SOMETIMES I BLAME MYSELF FOR THE MESS IN UPND NOW BECAUSE VERY FEW PEOPLE LIKE US THAT COULD SPEAK OUR MINDS LEFT THE PARTY AND HH REMAINED WITH BLUE EYED COWARDS AND PRAISE SINGERS
Leaving the UPND was certainly one of my best political moves that I ever made and even though people leave political parties for various reasons, sometimes you do not realise just how God orders your steps to make certain decisions until certain things happen. I’m sure Anderson K Mazoka, Michael C Sata and Edgar C Lungu could attest to this looking at their political trajectories after they left their previous political parties.
Praise singers may not know this, but apart from being one of the Media people for the party and President when I was in UPND, I was also part of the Strategy and Advisory group that advised the President on certain key issues of the party. ALL written statements from the President came from this group. At first I was the only female, but being the gender Activist that I am, I bemoaned the fact that I was the only woman in the group and they challenged me to bring other women to the group. ‘Bring women like you and not just anyone,’ I was challenged. And I brought Chipo Mwanawasa and Dr. Munkombwe, then in South Africa. Among the people in this group were Clayson Hamasaka, Dr. Mwananyanda, Johns Malunga and Monze Muleya. (I have deliberatel mentioned some of the names holding big jobs at statehouse and being accused of coming from nowhere, because I certainly know where they came from).
I constantly see some people in UPND that don’t even know how that party operates complain that President HH has brought people they don’t know to the party and Statehouse. But what they don’t realise is that UPND had specific advisory groups that dealt with issues that people were not even aware of. They were not in the formal structures but separate groups that people didn’t even know of. I can’t complain, I was respected and we worked very well. My opinions were also normally respected. At the time Clayson Hamasaka used to say that if UPND had 10 people like Saboi and another woman called Nana, then the party would form government. I was both an administrator and a grassroot person, but most importantly my contributions were well respected. It is just so sad that things happen that destroy certain things (which is a story for another day).
The current Lusaka District Commissioner, then Lusaka Province Chairlady Mrs. Rose Zulu used to say that ‘when we have a meeting with the President, Saboi should always be there.’ This is so because people in UPND would freeze when they saw HH and instead of telling him what they wanted when they go to see him, he spends the entire two hours talking instead and telling them what he wanted.
Why am I saying this today? It is simple. My biggest concern about UPND is that they turned HH into a small god when he was still in opposition. In UPND, HH is the law and the law is HH. Something I would challenge even as a member of the party and I would say that we were destroying our own leader. And luckily, he actually loved and respected me for that. Something UPND members say even today. I mean real UPND members, not people that have never even seen him but screaming loudest on Facebook.
Sadly, the UPND and HH have brought that same mentality into government. HH has very few advisors in that party because they freeze in his presence and he advises his advisors. My concern was alway that, if you could make a person a small god before he even had instruments of power, what more when he had? Well, my worst fears are now confirmed. HH is now a small god with instruments of power and just like in UPND as a party, he now wants to entrench himself as the law, the Alpha and the Omega, the Constitution of the Republic of Zambia. If people will not see him and his autocratic agenda for what it is and stop it before if fully manifests, we shall have a serious problem in this country.
With all his weaknesses and use of guerrilla media, Hamasaka is actually one of the brave people that could stand up to the President. But he has been consumed with power and doing the right thing for Zambia may not be his priority. With all due respect, I look at his line of Advisors and I can honestly tell you that I don’t think that there is even one that advises him. He is the one that advises the advisers. After all, he is the Alpha and Omega. But sadly, running a country is a collective effort and Constitutionalism should be a must, otherwise the man will burn his fingers and burn them badly.
Issued by:
Saboi Imboela
President- NDC