Africa-Press – Zambia. President Hichilema’s statement that the country’s “treasury is empty” due to “heavy consumption and wastage of public resources, ” made sad reading except for the similar false promises he made to the nation. Who on earth believes Zambia could provide free education from Grade 1 to University, reduce prices of mealie meal to K50, fertilizer to K250, employ all graduates, deploy all teachers, provide health care and other services based on its current economic and financial status? If South Africa whose economy is far better than ours could hardly do so, how can Zambia manage? Surely candidate HH knew he was lying. As President, he is now in a fix–he can’t move an inch FORWARD without looking foolish; so blame and blame the empty treasury. As Bembas say, uwawa, tabula kabepesho–it is Bally in a fix.
Leon Festinger, Henry Riecken, and Stanley Schachter’s 1956 classic, “When Prophecy Fails,” is the likely fate for many Bally worshipers. They have to live with the cognitive dissonance (CD) that the promised paradise is not coming, while living with psychological insults of unfulfilled promises from the once heralded liberator. As for others, the CD will translate into deliberate amnesia–believing HH never promised anything or simply refusing reality as a coping mechanism.
Candidate HH lied his way to the Presidency. He sold a false brand, which he knew he could not deliver. Many Zambians bought the Forward brand, it was fashionable. Little did we pause to ask what it all meant. The “Bally will fix it” slogan was chanted by University educated people without asking how he would do it. Partially this is due to the “potted,” or what Brazilian philosopher Paulo Freire termed “banking” concept of education offered in the nation. Our students are expected to absorb knowledge without questioning.
Journalists reported every HH statement, but did not question him. For instance, did HH understand the limitations of Zambia’s tax base? How many people in Zambia pay income tax? How much does it cost to educate one child from grade 1 to University? How much does it cost to fund one primary school, secondary school, college and university? How many students are enrolled in Zambian schools? What is the ratio of graduation to job creation rates in the nation? How about the demographic impact on unemployment given that Zambia’s midian age is barely 17.6? As for the cost of living, HH was given a pass too. The country’s poverty rate is over 60%, implying that the majority of the population lives in poverty-stricken conditions. This has implications on the tax-base as well as on disposable income–the key drivers of economic growth. And more critically, where would the money come from for all his grand promises? Investments, job creation, and wealth creation are simply tag words–reality is something else.
Last week, HH tweeted, “I will still be your Bally.” I disagree. He is now the President of the Republic of Zambia. His claim that the treasury is empty is only meant to hide his lies–Zambian coffers have always been empty. Our budgets are balanced by debts and donations. I don’t want to absorb the PF Administration’s corruption, but we don’t and we will not have enough money in the next 10 years to pay for all the HH false promises. Even his own beloved capitalist funders won’t endorse his false promises–they are just insane. They are nearer to the world of cartoons than the real world in which people know that there is nothing for free. Of course, donor funding maybe a possibility, but who builds the entire budget on donor funding?
President HH should know that the countdown to the next election has began. He should hope that those unemployed university graduates who matched to the polls in graduation gowns will finally get jobs before 2026. We will also have 5 more graduating classes before the next election. President HH should hope that Eastern Zambia and Luapula, Muchinga, and Northern provinces would have reasons to vote for UPND again. He should also pray that parents would be able to deal with the psychological consequences of unmet promises as they continue to pay school fees for their children during his presidency.
The CD already being felt by cadres who matched the streets with bandanas, pangas, and the UPND attires with Candidate HH may be a factor too. They are putting HH to the test by returning to the markets and stations. Would President HH keep his word and arrest them? One would only conjure such cadres would have good reasons to campaign, and when possible to maim and kill for him; after he has ignored them after getting to Plot 1. As for the common man, the belly and the wallet talk. It does not matter how great the GDP is if people are not well off. I pray that the opposition will be kind enough not to remind Zambians about the President’s false promises. Parents who refuse to pay school fees could easily put Bally in a fix too.
Zambians danced Forward 2021, but history is also the greatest teacher. In 1991, President Chiluba came in as a Savior of Zambia; promised freedoms and pledged to abolish cadres. HH may have been among those Zambians who danced at the fall of Super Ken, the late KK. Like at HH’s victory, people took to the streets. By 1994, Zambians wanted Super Ken back. Only the change in the Constitution and political intimidation from the police and the military stopped KK from returning as Zambia’s President. President HH ought to know that LIES can win one the presidency, but they can also DESTROY it. Chiluba is late, so he may ask Donald Trump.
