By Daily Revelation Editor
The opposition political political parties have called on President Hakainde Hichilema to call for a national Indaba to address pressing national matters, including the high cost of living, the rise in arbitrary arrests and constant harassment of opposition members, lack of transparency around large scale public procurement of commodities such as fuel, fertilizer and issuance and distribution of exploration, mining and timber licensing.
The opposition have also called Hakainde’s attention to the unilateral handling of national peace and security matters by his administration, including the presence of US Africom security office, abuse of the Public Order Act, proposed amendments of the Public Gatherings Act.
The partisan composition of commissioners at ECZ, failure to uphold national values and rise in promotion of homosexuality, secretive commencement of the constitution making process, Hakainde’s careless remarks of the coup plot and failure to publish the IMF agreement and the sale of KCM to Vedanta are among the most important matters raised by those in the opposition.
They argue that they demand a formal presidential response arguing that the response from the Chief government spokesperson was not befitting of the serious demands they have raised.
We are not just sure however, if any of these opposition leaders who met and assented to this very serious open letter would be humble enough themselves if they were Republican president to meet up with opposition leaders or be seen to be giving into the demands of the opposition, important as they may be. Power simply gets to people’s heads, especially in our set up where those who rise to become President think they have become omnipotent, omniscient, and cannot be seen to be taking advice especially from opposition leaders. They literally forget their own words and promises no sooner the power of incumbency gets to their head.
However, we agree with all the important issues opposition leaders have raised and urge Hakainde to give in to the calls for a national Indaba. Zambia is right now going through serious challenges, some not caused by Hakainde, nevertheless he was elected to address all national matters regardless who created them and he offered himself for such serious tasks.
The opposition have rightly quoted page 15 of the UPND Manifesto on the Executive Summary that states that the President will have regular question and answer sessions with the media and opposition parties.
Hakainde has no monopoly of wisdom no matter how much he may wish to project that, neither do those in the opposition, Church, civil society, not any one person including ourselves in the media.
He rightly has executive power to run national affairs, resoundingly given to him by the Zambian people, but that does not mean that those who want to dialogue with him are of a lesser mental stature compared to himself. Some may even have more wisdom and intellectual capacity than himself and he would get more insights into how certain matters could be addressed if he engaged them through a wider spectrum of a national indaba.
We are aware that he has been meeting selected stakeholders and that some of those engagements have not ended well, and there was even an urge for them not to divulge what was discussed behind the closed doors of State House. We are aware that those from OCIDA he met not too long ago were urged not to disclose what was discussed at State House owing to the “current political environment”. Even the Catholics who were about to release a pastoral letter were urged against doing the same, owing to the political climate.
It must be known to Hakainde that he and the stakeholders he meets in secret ultimately they are discussing matters affecting the Zambian people. Therefore those engagements will become more meaningful with the participation of all the Zambian people following and contributing to events via live broadcast of events. The Zambian people turn up in their numbers to vote not for their leaders to hide important national matters from them but to be transparent to them.
If you are governing for the people who voted for you, why should you keep state agreements you have entered into with the IMF secret? Why should you keep the Vedanta deal and other mining deals secret if you are convinced that you are doing the right thing for the benefit of the people you are governing?
Why should you hide yourself from public engagements like the national indaba, if you are convinced that your policies are serving the ultimate public good of the people you are leading?
The problems facing this country are so huge that despite the many efforts in trying to address them at government level, the efforts of other stakeholders is urgently needed.
Hakainde must not hesitate in responding to this open call from the opposition to call for a national indaba. He is not doing it for the benefit of himself or those opposition leaders who are asking him for a national indaba but the Zambian people. He does not have the monopoly of wisdom.
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By Daily Revelation Editor
The opposition political political parties have called on President Hakainde Hichilema to call for a national Indaba to address pressing national matters, including the high cost of living, the rise in arbitrary arrests and constant harassment of opposition members, lack of transparency around large scale public procurement of commodities such as fuel, fertilizer and issuance and distribution of exploration, mining and timber licensing.
The opposition have also called Hakainde’s attention to the unilateral handling of national peace and security matters by his administration, including the presence of US Africom security office, abuse of the Public Order Act, proposed amendments of the Public Gatherings Act.
The partisan composition of commissioners at ECZ, failure to uphold national values and rise in promotion of homosexuality, secretive commencement of the constitution making process, Hakainde’s careless remarks of the coup plot and failure to publish the IMF agreement and the sale of KCM to Vedanta are among the most important matters raised by those in the opposition.
They argue that they demand a formal presidential response arguing that the response from the Chief government spokesperson was not befitting of the serious demands they have raised.
We are not just sure however, if any of these opposition leaders who met and assented to this very serious open letter would be humble enough themselves if they were Republican president to meet up with opposition leaders or be seen to be giving into the demands of the opposition, important as they may be. Power simply gets to people’s heads, especially in our set up where those who rise to become President think they have become omnipotent, omniscient, and cannot be seen to be taking advice especially from opposition leaders. They literally forget their own words and promises no sooner the power of incumbency gets to their head.
However, we agree with all the important issues opposition leaders have raised and urge Hakainde to give in to the calls for a national Indaba. Zambia is right now going through serious challenges, some not caused by Hakainde, nevertheless he was elected to address all national matters regardless who created them and he offered himself for such serious tasks.
The opposition have rightly quoted page 15 of the UPND Manifesto on the Executive Summary that states that the President will have regular question and answer sessions with the media and opposition parties.
Hakainde has no monopoly of wisdom no matter how much he may wish to project that, neither do those in the opposition, Church, civil society, not any one person including ourselves in the media.
He rightly has executive power to run national affairs, resoundingly given to him by the Zambian people, but that does not mean that those who want to dialogue with him are of a lesser mental stature compared to himself. Some may even have more wisdom and intellectual capacity than himself and he would get more insights into how certain matters could be addressed if he engaged them through a wider spectrum of a national indaba.
We are aware that he has been meeting selected stakeholders and that some of those engagements have not ended well, and there was even an urge for them not to divulge what was discussed behind the closed doors of State House. We are aware that those from OCIDA he met not too long ago were urged not to disclose what was discussed at State House owing to the “current political environment”. Even the Catholics who were about to release a pastoral letter were urged against doing the same, owing to the political climate.
It must be known to Hakainde that he and the stakeholders he meets in secret ultimately they are discussing matters affecting the Zambian people. Therefore those engagements will become more meaningful with the participation of all the Zambian people following and contributing to events via live broadcast of events. The Zambian people turn up in their numbers to vote not for their leaders to hide important national matters from them but to be transparent to them.
If you are governing for the people who voted for you, why should you keep state agreements you have entered into with the IMF secret? Why should you keep the Vedanta deal and other mining deals secret if you are convinced that you are doing the right thing for the benefit of the people you are governing?
Why should you hide yourself from public engagements like the national indaba, if you are convinced that your policies are serving the ultimate public good of the people you are leading?
The problems facing this country are so huge that despite the many efforts in trying to address them at government level, the efforts of other stakeholders is urgently needed.
Hakainde must not hesitate in responding to this open call from the opposition to call for a national indaba. He is not doing it for the benefit of himself or those opposition leaders who are asking him for a national indaba but the Zambian people. He does not have the monopoly of wisdom.
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