Opposition parties, unite!
ZAMBIA FACES AN EXISTENTIAL CRISIS
…Hichilema must not be returned to power in 2026 – Sishuwa
By Mast Reporter
ZAMBIA faces an existential crisis if President Hakainde Hichilema is not removed from power in the 2026 election, historian Sishuwa Sishuwa has warned.
In an interview yesterday, Dr Sishuwa urged opposition parties to put Zambia first and field a common and credible candidate in the 2026 general election.
“I make an earnest appeal to all serious opposition party leaders to forego personal ambitions, identify and field a common and credible presidential candidate who has courage and character, and draw a political programme or national vision that resonates with the concerns of majority voters. I know that this is hard for our opposition politicians to do because of their little egos, but it is naïve for anyone of them to think that they can jump from limited support in the last election to obtaining 50 percent plus one in the next election,’ he said.
“They should not deceive themselves that they can win on their own, even if backed by former president Lungu. What is needed is for them to come together and either field a common candidate or identify one credible ticket to support. They need to identify a candidate soon so that he or she can be marketed to Zambians throughout the country and so that the opposition can build momentum around that person. Or else they risk handing Hichilema an undeserved second term in office.”
Dr Sishuwa said President Hichilema is a failed political experiment whose dreadfully poor record in public office is his biggest opponent.
“All things considered, Hichilema is a failed political experiment. In fact, his single major opponent is his dreadfully poor record in office. When it comes to the bigger national issues, such as safeguarding our cherished democracy, getting the best out of Zambia’s mineral wealth, respecting the Constitution and the rule of law, professionalising the civil service, fighting corruption beyond rhetoric, genuine promotion of national unity and equitable distribution of appointments to public service positions, sorting out the cost-of-living crisis and the deplorable conditions of life for most Zambians, Hichilema has, so far, lamentably failed,” Dr Sishuwa said.
“Zambia faces an existential crisis if he is not removed from power in the 2026 general election. But what will be decisive to the removal of Hichilema is the unity and viability of opposition parties including their ability to articulate an alternative vision that resonates with the concerns of majority voters. Once they do this, then they have a good chance of unseating the incumbent president despite the many loyalists he has installed in key formal institutions that manage elections such as the police, the electoral commission, and the judiciary.”
He argued that President Hichilema has consistently shown little regard for majority Zambians.
“In my view, Hichilema appears to be primarily serving two interests: his own and external ones, with little attention paid to addressing the domestic concerns or needs of the people who put him in office. Since his election in 2021, the man has consistently shown that he is out of his depth on the issues that matter most to Zambians. For him, public office appears to be a vehicle for personal self-enrichment and meting out revenge on those who wronged him or his party when they were in opposition,’ said Dr Sishuwa.
“Our complex national challenges call for a different kind of leadership, one that is highly competent, sufficiently educated and based on the possession of ethical values. These include courage, compassion and love for fellow human beings, moral force of character, integrity, genuine humility, honesty, a predilection for consultation, consensus-building, communication, cooperation, active listening, and the selfless pursuit of the public good, and not the selfish striving for personal gain. It is hardly possible to look at Hichilema’s cabinet today without being struck by the calamity of the absence of this kind of leadership. The question is: what are we going to do about our national plight before we sink further into the abyss? How can we move from simply knowing how bad things are to taking action?