HICHILEMA SYMBOL OF SHAME – Changala

HICHILEMA SYMBOL OF SHAME

… He has turned Zambia from democracy defender into embarrassment-Changala

By Mast Reporter

PRESIDENT Hakainde Hichilema has drawn fierce criticism for endorsing Tanzania’s controversial election, with human rights activist Brebner Changala calling him “a symbol of shame” for Zambia and the region.

Commenting on Hichilema’s congratulatory speech to his Tanzanian counterpart Samia Suluhu Hassan, during an inauguration ceremony in Dodoma characterised by heavy security, Changala said Hichilema was on his own and did not represent Zambians in his support for dictatorship, brutality and killing of innocent people to remain in power.

“For him to go to Tanzania, to go and endorse a sham election, to go to Tanzania and endorse brutality by the government against its own people, to go to Tanzania in the name of the people of Zambia, to go and lecture on how nations can co-exist or how leadership can co-exist with its own citizens, is a fallacy and that is hypocrisy of the worst kind, Hichilema is on his own,” he said.

He said it was high time Hichilema stopped misrepresenting the country with his undemocratic conduct, warning that his behavior casts a shameful picture in the region about the country.

“The President must be told that it is high time he stopped using the name of the people of Zambia to engage in issues that do not serve the interests of our public. And one of them is the endorsement of the election of a dictator, the President of Tanzania. That has been rebuked across the divide in Zambia and in the Southern African Development Community (SADC),’ he said.
He said it was shocking that while SADC had described the election of Suluhu a sham and undemocratic, Hichilema was busy cleaning the mess by struggling to paint the elections in Tanzania as free and fair.

“Zambia is a member of SADC and SADC has produced a report calling those elections a sham. So, who was he representing in Tanzania? Whose interest was he representing in Tanzania? And this is very clear that President Hakainde Hichilema has a poor level of judgment in terms of sound leadership. The President is exposing himself and embarrassing the country,” he said.

Changala said since 1991, Zambia had been known to be a mother of democracy, good governance and defender of human rights and freedoms, a name Hichilema had destroyed in his four years in power.

He said Hichilema’s association with rogue nations and support for undemocratic tendencies casts doubt on his leadership.

“HH is now a symbol of shame for Zambia. This country has been known to be a defender of human rights. Zambia has always been on the side of the people of Palestine. Mr Hichilema has taken Zambia to Israel, the oppressor. Zambia has always been a defender of the oppressed people of the Sahrawi. Mr Hichilema has taken the country to Morocco,’ he said.
Changala said Zambia would always stand with the weak, but under Hichilema’s leadership, the position had changed.

“On the international stage, we have lost it. At home, we are in a mess. Mr Hakainde Hichilema must take time to reflect and consult widely on many issues,” he said.

He said Hichilema’s conduct in the recent months was not only shocking but troubling for the future of the country.

“What the President has done in recent months has left a lot of things open to debate. The President refused to attend the United Nations General Assembly. The President didn’t attend the inauguration of Cyril Ramaphosa in South Africa. The President didn’t attend the inauguration of Emmerson Mnangagwa in Zimbabwe. The President didn’t attend the inauguration of Prof Peter Mutharika in neighboring Malawi. The President didn’t attend the 30th anniversary of the COMESA.

“The President has been avoiding a lot of international engagement that would profile the country in a better light. But to go to Tanzania, where people have been killed for power, where an election is disputed, and you talk in the manner he congratulated a dictatorship, is troubling for Zambia and the SADC region. I hope the international community is closely watching Hichilema’s conduct,” said Changala.