was burnt to ashes! I probably would have simply been another crime statistic, and UPND supporters may have been quick to point to high crime in South Africa! 

I later learnt that following our conversation, Distant Relative, without my knowledge, went to X where he posted the following: 

“If a person tells you their life is in danger and your response is to call them delusional, it signals a lack of empathy. Don’t wait until the worst happens to them. It’s how families lose people & wonder what they missed.” Here is the link to the post. https://x.com/LankyObserver/status/1942927427325542516

Based on the above abbreviated context, you will notice that Distant made the post above after he had the benefit of additional insight and was indirectly responding to Laura’s earlier dismissal of my fears.  In response to the same post, you, Mwiya Musokotwane, posted the following, without any communication with me: 

“Normal people lodge these very serious allegations with the police and provide evidence and witnesses to demonstrate said seriousness. In the absence of that;(sic) the direction of these increasingly serious allegations appears to be libelous.” Here is the link to your post. https://x.com/mwiyas/status/1942930467826577632

Your post is problematic for several reasons.

First, you jumped into something that was not directed at you. Why? I made it very clear in my letter that I do not want third parties to respond to the contents of my letter. If you read my letter, you would have noted this point and respected my desire to engage with the person I had addressed it to. Again, I ask: why did you feel the need to respond to a matter that was addressed to a very specific recipient?  If you did not read my letter, then you should have stayed away from the discussion since it would mean that you lack the required knowledge and understanding that should inform your opinion on the subject. 

Second, you implied that I am not part of what you consider to be “normal people” since I have not reported anything to the police nor presented evidence or witness testimony in support of what I stated in the letter. You never bothered to ask if I had reported anything I had said to the police. You simply assumed and concluded that I had not done so before writing my letter and therefore went against what “normal people” do. I do not know when you, Mwiya Musokotwane, obtained the medical qualifications devoted to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of deleterious mental conditions to pronounce yourself authoritatively on my mental state – even in the absence of a physical examination. The last time I checked, you were an economist! However, if you are now a qualified psychiatrist, then please accept my congratulations for your additional achievement as well as your remarkable capacity to diagnose someone’s condition remotely. 

Thirdly, like Laura and other supporters of the establishment, you never bothered to establish if I am okay before you resorted to trafficking in assumptions. Your primary interest was not my welfare but the possible harm to the reputation of Hichilema or those whom you felt I may have defamed in my letter. In exhibiting this conduct, you ironically demonstrated the importance of the very point that Distant Relative was making. You could not even pretend that you care for the life of another person, a fellow citizen. Your immediate and overriding concern was the false assumption that I was making potentially libelous allegations, which you did not even disclose, against those for whom you care. 

After all this, you turn around and say, “Dr Sishuwa, let us have respectful, constructive and objective dialogue”. You even have the audacity to claim that you care for Zambia! Where is your expressed outrage against the corruption, tribalism, authoritarian tendencies, the constant lies, and careless debt contraction of Hichilema’s regime? Where is your stated outrage against those in power today who are condemning Zambians to 17 consecutive hours of darkness through load shedding, who are robbing the poor of their dignity through policies that favour foreign commercial interests, who are making a kill through stinky oil deals (brokered in UAE soon after the election in 2021) with their local business associates even when they order the petroleum products at prices that are way cheaper than that what they sell, at inflated rate, to the poor consumer in Zambia, and who are violating the Constitution and have no respect for court rulings? 

Argh, Mwiya Musokotwane! There is a lot of rot in this regime, like the one before it, and people like you who pretend that you care for Zambia make my blood boil! Please pause for a moment and seek to understand the gravity of the issues you are commenting on before you do.

I repeat, please sit down!

Source: https://x.com/ssishuwa/status/1943329489502499189