WYNTER KABIMBA REVIEWS HH’S POLITICAL JOURNEY
HH is a political rookie, overrated, refuses to congratulate winners of elections and presents himself as a savior to Zambia’s challenges.
Now he is in charge and failing all around.
The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born: The Story of HH.
By Wynter Kabimba
It is interesting to read about the emerging disillusionment of those who believed and invested their hopes so much in Hakainde Hichilema during the run-up to the 12 August 2021, elections and after.
Their unwavering belief and confidence as mortals in the man is, however, understandable. To those who did not delve into his background and his past HH presented himself as the only messiah given the political free fall of the ruling PF under the weak leadership of Edgar Lungu mistaken for the humility of the man’s character.
The PF as the ruling party under ECL did not guarantee any future for the Zambian people.
The intra party violence and systemic indiscipline amongst the rank and file of its members coupled with inter-party violence perpetuated by its militia generated consternation and dismay within and beyond the country and hence cometh one HH.
In 2006, HH came like a whirlwind to win the leadership of the UPND in an election bedrocked by ethnicity following the death of its founder Anderson Mazoka. He came from the private sector where he was a partner in the audit firm Grant Thornton.
As a strategy to attempt to oust MMD from power, HH forged an alliance with UNIP and FDD to form the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) on which ticket the three contested the 2006 presidential and general elections.
Despite having no political experience or service in government compared with Edith Nawakwi who had served as minister of energy and later minister of finance under Chiluba, HH demanded to lead the UDA as presidential candidate.
He could not bring himself to say “Sir’’ or “Madam’’ to Tilyenji Kaunda of UNIP or Edith Nawakwi. Although he did not congratulate Levy Mwanawasa on winning the 2006 elections, he later offered him the position of vice president which he declined to take.
In 2009, he lobbied Sata’s close friends for an electoral pact with PF. In one of the meetings I had with him at my office, I implored him to accept the position of vice president to Michael Sata.
In his reaction to my proposal, HH urged me to request or persuade Sata to become his vice instead and not the other way round.
It was this impasse which contributed to the collapse of the UPND/PF pact in 2011. Although PF won the election with a landslide, HH did not send a congratulatory message to Sata and refused to attend any PF state function.
When Edgar Lungu won the 2015 and 2016 elections, HH refused to accept the results alleging fraud and the loss of his presidential petition in 2016, which he attributed to a biased judgment by the Constitutional Court.
For the seven years when Edgar Lungu was head of state, HH refused to acknowledge or recognize him as such and at no time did he refer to him by his official title.
He only did so when he was declared winner of the August 2021 elections because he was now above Edgar Lungu as outgoing president.
Between 2019 and 2021, PF saw its unprecedent rapid decline in public support never seen in the history of the ruling party save for UNIP in 1990/91.
It cultivated conditions similar to the political vacuum which obtained prior to the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany in 1933.
HH filled this vacuum by projecting himself as the antithesis of everything that had gone wrong with Edgar Lungu and the PF.
He seized the opportunity using political rantings which were unrealistic in practice but resonated well with a gullible constituency of voters across the country.
He condemned the arrests and detention of political figures and artists as acts of authoritarianism and dictatorship by Edgar Lungu and, therefore, an affront to democracy.
HH promised the restoration and promotion of the rule of law, individual freedoms of expression and that of the media.
It was this political mantra which projected Edgar Lungu to the voters as the devil and monster reincarnate.
In this vein, therefore, the 2.8 million votes do not represent the popularity of HH but reflect instead the number of angry voters against Edgar Lungu.
We saw this parallel in the Joe Biden / Donald Trump election in November, 2020 in the US.
Against this background, it is now easy to see the real and actual HH outside the sheep’s skin in only 5 months of his reign as president.
HH does not and has never believed in the respect for those in power and authority unless that power and authority are ultimately possessed by him.
His deliberate architecture of the UPND Alliance where his alliance partners do not enjoy any security of tenure but are mere appointees testifies to the man who does not believe in any power sharing arrangement in a democratic fashion.
HH the president has refused to condemn political violence by his members.
Instead he always takes comfort in issuing lukewarm directives which leave law enforcement agencies confounded regarding his real initiation.
