By Given Mutinta
REGIONALISM IN PRESIDENT HICHILEMA’S MESSAGING
President Hakainde Hichilema’s remarks during visits to different provinces fall short of expectations.
Specifically, his remarks in the North-Western and Western provinces promote regionalism in a country marked by ethnic and regional diversity.
While addressing his supporters in the North-Western province, President Hichilema confidently declared that all votes from the region belonged to him because that is his party’s birthplace.
This type of appeal, rooted in regional loyalty, is one of his political strategies fostering division.
In the Western province, his rhetoric took a more controversial turn.
He warned voters against supporting the opposition, cautioning that doing so would result in the return of those who had previously been beating them.
Such claims are unfounded, inflaming tensions by implying that people of the Western province were targeted purely based on their regional origin.
Besides, if the Patriotic Front (PF) were targeting people from the Western province, as he claims, is it no true the PF is with Miles Sampa and Robert Chabinga, his alliance partners?
Not long ago, he said the same to people of the southern province: that they were beaten when they went to Lusaka, which was not true.
Rather than articulating why people should re-elect him, his tactic places emphasis on fear and tribal loyalty, thereby deepening polarization in an already sensitive political arena.
His pattern of communicating differently to audiences based on regional identities makes him a tribalist, undermining the essential goal of national cohesion.
By appealing primarily to people’s basic feelings or instincts and perceived victimization, instead of offering inclusive reasons to support his re-election, President Hichilema is compromising the unity that we need as a nation to thrive amid our diversity.
President Hichilema has proven beyond all reasonable doubt that he is a tribalist incapable of transcending basic instincts and divisive narratives.