Reflections – is 2024 another dream deferred?

We can’t lament bad governance in silence. Silence creates an opening for bullies, cadres and praise singers to shout out loudest and the danger is that these louts have the ability to drown out reason and logic if left unchecked.

In this age, truth is in short supply. Social media has created a direct pathway for myth-making and second-guessing conjectures that are often used by those with malevolent minds to stretch facts. Against this background, we remain alive to the fact that there is a price for speaking truth to power and against autocratic tendencies.

To our critics, the vitriol, provocative rhetoric and the mud that is often thrown our way for expressing opinions that seek to enhance our political discourse hardly stick on our skin. For the record, we don’t affiliate to any political party and neither do we get a penny for contributing on this platform. For us,our motivation to elevate critical thinking is driven by a much bigger cause. It’s called patriotism.

Which reminds of one of Abraham Lincoln’s far most thought-provoking quotes. ‘ I must stand with anybody that stands right and stand with him while he is right and part with him when he goes wrong.’We stood right with the current dispensation when they were in the opposition. Many a times, we were able to project its leader as a voice of reason. HH’s Dilemma and Why 2021 is critical for ECL and HH are just some of the several write-ups we opined on this platform pre – the 2021 polls in support of the UPND’s bid for the Presidency.

Three years into its reign, it’s disappointing that that this government doesn’t seem to have a real grasp and extent of the biggest challenges facing the county. Just how easily they have detached from reality boggles the mind. Contrary to what the UPND pontificates, poverty, corruption and rising unemployment are taking root under their watch and these socio ills now rank as the biggest blight of their reign thus far.

The argument that these challenges were inherited from the PF government is inconsequential. This is HH’s government, he now owns the economy. Need we remind ourselves; he was elected to ameliorate the masses from these ills. Therefore, highlighting or confronting these challenges should in no way be misconstrued as an affront to the President’s persona or his government otherwise we would be guilty of wilful blindness for choosing silence. For those that care to know, wilful blindness is often a defence of the timid and is defined as the deliberate failure to make reasonable enquiry of
wrongdoing despite suspicion and an awareness of the high probability of its existence.

Our criticism is intended to keep this government in the straight and narrow. As a matter of fact, we maintain a great deal of respect for this President – this despite his many failings. It’s for this reason that we keep reminding him of our goodwill that he is carrying in his sails. That said, we should not hold the UPND government to a different set of standards. Put simply, it shouldn’t matter the affiliation of the perpetrator, we should call out corruption for what it is. We shouldn’t just shuffle errant government officials from one ministry to the other or merely drop permanent secretaries for suspected corruption, we should mete out the stiffest punishment to transgressors.

Haul them before courts like you have done to GBM or Bowman Lusambo among others. It shouldn’t matter who is in power, we should sound out government for failing to address rising poverty and its devastating impact on the general populace – poverty must be uprooted. It shouldn’t matter who is in power, they should protect the sanctity of our constitution. It shouldn’t matter who controls the purse strings, they should contract debt responsibly. Importantly, it shouldn’t matter which party the President belongs to, they should abandon their private residence and move into State House.By the way, the 7 th Republican President holds a dubious record as the only Zambian leader to have shunned State House for private residency. Can you imagine the rancour that former President Edgar Lungu would have caused by opting to commute daily from Chawama to State House? How about declaring your assets Mr President? It’s something that can be done at the stroke of a pen. Easily, this can help you to drown out murmurs and silence your detractors.

Try as one might, supporting this government is akin to clinging on to an abusive relationship. It’s these kinds of soft own goals that HH is scoring that have elevated Lungu and the PF to sainthood. I mean, you can’t weaponise the Justice system solely to asphyxiate and disqualify your main opponent hoping you will get away with murder – something will eventually have to give. Unless he changes tact, posterity will judge this Presidency harshly. And while HH will likely win the 2026 elections, it will come at huge cost to legitimacy and his credibility.

2024 – our annus horribilis
It’s fair to state that 2024 was Zambia’s annus horribilis – to borrow this Latin phrase coined to describe a year of misfortune. A debilitating drought is still causing untold misery. The cost of living has skyrocketed into an unimaginable stratosphere. Liquidity is in short supply and small businesses have crumbled due to inflation and inadequate power supply.

The local bond market – which is a key metrics to measuring a country’s investment credibility has lost its shine. Simply put, the unstable and fast depreciating currency is now conspiring against hopes of a weary electorate that bet their fortunes of a better life on a change of government. And the Emmanuel Mwamba led PF communication apparatus is successfully tearing into the President’s credibility by replaying videos of HH’s pre-2021 policy positions which have since morphed in a chameleon-esque pose. Begs, a question. Could this be chipante pante reloaded unfolding before our eyes? You be the judge.

Does 2025 carry a dark foreboding? A recent economic outlook report prepared by the World Bank paints encouraging signs for the country. After the deceleration of the economy in 2024 due to the devastating effects of the drought on agriculture and a deficit in energy generation, Zambia’s economy is expected to rebound, with growth projected to average 6.3% annually in 2025/26. However, the caution to the wind is that the projected growth will only be possible if the country receives above normal rainfall in the current season.

At least, there is hope for optimism; all this government requires to do is to level the political playing field and create an enabling environment to attract both local and foreign investment. In fairness, this government has to a measure of degree scored notable successes since it assumed power, critical of which was the introduction of free education, employment of 30 000 new teachers, healthcare workers including some new defence recruits. However, chaotic the impact of these recruitments have been on the national fiscus, we should applaud a government that invests in education. Few would disagree that education should not be a preserve of few but is fundamental right of every global
citizen as enshrined in the UN charter.

Heading into the new year, citizens must become proactive in confronting their challenges. It remains our sacred duty to protect our democracy. We need to start asking our elected officials to account for the votes we cast in their favour. After all, a government which accounts to its people is what Abraham Lincoln envisaged for citizens of the free world pretty much like what Kenneth Kaunda envisaged in his quest to liberate the country from colonial rule. Woza 2025.

By Chimwemwe Mwanza
Mwanza enjoys reading history and philosophy.