Hichilema! A man of many words, little action

By Daily Revelation Editor

The Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) over the weekend issued a timely and on point pastoral letter which addressed President Hakainde Hichilema and his administration on how they are going about governing this country.

Among the most important issues raised in the pastoral letter, the ZCCB expressed deep concern over the continued failure by the government to repeal anti-democratic provisions in the laws such as the Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act, and several sections of the Penal Code Act such as those that criminalise libel.

The Bishops rightly argued that all these undermine the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms and principles of democracy. And ironically, these are some of the represssive laws Hakainde Hichilema pledged to reform if elected when in the opposition. Indeed, failure to strike them has eroded trust in his integrity.

It seems be has actually found it convenient to use the same laws for his narrow minded political expediency, and has earned a bad name in the process. This is not the only promise that Hichilema made and has failed to keep. For those who are wise and discerning they have now come to know him as a man of many words or promises, but little action. He’s someone we can describe as a no action type of an individual who usually promises heaven but struggles to deliver purgatory, much worse hell.

How many times did Hichilema complain about these oppressive laws he has kept in the statute books since 2021? He has all the time in the world to come up with more oppressive laws actually, while finding all manner of excuses against striking out the archaic laws he promised he would remove from the statute books. It seems he’s enjoying the fact that the same laws are now being used to target his opponents in the opposition and other critics, while ignoring those in his government who find themselves on the opposite side of the law.

Today he is coming up with the Penal Code Amendment bill number 17 of 2024, which ZCCB and other reasonable Zambians have rightly urged him to withdraw from Parliament. The same amendment is seeking to amend section 70 of the Penal Code that provides for crimes of expressing hatred, ridicule or contempt for persons based on race, tribe, place of origin and other considerations, in order to make the penalties harsher by expanding the grounds of hatred and imprisonment for those convicted.

The idea he wants to achieve here is very clear. He wants to shut the mouths of all those who are genuinely raising concern about the appointments he is making in his government. He wants to take away the right from Zambians to criticise the appointments he makes, which he himself used feverishly while in opposition. The same right he used against the others leaders, including against late Levy Mwanawasa, late Rupiah Banda, late Michael Sata and immediate past former president Edgar Lungu, over what he viewed as regionally inclined appointments, he wants to deprive Zambians of the same right. We ask him to withdraw that bill. He should have learnt by now that using laws to target opponents is one of the most regressive acts one could even engage in, and as Kama might have it, such have an undesired effect of backfiring against the perpetrators once their stay in power is over.

Power is indeed temporary, especially to those who use it unwisely. We urge Hichilema to use his power modestly in order to avoid reaping the rewards of his treacherous acts in the future.

With the short time he has left before his first term comes to an end, less than two years actually, a wise leader and his wise advisors would focus all their efforts on delivering on the backlog of the many unfulfilled promises, rather than going for broke to shrink the small democratic gains the country has scored since the reintroduction of multipartism in the country.

In case his advisors may be fearful to advise him, since he seems to be a know-it all type, we are telling him now that Zambians generally loathe leaders who use their power to shrink the democratic space, and they usually express their repudiation massively at election time. We urge Hichilema to listen in order to avoid becoming one of the many victims they have taught this harsh lesson over the years. Let him focus on reducing mealie-meal prices to the K50 per 25 kg bags he promised, fertilizer to K250, fuel prices to K12 per liter. Let him focus on correcting the Kwacha which has gone wayward in autopilot fashion, now at over K27.5 to $1, the same he found at K17 to $1. He must focus on striking out all the oppressive laws he promised he would, rather than coming up with more repressive legislation to shield himself from public accountability.