HH IS TOTALLY OUT OF TOUCH, IT WAS ALL ABOUT THREATS AND SELF PRAISING
Emmanuel Mwamba has quickly made a review of President Hakainde Hichilema’s press conference describing it as just one of the usual ones full of nothing but threats and self praise.
Below is Mwamba’s take:
A brief Review of the Press Conference held by President Hichilema
By Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba
• At the end of the Press Conference, you get a strong feeling that the President is clearly out-of-touch with the nation and his priorities are totally misplaced and is mind is elsewhere.
•No reshuffles, no significant policy pronouncements and no addressing the issues affecting our people. It became part of the bland press conferences we have become used to punctuated by threats and self-elevation and self praise.
President Hakainde Hichilema held a press briefing on Wednesday 5th May 2024 at State House.
He discussed various issues including; national unity, application of the Rule of Law, current food insecurity and his declaration of food disaster and the ailing economy.
On national unity, the President hinted that his Cabinet has approved a raft of bills to combat hate speech, divisive and ethnic talk.
He proposed to take people to Rwanda, at his own cost, to learn of the effects of careless, divisive and ethnic speech can do.
Everyone by now, knows that it is the President that needs lessons in national unity and hate speech as he is a frequent purveyor of divisive and ethnic talk, while claiming at the same time to stop divisive and ethnic narrative.
Further he has abused his presidential powers by failing to unite the country through his appointments of persons to key positions.
He also spent a lot of time referring to his predecessor and the Opposition in general.
He ordered, once again, the arrest of UPND cadres engaged in violence, looting and harassment of members of the public especially as occurred on Tuesday 4th June 2024 in BAULENI and other areas.
He made a few headline-grabbing issues such as; setting up a Commission of Inquiry of Debt Contraction by the previous administration, the forensic Audit on the $35 million paid to the contractor on the Lusaka-Ndola Dual Carriage Way and am official inquiry into gassing incidents that occurred in 2019.
On debt contraction, the Auditor General released a similar Report tracking debt contracted since 2006! So what will be new in this Report?
And during the Question and Answer session, I knew that a single question from a journalist about the former President Edgar Lungu will get him off the rails.
And a question from News Diggers, Ulande Nkomeshya, on Edgar Lungu’s recent interviews with BBC and VOA about how bad the Hichilema administration is treating him including the taking away of his pension and benefits, did exactly that.
With glee, President Hichilema went into his usual tirade against his predecessor, a topic he appears to relish and is obsessed with.
And there was a slideshow of a man dressed in highly-reflective road and safety jacket, who the tv cameras was frequently showing while he was filming the President and fervently agreeing and lapping on every word and sentence of the President!
Anyway, let’s get back to the main topic.
Later in the evening, communication was released that stated that President Hakainde Hichilema had appointed Hon. Mulambo Haimbe SC as Minister of Foreign Affairs, a position he had been acting since December 2023 and in his place appointed Keembe MP, Princess Kasune Zulu as Minister of Justice.
A hearty congratulations to Hon. Kasune Zulu as she is one of the experienced MPs in the House as a second timer and because President Hichilema has appointed a woman!
At the end of the Press Conference, you get a strong feeling that the President is clearly out-of-touch with the nation and his priorities are totally misplaced and is mind is elsewhere.
Probably on efforts to destroy his political opponents to further his re-election in 2026.
He repeatedly mocked complaints about the shrinking democratic space and his autocratic tendencies, characterizing these concerns as mere and unjustified cries of an irresponsible Opposition and law breakers.
No reshuffles, no significant policy pronouncements and no addressing the issues affecting our people. It became part of the bland press conferences we have become used to punctuated by threats and self-elevation and self praise.
The Press Conference was characterized by threats of Prison to his opponents under the guise that they were breakers of the rule of law, and those engaged in corruption and theft of public resources.
Let us look at the issues that require dedicated attention and resolve.
We have load-shedding of 10-12hrs a day with no respite in the near future.
The President advised citizens to invest in solar, generators and battery technology!
We have the highest cost of living in recent memory. The President merely said he “understand the pain”!
In May 2024, the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) reported a significant rise in Zambia’s Basic Needs and Nutrition Basket (BNNB), now standing at K10,701.13, reflecting a K352.87 increase from April.
The price of essential commodities such as fuel, mealie-meal, sugar, cooking oil and others remain unaffordable for our people.
The price of electricity and it’s alternatives remain extremely expensive.
The scandalous decision and choice to export literally all our national strategic maize reserves despite the early warning from FEWS-NET, which predicted the El Niño weather effect that would affect Zambia and Southern Africa.
Further, the dry spells that the country would experience in January and February 2024 was predicted in November 2023 by FEWS-NET.
The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) is a leading provider of early warning and analysis on acute food insecurity around the world.
Because of the natural factors and poor decisions by the Government, Zambia is now facing a disaster with six million people facing starvation and 1.6million currently facing acute food shortages.
The foreign exchange market remains with dollars now settled above K26 per US$.
Inflation rate has been steadily rising.
The perennial lack of medicines, medical supplies and laboratory reagents and broken down hospital equipment.
The health outbreaks including the return of cholera outbreak in Chipata City.
And with legacy issues of poverty, unemployment, and disease burden, you expect a robust response to these issues.
Yet the President spent about 3 Hours preoccupied with issues of political opponents and peripheral issues.