Africa-Press – Zambia. When an advert went out on Tuesday announcing a joint press briefing by the opposition, the nation was gripped with great expectation about some potential big news they could have been waiting for to get a sense of direction as they count down to the elections next year.
The anxiety heightened even more as the joint briefing was called against the backdrop of an audio that threatened to tear the opposition unity apart. Although cracks linger, parties demonstrated resilience and a firm resolve to rise above setbacks.
However, after listening to yesterday’s briefing, it was very clear that the opposition didn’t have a punch of the much anticipated breaking news! They delivered nothing exciting to the itching ears of their supporters. A commendable show of unity and solidarity but one that lacked the message!
Instead, they gathered to remind President Hakainde Hichilema about his offer to dialogue.
Good as it may sound, the opposition that gathered as a collective, may have taken a dangerous sloppy political path that could potentially delay their progress even further.
By calling for dialogue 15 months before the general elections with a man who has been averse to the idea, the opposition demonstrated weakness, and HH should be feeling like he got them right in the spot he wanted them to be, intentionally or inadvertently – begging him for an audience.
Dialogue is good, but there is nothing that stops political strategists on the side of HH to milk that call for dialogue to his maximum advantage should he choose to meet the opposition after all, he would be the host and fully in charge.
He would control the flow, dictate the terms and later send the opposition away without according them any meaningful opportunity to present their grievances and dialogue.
Truth be told, if HH wanted dialogue, he would have done so over an inclusive economic recovery plan including the IMF bailout plan and handing back KCM to the limping Vedanta.
He would have initiated dialogue when several stakeholders including CSOs, Church Mother bodies, LAZ, the Media and political parties objected the enactment of Cyber Crimes laws.
He would have called for dialogue when the nation objected the infamous constitutional amendments which are showing signs of going ahead at whatever cost.
He would have called for dialogue when the nation was plunged into perpetual darkness which has now become a norm due to endless loadshedding with no solution in plain sight.
Today, there is irrefutable evidence that President Hichilema has shown unrelenting conviction to go ahead with whatever he sees necessary regardless of who opposes him. Not even the Americans could talk him out of assenting to the Cyber crimes laws.
It’s therefore surprising that the opposition chose to ignore what they already know about HH and still went ahead to beg him for an audience he has denied them for nearly four years.
At such a critical moment, the electorate are looking for an alternative leadership they can look upto in the same light they looked at the UPND as a Government in waiting prior to the 2021 general elections.
If we were to be brutally honest with each other as citizens, Zambia has more pressing issues than to try and prove a point that HH doesn’t keep his word using the dialogue line he uttered at the late Nawakwi’s funeral.
That’s an act of preaching to the converted. Zambians already know the list of promises that HH has walked away from.
Why would anyone want to punish his reputation over the dialogue you know he might not be willing to give? Even if he called for it, he might be the only one emerging to benefit from it politically and not necessarily to offer the nation a chance for solutions.
Infact, the dialogue might as well be a united opposition “endorsing” the leadership and candidature of HH. It’s all about PR optics and the opposition is playing right into the script.
By the time the opposition emerge from the dialogue venue, they won’t be able to manage or control the UPND propaganda that could follow.
Clearly, HH has managed to get the opposition where he wanted them to be – weak and begging him for an
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