Why Hichilema is just a bad  person – Sishuwa Sishuwa

Why Hichilema is not just a bad president but also a bad human being

By Sishuwa Sishuwa

President Hakainde Hichilema is tribal, corrupt, undemocratic, vindictive, lawless, misogynist, a liar, hypocrite, and just a bad human being. If you thought Zambia had hit rock bottom under Edgar Lungu, buckle up. It’s going to get far, far worse.

Yes, Hichilema has repeatedly shown, through his conduct in public office,  that he is just a bad human being.  Let me illustrate this answer with a few examples for your benefit.

In  opposition, Hichilema spent four months in detention on a trumped-up and non-bailable charge of treason before he was released on a nolle prosequi. This was after then PF deputy Secretary General Mumbi Phiri demanded his arrest. In power, Hichilema got Mumbi Phiri to spend a year in detention on a trumped-up and non-bailable charge of murder before she was released on a nolle prosequi. What good person does that?

When Edgar Lungu was alive, Hichilema had neither respect nor love for him. After Lungu died, Hichilema is so much in love with and so full of respect for Lungu that he will not stand aside to let the relatives or family bury their loved one without his personal participation in the funeral.  What good person does that?

In opposition, Hichilema rightly criticised Lungu’s administration for retiring many Tongas, Lozis and Northwesters from the civil service in the name of ‘national interest’ or packing these fellow Zambians at Cabinet Office for redeployment. In power, Hichilema’s administration is doing to Bembas and Easterners the same thing he condemned his predecessor for. What good person does this?

In opposition, Hichilema criticised Lungu for undermining democracy, abusing state institutions, restricting civil liberties, and failure to review the Public Order Act. In power, Hichilema  is restricting civil liberties, undermining democracy, abusing state institutions and failing to review the Public Order Act. What good person does that?

In opposition, Hichilema denounced the Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act as a threat to democracy and vowed to repeal it, if elected, branding it a  “terrible law ]that] will die alongside the Public Order Act. Change is coming. They have temporarily taken away your freedom of speech and expression through the rushed Cyber Security Bill to stop you questioning their incompetence and corruption. Our first task once you elect us this August will be to repeal this bad law. The Cyber Security and Crime Bill is not about preventing cyber-bullying. It is about clamping down on freedom of expression and spying on citizens.” he wrote on X five months before he won power .

After Zambians voted for him, the Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act became an acceptable law to Hichilema that his administration regularly used to arrest critics and political opponents. When ordinary citizens turned the heat on him and used social media to remind him about his unfulfilled campaign promises, including the pledge to repeal the “spying” law, the president accused them of spending “too much time on social media” and using the platform to promote hate speech, cybercrimes, bullying and misleading information — the same justifications Lungu had provided when introducing the law.

Instead of only repealing the Security and Cyber Crimes Act, as he had promised, Hichilema decided to divide it into two, both of which contain more punitive sections than the original law. The Acts were strongly opposed by civil society, ordinary Zambians and opposition parties but he ignored this combined opposition.  What good person does that?

In opposition, Hichilema defended citizens’ use of social media platforms such X, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook as an essential element of free speech, especially when police arrested his predecessor’s critics for online-related offences. In power, Hichilema considers social media as “a vice [that] must not be celebrated or condoned” and “a menace” that needed to “be addressed in a stronger way”, not useful tool for holding the government to account . And he then went on to enact the punitive cyber laws already mentioned. What good person does that?

In opposition, Hichilema condemned his predecessor for lack of transparency, corruption and abuse of office. In power, Hichilema refuses to publish his asset declarations, does nothing about the annual reports generated by the Financial Intelligence Centre on corruption, and, in what may be seen as a transparent attempt at bribery and a clear abuse of office, recently increased the salaries and housing allowances of judges without the backing of the law. What good person does that?

Some previous presidents stole only public funds and property. Under Hichilema, the government is stealing even political parties, with the PF being a good example.  What good person does that?

In opposition, Hichilema freely criticised public leaders, including his predecessor, for promoting what he considered ethnic-regional divisions through skewed distribution of appointments to public office. In power, Hichilema has only appointed Zambians from one region to all the top positions of the country’s five security services and to the Electoral Commission. And these are just few of the many instances of ethnic-regional imbalances in public appointments. As if that is not enough, his administration has created a law that criminalises any criticism of his actions on this score as domestic  terrorism that attracts life imprisonment upon conviction. What good person does that?

In opposition, Hichilema condemned Lungu’s failure to repeal anti-democratic laws such as those relating to sedition, criminal libel, hate speech, espionage and unlawful assembly. In power, Hichilema has retained all these repressive laws and used them to maximum effect to arrest critics and political opponents on a variety of charges. What good person does this?

In opposition, Hichilema criticised Lungu for failure to respect court rulings. In power, Hichilema is disregarding court orders such as the one made by the ConCourt in the case of Bill 7 and the conditions of services for judges.  What good person does this?

The Constitution of Zambia calls for equal gender representation in presidential appointments to  public offices. Yet only four of Hichilema’s 24 cabinet ministers are women, a contravention of the Constitution. To address electoral imbalances, the Constitution allows the president to nominate eight people to parliament (all of whom could have been females and appointed to the cabinet), but Hichilema filled all the slots with older men except one, the 76-year-old Mutinta Mazoka, who was also never appointed to any leadership role but was instead kept merely as a nominated MP. Only one of Hichilema’s 10 provincial ministers is female, another violation of the Constitution. What good person does this?

I can go on, but I believe I have demonstrated that he is  tribal, corrupt, undemocratic, vindictive, lawless, misogynist, a liar, and hypocrite. If you agree that he is all these things, how is such a person not bad?

SOURCE: https://x.com/ssishuwa/status/1968944804596781147