MSONI’S CALL FOR UPND FINDING ANOTHER CANDIDATE AND HICHILEMA HOLDING ON TO THE SEAT
Our view:
Nason Msoni was part of the UPND Alliance that ushered the party into Government. He says if UPND wants to win the second term of office they must find another candidate.
But Hakainde Hichilema says he is stuck on the seat with two of his batocks. He says has even put glue vowing no one would remove him.
“Who would remove me? And take me where? Am stuck on the seat here,” Hichilema says.
The UPND constitution was changed to give the party president powers to appoint members of the National Management Committee (NMC).
Growing calls to change this clause is not receiving any favorable response and insiders say the party structures are dead.
The vacant places such as National Chairman previously held by Stephen Katuka who was appointed as Higher Commissioner to Namibia remains unfilled with people appointed to Act.
No one in the party has the guts to face Hichilema even if a party congress is called. The outcome will be as he designs it. The reason he says no one can remove him. So true at the party level despite dissatisfaction by the General membership. They don’t see UPND beyond Hichilema. He will sink with the party, very unfortunate. So Msoni’s wish or advice is an imaginable as far as UPND is concerned.
As for the National vote, that no one would remove him that is throwing his luck too far. The power lies with the people. No matter how he could be manipulative the people have the last say. Actually when you hear a president talking like that just know they are on their way out. It is too early for power to get to his head so quick. Does this signify that indeed he is a one term president?
First president Kenneth Kaunda after being at the helm for 27 years, he strongly felt would still get things his way in 1990. He was mislead as his handlers lied that he would easly win the elections. He had to cut short his term of office. He called for early elections.
His predecessor Frederick Chiluba who called himself as a political engineer, a political dribbler miscalculated with his third term bid. His next option to install a puppet in Levy Mwanawasa ended in tears. Chiluba died not a happy man.
Mwanawasa during his tenure would say actually told Michael Sata on his face at Electoral Commission of Zambia that he (Sata) would never be president of Zambia over his dead body. He told him that he was just a president of a club (PF). True to his word Sata would be president of Zambia after his death.
Rupiah Banda said he would not hand in power to a mad person in reference to Sata. In 2003 an intelligence scan by the US in Zambia had shown Sata as the most popular candidate among the citizens despite ranking poor internationally.
Banda was forced to swallow his pride and handed in power to a man he called mad in 2011 despite his government having presided over health economy with an exchange rate of K7 to a Dollar. What is Hichilema bragging when he is presiding over melting down economy with a number of key of his campaign promises remaining unfulfilled.
Edgar Lungu who came to office following the death of Sata in the run upto 2021 elections said he would be handing over power to himself. They teased Hichilema that he would not win elections with three provinces – Southern, Western and North Western his traditional support base. The PF boasted of a massive infrastructure development embarked by Sata and continued by Lungu.
Their works would be seen but people were hungry. They could not eat the buildings and the roads. Mealie meal had risen from K35 to K120 for a 25kg breakfast from the time the PF took over. Hichilema who posed as the most educated Economist and successful Entrepreneur came up with a good message, a message of hope that he would fix the economy. He promised among other things to end power outages (loadshedding), bring essential commodities prices such as mealie meal to K50, fuel to K12, fertilizer to K250. He promised that within hours of being sworn in the Kwacha would appreciate to be precise in hid own words 10:00 hrs sworn in 14:00 hrs.
What has happened to these promises? Hichilema has not been magnanimous enough to face people and explain his challenges. The prices have trippled from what he found them. The loadshedding is now the whole day. A drought is making sense to him now when he had brashed it as failure on his previous predecessor Lungu. He said Dubai records no single drop of rain but has no loadshedding. When will this happen to Zambia Mr President you have only a year.
With the above we find it absurd for Hichilema to say no one would remove him from the Presidency in a democratic country where he is supposed to be presented into an election.
Perhaps the question to him and his praise singers would be how does he hope to remain in that seat if Zambians say it’s time over Sir. Zambians will judge Hichilema based on his campaign promises performance. Just to help him, how is life now as compared to the time he took over?
Zambian Eye, 28th August 2024.
