100 days is too short a period for a President to have any concrete achievements. It is, however, long enough for conclusions to be reached on the direction a presidency is taking. It, in that period, becomes evident what is important to a president and what not. It is also clear enough which of the campaign promises are likely to be pursued and which, maybe, not.
My view of the first 100 days of the Hichilema presidency is as follows:
LIKES
1. HH is a present president. The void at the top that was quite frustrating, in the last 7 years, has been filled by an individual that seems very comfortable in his own skin, assured of his own convictions and keenly aware that his office comes with not only privilege but also responsibility. Simply, there is undoubtedly a President in office.
2. The cadre problem that seemed intractable, has been largely sorted. At the very minimum, citizens know that they can stand up to a ruling party thug, trying to bully them. More importantly, the untouchable nature of cadre life has ended and citizens can report harassment to the police. This is, in my view, a 100% HH achievement. He had to override senior members of his party that were beginning to buckle under the pressure of members, who wanted a bit of the crime paradise their PF colleagues enjoyed.
3. Linked to no 2, I have always thought that one of the most important freedoms every government should guarantee is the poor Zambian’s ability to hustle for a living. This a country in which, even in good economic times, the poor battle to eat, and power holders are largely unaware of or unfeeling for the struggle for existence majority citizens are engaged in. If you consider how broken the services millions access, it is true that government is largely an academic argument in the lives of most Zambians. For that reason, no government has the right to make it difficult for the poor to scratch for a living in the way that PF cadres did. It is therefore huge, for me, that while we wait for the miracle of an economic turnaround, poor women can once again wake up in the morning buy their tomato and sell it. Critically, they can, since August 12, also go home with the full K10 profit. Because they do not have to share that little profit with some thug in a party T-shirt, they can buy a pamela, bunch of rape and a bit of oil for the day’s meal. Huge achievement for me, which must be sustained.
4. Zambians can, once again, speak their mind without threats of or actual reprisals. Gosh, are they speaking! People I thought had died have resurrected on Facebook, full of opinions. This is so much that even PF leaders that, in my view, should be hiding their faces in shame over what they did to the country, are free to go from radio to TV station demanding that the new President fix, in 100 days, what they took 10 years to destroy. It takes a presidency that is committed to upholding citizen rights to resist what must be the real temptation to give predecessors a small taste of their own medicine. Citizen freedom of speech is an unquestionable achievement of the first 3 months of the HH presidency.
5. Other than just speak, my sense is the level and topics of engagement have fundamentally improved, since elections. There is space for intellectual debate – citizens discuss the budget, how that budget will be funded, whether the IMF is the way to go rather. A shift from tackling a new mindless scandal every day. I like that.
6. The direction towards making rural citizens real rather than imagined Zambians is a big directional plus of the new presidency. For the first time in my adult life, a president insists that Lusaka is not Zambia.
7. A social budget that promotes the education and, therefore, creates an educational path out of poverty for citizens, is an achievement.
8. Appointments in the offices that will oversee the economy, as well as of senior judicial officers, came across as very well thought out.
9. The President has not tried to weaken the opposition, civil society and the media by appointing multiple individuals from these groups into government positions. What this means is that these institutions of democracy can continue to hold government to account, without needing to regroup, like happened after the 2001 and 2011 elections, especially. Good decision, me thinks.
10. ZNBC news is watchable again, phew!
11. Pronouncements promising amendments to the Constitution, Public Order Act and to pass the Access to Information law have been categorically made. If carried through, these are legislative changes that would entrench our democracy. I am happy with the seeming commitment to make legislative changes that have long been in the pipeline.
DISLIKES
1. Presidential and government communication has been a scene of runaway chaos, in the last 100 days. There are just too people talking on behalf of the principle who seem unable to streamline their statements, much less communicate effectively. Anyone, from Party SG to the President’s spokesperson, can speak about anything on any day and bungle it up. Gosh, it is a mess in there! To be honest, the UPND was a communication and PR mess, even in opposition. It seems that dog’s dinner of a communication strategy is continuing in government and especially around the presidency. The President needs to address this urgently, before it messes him up.
2. Linked to number 1, is the absence of one strong communication lead to articulate the direction government is taking. Someone who can confidently, convincingly, regularly and, importantly, timely, articulate to the nation government’s achievements and challenges. Without a recognisable communication lead, issues that could easily be explained (or spun) have become social media fodder.
3. Some of the appointments President Hichilema has made are baffling. There are Ministers and Permanent Secretaries that should probably have been left for boards and the diplomatic service, if indeed the President felt constrained to appoint them.
4. Linked to number 3, is that some Ministers seem totally at sea. They have not made a single statement that shows a well thought out direction for the sectors they are responsible for.
5. The investigations around corruption seem haphazard and going nowhere. This has resulted in a sense of continued arrogance and insult to citizens from many who became miraculously rich in the last 7 years.
6. I don’t like the term “the new dawn government” on repeat, but that’s just me.
To round it off, my overarching 100 days HH presidency review question was – when everything is said and done, does this President come across as being competent, understanding his responsibilities and, importantly, wanting what is good for us, not him. My answer is – yes.
I think the HH administration has experienced some painful teething problems. My first 100 days overall sense, however, is that it is a presidency that is focusing on the public good. Personal interest does not, for now, seem to inform this President’s choices.
We citizens must keep watching – hawk eyed.
