Zambians are being harassed and arrested for doing exactly what President Hakainde Hichilema did and said while in opposition.
Around the end of last August, authorities arrested a youth at Freedom Statue in Lusaka for conducting a lone protest. While protesting, youth activist Jason Mwanza displayed a placard demanding President Hakainde Hichilema honor his promises. The placard read:
“Enough of the lies, fulfill your promises! End load shedding! Reduce the cost of living! Reduce the cost of fuel! Genuinely fight corruption! Reduce unemployment! This is not the promised land we hoped for. You only have two months to act or else…!”
From the archives, it has been discovered that, while in opposition, President Hakainde Hichilema also carried out a lone protest at the very same spot. Like Jason, Hichilema displayed a placard but was not arrested.
In late January this year, former President Edgar Lungu endorsed the demand for an early election, citing Hakainde’s failure to manage the country’s economy.
“If you Zambians demand that we call upon HH to resign and call for an early election, let’s go that route, but it should come from you,” Lungu said during a media briefing on Wednesday, January 31, 2024. He encouraged people to exert more pressure on President Hichilema to acknowledge the necessity of an early election.
The former president repeated this in May. Delivering his speech as Guest of Honor at the United Church of Zambia, St. Philips Congregation under St. Paul’s in Kanyama Constituency in Lusaka, the former president warned there could be a change of government before the 2026 general elections.
The United Party for National Development (UPND) felt Lungu crossed the line and started threatening the former head of state with possible arrest.
“The Government is considering all legal and security implications and circumstances surrounding the former president’s statement,” Chief Government Spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa informed the nation. “Lungu’s utterances were not only inflammatory, careless, and irresponsible but also a deliberate provocation capable of alarming citizens of Zambia with intent to incite civil disobedience, lawlessness, and insecurity in the country,” Mweetwa added.
There is a video in the social media archives in which Hichilema is saying there is nothing wrong with calling for an early election. He said that when he was in opposition and was not arrested. In a video shared on the Patriotic Front (PF) Facebook page on February 10, 2024, and also on other social media platforms, Hichilema cites the 1991 election that took place earlier than expected.
Currently, Zambia is experiencing a food and energy crisis. Critics attribute it to incompetence. The previous year, the country experienced a drought that affected food production and water levels in dams used for hydroelectricity production. The UPND is telling people to stop accusing Hichilema of that, arguing the president didn’t cause the drought.
There was load shedding that went on for several hours under the previous regime. The PF tried to use the same excuse to escape criticism but in vain. Hichilema refused to accept climate change as an excuse for the up to 12 hours of load shedding the country was experiencing then.
“Climate change is a crisis that must be mitigated, not to be used as an excuse for incompetence. It is time for the government to constitute a taskforce to deal with this urgent issue. We are willing to avail ourselves to be a part of it,” Hichilema’s January 8, 2020 Facebook post.
Harassing and intimidating critics today for doing exactly what the current administration did while in opposition is an injustice that should be stopped. The PF didn’t cause the drought either.
By Venus N Msyani
That’s why I didn’t vote.. Edgar Lungu had lost direction… Hakainde Hichilema was lying about everything.
A failed grade on the runaway crippling blackouts, which comes down to incompetence. We should have had mitigation measures by now. Even the net-metering now appears to be off the table!
Forfeiture of property should be followed by prosecution. The phrase PROPERTY SUSPECTED TO BE FROM PROCEEDS OF CRIME to me is a contradiction… suspect means one is neither guilty or innocent until proven for one of these. You must establish which crime funded the property.. money stolen from GRZ? Money from bribes? Money from drugs? Failure to establish any of these renders the seizure a political vengeful persecution.
I have built three houses and the only details I can remember is of getting loans from the bank and my employer…. others like where I got the iron sheets I can’t.
….these actions are void of accountability. The aim of this government is not to serve people as they promised but to revenge for what someone ” suffered” while in opposition. How do you explain the parading of the imprisoned MPs naked…. while no other prosoners are subjected to this inhumane disgrace?