RESIDENT HICHILEMA’S LACK OF POLITICAL SENSITIVITY HAS TAKEN UPND TO AN EARLY POLITICAL GRAVE- John Noel Lungu

PRESIDENT HICHILEMA’S LACK OF POLITICAL SENSITIVITY HAS TAKEN UPND TO AN EARLY POLITICAL GRAVE.

By John Noel Lungu

INTRODUCTION

It is painful to see a party that people had held in high esteem with so much faith being wasted away because of its leaders lack of strategy, political maturity ,basic sensitivity and emotional intelligence.

Most Zambians feel betrayed and taken aback by almost quarter a century on the governance and development calendar.

ANALYSIS

RESPECT ACHIEVEMENTS OF YOUR PREDECESSOR.

In as much as HH has never liked his predecessor, the President should have at least picked a few positives from President Lungu. Just like it will be unwise for the next leader to completely do away with the successes of the current administration.

For instance the issues of free education, student’s allowances, cadres, CDF etc are now sacred grounds. The next leadership should only improve on these sectors . The author for instance never supported the idea were the national cake only benefited a few party cronies at the expense of the wider population. We saw this in PF , a trend which has unfortunately continued in the UPND.

PRESIDENT’S M’MEMBE’S CAREER ON CROSSROADS.

The PF’ s popularity has deliberately been fueled by lack of political strategy as exhibited by the UPND leadership.
The UPND has inadvertently placed Zambians in a very awkward and precarious situation. Zambians have now been placed between a rock and hard place.
I want to put it on record that HH has fertilized an environment where it will be extremely difficult for Zambians to experiment with leadership, putting our brothers and sisters from the Zambezi region in a very fluid situation. This precedent has put even well meaning politicians such as the Socialist Party President in a very dicey situation. If the author was on the advisory board of the Socialist Party he would have advised President M’membe to partner with his colleagues and use the alliance to fertilize his ideas.

PRESIDENT LUNGU WAS WISE NOT TO DESTABILIZE THE NORTHERN POWER ESTABLISHMENT

A very bad precedent of hate and reverse tribalism set by the UPND leadership will be extremely difficult to delete from the majority of the Zambians.

Let us take for instance the manner in which President Lungu handled the Patriotic Front power base. President Lungu knew from the word go that he was not the favorite within the Patriotic Front structures after the passing of the PF’s founding father President Michael Sata.

President Lungu was so strategic that he never disturbed the PF establishment and only smuggled in a few Easterners in the likes of Hon Dora Siliya, Vincent Mwale etc. It is for this same reason why the Patriotic Front can’t easily replace Lungu today . That’s wisdom which unfortunately is scarce in the UPND.

Therefore, the UPND should never underestimate ECL’s capability to bounce back especially if he shows genuine reform. History is Pregnant with surprising come backs both internationally and locally. Who knew that Hon Masebo would be given another chance by the people of Chongwe? Who knew that Lula Da Silva, President of Brazil would be re-elected back in office? Wasn’t the world shocked when the son of the late Philippines dictator was elected to power?

What has cost President Hichilema is his appetite to reinvent the wheel as opposed to building on the successes of his predecessors,compounded by the know it all attitude.

There is more evidence pointing to the fact that the whole essence of the UPND seeking leadership was more motivated by self interest and aggrandizement as opposed to the national good.

This can be seen in the way contracts and strategic positions are being dished out.
Revising the age limit for employing people in the civil service is another indicator that fits into the plan that a certain tribe methodically attain full employment whilst other tribes will be lagging behind. This point is in no way providing any credence that any one tribe in Zambia should be or should have been marginalized.

PRESIDENT HICHILEMA’S EFFORTS TO BRIDGE THE NATIONAL DIVIDE HAVE BEEN ACADEMIC.

President Hichilema’s hidden feelings about certain issues have been laid bare during some of his speeches.

Let us take for instance his utterances when he said that he doesn’t like the smell of the PF. As much as the Patriotic Front was booted out of power, not everything was bad about the PF. And not every member of the PF was bad. However, one common denominator that holds the PF together is that the majority of its members hail from the North and the East . Identifying a party with most of its members coming from certain regions as smelly is tantamount to insulting those tribes. A national leader should always refrain from making such divisive and unreconciling statements. The role of any national elected leader is to make all efforts to bridge the national divide.

GOOD POLICIES AND NOT THE PRESIDENT SHOULD LOOK AFTER ZAMBIANS.

Even the mere statement made by the Head of State that it is difficult to look after 20m people was not only misplaced but careless. Does the President know how many people are in India or China? Does the Head of State know that it is good policies and institutions that run countries rather than the effort of any one individual?

A lot of political and economic discomfort was experienced by a proportionately small population of the country that was marginalized. This situation has had a serious impact on the economic, political and social landscape of the country, leading to political revolutions in the past.
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Zambians hoped to see meaningful change.What has been disappointing about the change is that the UPND in its miscalculation has opted to marginalize a bigger portion of the population beating all its predecessors. This scenario is what has given political impetus to the opposition.

PRESIDENT HICHILEMA MISSED AN OPPORTUNITY TO TAP INTO SOME OF THE FINEST MINDS IN THE COUNTRY.

The author tends to agree with sentiments issued by certain authorities in good governance such as that of Mr John Sangwa SC stating that a lot of people that have the brains to run the country are outside. The UPND should have used the privilege to employ people like Mr John Sangwa, Ms Linda Kasonde, Dr Sishuwa Sishuwa in strategic positions rather than confide in the capacity of party members. The absence of the aforementioned independent minds has taken away sufficient flavour to the governance metabolism of the country.
In as much as it is not a bad idea to consult veteran politicians like Dr Vernon Mwaanga etc it was going to be more valuable to consult fresh and forward looking minds….

CONCLUSION.

The birth of the UKA alliance is very much welcome. However, the author is more interested in seeing the agenda of the alliance more as opposed to seeing who is going to emerge as its captain.