By Kellys Kaunda
WASTED YEARS
UPND and Hakainde Hichilema risk wasting their years in the opposition if they repeat the mistakes of their predecessors.
If they choose to repeat them as an act of vengeance for what PF and ECL did to them, then they are abusing the mandate given to them by the public.
The public doesn’t hand over its mandate only for an elected official to use it for personal gain.
Unfortunately, examples of the latter abound and are piling up.
Imagine in Hichilema’s government, an opposition leader is accosted by law enforcement agents at the airport on his way out and interrogated!
Hichilema experienced interference with his right to movement right within his own country.
Those images are still clearly vivid in the minds of Zambians. But he stayed the course because those are the kind of constitutional abuses he needed to come and change.
But for the same to be repeated under his watch is so bewildering, one wonders as to whether Hichilema understands the implication thereof.
It means he, retrospectively, is justifying what was done to him. He is also justifying in advance if the same is to happen to him when he is no longer in office.
But more painfully, he is saying his days in the opposition wilderness were wasted days.
A person who would desecrate his own sacrifices in this fashion only assumes power for personal reasons.
How else can you explain the repeat of exact scenes from a previous movie? And not a very old movie for that matter.
My earnest plea to Hichilema is for him to honor his time in the opposition and the lives of his comrades who died during the struggle against the undemocratic tendencies of his predecessor.
Honor them and respect the mandate of the Zambian people by restoring the freedoms you were denied.
There is a difference between what happened to HH and what transpired recently with Makebi and Musukwa.
Both are candidates for investigation as they have a history with mine activities during the reign of the thuggish PF.
Makebi has had millions forfeited to the state for being suspected to be proceeds of crime.
Musukwa burned all the evidence in an infernal that mysteriously engulfed his house.
The state has a duty to know what they intend to do with that money in order to safeguard the peace being enjoyed under the current government.
What about the mystery surrounding the ‘death of the 7th president? Do you think that is a small matter? He can not be said to have died when no one has ever seen his remains.
That’s not how you deal with statistics, He was born, possibly with a birth Certificate on verification by a medical Doctor, after death there must be a certificate to confirm his death by a government qualified Doctor.
This must be closed just to be certain that he did not go out there to hire guns.
You still want to know why he had to explain where he was going? Have immigration officers never ever asked you what was your final destination when you are traveling out? Don’t you think you can attack more questions if you give an unsatisfactory answer, rudely snort at an officer doing what he knows better? Ooh KELLYS, are you losing it?
There is no justification for the conduct of the LEAs with regard to the temporary detention of Mr. Makebi Zulu and Mr. Musukwa at the International airport in Lusaka. This was a clear abuse of state authority and must not be tolerated.
Even if the duo are under investigation, they cannot have their freedom of movement restricted. Let us make progress in this direction. Equally, I expect the LEAs to be impartial in their law enforcement once the ECZ has declared the campaign season open for the August 2026 elections. We don’t want to see the kind of mischief we witnessed during the 2021 elections when the then President Mr. Lungu and his vice, Mrs. Wina would play hide and seek with HH by jumping on a plane or chopper to go to wherever HH was scheduled to have a rally just to prevent him from campaigning all in the name of security for the president and his vice.