UKA rally and alternatives

By Daily Revelation Editor 

Chief government spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa is complaining that former president Edgar Lungu and his opposition colleagues in the United Kwacha Alliance (UKA) failed to offer alternative positions on the many issues they raised during their rally.

He said the only things he heard from the opposition was them referring to President Hakainde Hichilema in derogatory as a “chimbwi no plan (someone without a plan)” and “umwaiche uyu (this young man).”

Anyone who listened and watched that rally will agree with what Cornelius is saying. It is true that President Hakainde Hichilema has messed up in a lot of areas, and has not lived up to the promises he told the Zambian people to enable him to get elected into office.

Hakainde for instance promised to reduce the 25kg bag of mealie-meal from what he condemned as the very high K130 at the time to K50. The price of mealie meal is now over K320, with the cheapest at K230. He also promised to reduce fertiliser prices from K700 to K250, fuel prices from K17 per liter to less than K12. He also condemned electricity prices at that time as too high especially that energy was a necessity. But his government has put in a mechanism that has ensured an escalation in the price of electricity connection fees, and tariffs for the next four years. The Kwacha to US Dollar ratio he found at K17 to US$1 is now hovering around K25.6 to US$1. Hakainde promised that the Kwacha would supersonically appreciate on account of investor confidence in him, which has not happened.

These are the issues Edgar and group were pointing to and justifiably reminded the President of the same, and it will be unreasonable for anyone to condemn them for reminding Hakainde of his own promises. However, while highlighting those matters which have caused so much stress on Zambians, Edgar and co. lamentably failed to address themselves to alternatives. We feel the burden is even much on Edgar especially as former president, to work towards helping to provide solutions given the experience he has had in operating in that office. If you are going to condemn something, at least you have to be able to provide solutions. Given this stressful period, that is what Zambians are expecting from those seeking to lead them. 

This is one of the biggest problems this country has faced from time immemorial where politicians seek to appeal to people’s emotions by raising the negatives in their opponents as opposed to what workable programmes they are proposing in order to be elected. And the Zambians themselves have not been too discerning, they seem to go for the chimwela in the songs or some campaign slogan. They would rather go for any alternative that will remove the person or party they have come to hate from government, without scrutinising the workability of the alternatives proposals.

As a result, people in this country have continued going around in circles of electing alternatives into office, while seeking to remove them from office immediately, for failing to perform because they were too consumed into the chimwela syndrome.

The Zambian people must begin to place a premium on the people they elect into office. If you are complaining, and rightly so, that Hakainde has increased the fuel prices, you surely have a duty to tell Zambians how you are going to address the same problem, by giving tangible and workable ideas on how you will go about fulfilling the same.

Otherwise, you are just as well wasting people’s time if you are an opposition leader and can’t provide alternatives to the many problems affecting the country. Zambians wants solutions!