In the view of HH democracy depends on who you are, what you are and what you mean to him at a particular time. It is also dependent on his audience and space of time.
Whether his message is for the donor community or not shall determine his definition of the word. He has remained mute over the leaked audio in which he is implicated by his State House Special Assistant for Politics, an incident very similar to the Watergate scandal events which led to the impeachment and downfall of Richard Nixon in America.
Hichilema’s rhetoric and hypocrisy on democratic values vis-à-vis voter promises and expectations are now turning into public pain and awareness, one of the major themes in the Ghanian writer Ayi Kwei Armalis novel “The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born.
Wynter M Kabimba.
from promoting gay rights to bitterness!
Yeah yeah blah blah blah! Next
Excellent write. For those still in doubt, HH has been exposed as an egotistical person we have always believed to be. He thinks the whole world revolves around him; only him and nobody else matters.
Mr Kabimba, as much as you condemn the president know that the descriptions you have laboured to describe the president actually suit your personality very well. How I wish you could equally explain to us your readers what led to your untimely dismissal in pf when abafyashi ba sata was sick. It’s easier to describe and paint others black while you totally over look your own flaws. HH is not perfect as a leader but so are you next time be magnanimous enough to also tell us about what you admire about HH which wish you possessed so that Zambian voters could also trust you with 2.8million votes. I rest my case here.
From a distance, HH may seem to be what Wynter Kabimba is describing. He’s nowhere near what the leader of the Economic Front is describing. HH is too busy running the country to be bothered by the likes of Kabimba. The thugs who beat up the Kasama district administrative officer in the name of the governing party have been arrested and are appearing in court. That’s a far cry from what was happening when his law school classmate Edgar Lungu was head of state. At Intercity bus terminus, Edgar Lungu’s thugs have been read the riot act and do not collect money illegally bus drivers. The money is now going into the Lusaka City Council’s coffers. Woe to the PF mayor of Lusaka if she dares to misapply this money which HH has directed that it goes to the local authority. Kabimba will never acknowledge this as an achievement and attribute it to HH. The UPND’s alliance with UNIP and FDD failed for various reasons but with hindsight we know where the Tilienji Kaunda leadership of UNIP and the Edith Nawakwi leadership of FDD have left both parties: not a single MP or councillor for either party in the current parliament. HH was therefore right to ensure that neither of these had led the alliance.
The opposition in Zambia has nothing to offer us. Their politics are bitchy childish character assassination. Tell us what you would do if you became president
You behave like scorned women.
This article actually shows HH is a strong character with principles.
Obviously the writer thinks otherwise, and he is entitled to his flawed opinion.
Wynter Kabimba was out in the field campaigning for Edgar Lungu before the August election last year. Why was he campaigning for a weak leader to continue in office? That tells u the character of Kabimba as a politician.
Is kabimba a politician sure?
Winter, you’re a failed politician, bitter and envious of HH; just come out publicly and admit the obvious. The popularity of your clique has withered rendering you a political irrelevance, while HH is consolidating his gains and enjoying an exponential surge in popularity. Why don’t you ever stand or field candidates in elections if you believe you’re a better alternative to rule this country? Because of your cowardice and congenital imbecility, you opt instead to unashamedly display your bitterness and hatred towards HH? It’s not necessary to have been cabinet minister in order to seek presidential office, e.g. FTJ. Where on earth do you get the notion of security of tenure for political alliance partners?
Why compare HH to Hitler, you stupid fool Kabimba? You need serious psychological treatment to insinuate and insult the collective intelligence of Zambians simply because they sent your party of fools packing.
When HH and Sata were negotiating the alliance, Kabimba, you were not in a position to recall facts as your health had deteriorated rapidly; you had lost a lot of weight and your lips had turned red as if painted with red oxide.
Perhaps the medication you’re on has resulted in dangerous and unpredictable side effects.
The ECL 2021 illegal number plate under which all kinds of PF thugs escaped road tax and toll fees in broad daylight is no longer seen. HH never ordered it removed. The thugs knew what would have followed. Wynter Kabimba of course wishes it was still being used. To help impact on livelihoods immediately, HH’s first budget seeks to spend K25m in every constituency. This could only have come from the mind of an economist and not a failed lawyer like Edgar Lungu.