UPND media team; where art thou?

PRESIDENT Hakainde Hichilema obviously inherited a government marred by a myriad of problems and challenges: from a stagnant and suffocating economy; uncertainty in the mines with a number of investors contemplating disengaging from the sector; huge backlog of unpaid retirees; bloated salary arrears for council employees; mounting pressure from qualified young people; restless University students deprived of bursaries and meal allowances; police brutality to the culture of political party cadres accustomed to unleashing acts of violence on perceived opponents and illegally collecting levies from markets and bus stations; it was a make or break for the former businessman-cum-cattle rancher turned politician.

Within a few months in office, President Hichilema would change the narrative and set the country forth on a different trajectory!

Under normal circumstances, the UPND should have been the first one to take to the mountain top, like their predecessors would do, and brag about such milestones while making every effort to explain what the UPND administration intended to about the other challenges such as the high cost of living and the energy crisis. But alas, it has shockingly remained “comatose.”

Politics is all about perception; the more you keep quiet, the more the public will conclude the party in government isn’t working. The more you talk, the more people will begin to believe you and have patience with you!

At least Cornelius Mweetwa, the Minister of Information and Media and of course his able Permanent Secretary, Thabo Kawana are trying their level best to defend government and explain its policies.

But where’s the UPND media team? This has of course left a number of folks including this author gritting their teeth and pulling their hair and wondering whether the UPND media team still exists in the face of the New Dawn Administration coming under siege and bombarded with a barrage of incessant attacks left, right and centre from the desperate opposition eager to dislodge it from power!

Speaking to the Newsdiggers Newspaper in an interview as far back as 2022, the Alliance for Community Action (ACA) executive director Laura Miti, who is also a Commissioner at the Human Rights Commission, had this to say, “the UPND government is terrible at explaining to Zambians what is really happening. They are also bad at speaking to the public. So if you look at the last government and if you look at this government, they’re lagging far much behind.”

Influential UK-based blogger, Barbrah Musamba Chama aka the Iron Lady recently took to Social media to vent her frustrations.

“How can we raise resources to run an effective parallel Media team? Any idea of well wishers? Inbox… we need to get serious.. serious money has been pumped in in the other camp,” she wondered.

Retired eminent colonel in the Army, senior citizen Hamwiinde Munamunungu, who also served as District Governor in the UNIP regime, perhaps put it more succinctly when he shared the following insights on his Facebook page: “Political battles are won by strong media teams that need to be professional and at times well paid. When you study the many successes of the past political establishments, worldwide, you will find that the Media teams were professional, effective and well coordinated and paid full time. This is a must because volunteers are no longer available. Volunteers were available during the struggle for national independence.”

He went on to explain that in the early 1960s, UNIP ran the Zambia News paper from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania which spread the good news about our independence struggle. The editors included Sikota Wina, a trained journalist, and several other journalists.

“The PF had a strong Publicity Campaigns and Propaganda machinery and in most cases paid its staff well. Remember Hon Sunday Chanda with his aggressive attitude together with his deputy, Antonio Mwanza,” he continued .

He observed that there’s too much time lag between the delivery of messages or at most times no responses are delivered timely with the exception of Mark Simuwe or Trevor Mwiinde and his boss Gilbert Liswaniso jumping in fend off attacks or putting things into perspective.

The media team might be fatigued after many years in the trenches. As is usually the case once a liberation struggle has been won, it’s probably the right time to find those in the media team other roles in government and replace them with new blood.

Prince Bill M Kaping’a
Political/Social y