Why Zambia’s president is adored abroad but a disappointment at home
Since coming to power in 2021, Hichilema has enthusiastically courted the approval of the West, often at Zambia’s expense.
Despite his lack of significant domestic achievements and rising discontentment with his leadership in Zambia, President Hakainde Hichilema has a remarkably positive image abroad. There are two major reasons for this.
The first is that Hichilema, who came to power in August 2021, is benefiting from a favourable comparison to what came before him and to other African countries where political transitions have not gone well. In neighbouring Malawi, for instance, high hopes in pastor-turned-president Lazarus Chakwera quickly faded as he appointed family members to key positions while doing little to revive the economy. South Africans thought they had escaped the graft of the Zuma years until they learnt that anti-corruption crusader Cyril Ramaphosa had allegedly stuck half a million dollars in his sofa. In Zimbabwe and Tanzania, the demise of the much-maligned Mugabe and Magufuli has not led to notable political improvement or economic revival. The list of optimism turning to disappointment goes on, to Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and more.
Such is the deficit of competent leadership that many are desperate for a success story. Superficially, Hichilema fits the bill. He is relatively new, dresses smartly, and talks well. Moreover, his social media team is highly adept at painting rosy picture of Zambia under his leadership to the outside world. Without a greater understanding of the local context, many Africans measure Hichilema against their own leaders and like what they see.
The second reason behind Hichilema’s positive image abroad is that he positions himself to be flattered by the West. Like many African leaders, Zambia’s president craves approval from the Americans, Europeans, and white South Africans. Western countries have both praised and exploited this attitude to help them secure their strategic interests and counter China and Russia’s growing influence. As Jim Risch, a ranking member of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said after meeting Hichilema, the Zambian leader “is working hard to curb China’s malign and predatory influence in Zambia as well as increase cooperation with the US”.
This “cooperation” has taken many forms. Hichilema moved swiftly to allow the US to establish an Africom-like military office in Lusaka, something his predecessors strongly opposed. His administration abolished all tourist visa fees for North American and European nationals. And the president cut extremely generous deals with mining multinationals such as First Quantum Minerals (FQM), a Canadian firm that invested in Hichilema’s election. Earlier this month, Zambia’s government relinquished its 20% shareholding stake in the FQM-run Kansanshi Mine in return for a paltry 3% royalty payment on revenue. As global demand for strategic metals such as cobalt, copper and uranium increases, Hichilema seems satisfied to exchange the country’s valuable minerals for grand invitations and kind words from the West. Opposition parties claim the government also plans to privatise remaining state parastatals such as the Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation and Zambia Telecommunications company with UK and US firms in the running to take them over.
All this has contributed to Hichilema’s positive image in the West, whose governments and diplomats have also avoided criticising their malleable partner. When former president Edgar Lungu undermined democracy and human rights, he provoked vocal criticism. The same abuses under Hichilema have met with silence.
A disappointment at home
The positive coverage Hichilema is receiving in Western circles contrasts sharply with growing criticism at home. Summing up many people’s frustrations earlier this year, the highly-regarded retired archbishop of Lusaka, Telesphore Mpundu, complained: “Everyone feels cheated by the [governing] UPND because nothing is happening…people cannot be waiting for donkey years for change to take place”.
Much of the disillusionment centres on the economy. Despite his election promises, Hichilema has failed to resolve the disastrous mismanagement of Konkola Copper Mine and Mopani, leaving tens of thousands of jobs under threat. At the same time, he has offered mining corporations huge tax cuts and other incentives with little obvious benefit for locals. The big concessions offered to FQM in return for developing a new mine and expanding production, for instance, will at most produce a few hundred jobs but lead to a few billion Kwacha in lost revenue.
In the agricultural sector, chaos has raised fears of potential food insecurity next year. In opposition, Hichilema promised to deliver subsidised fertiliser to farmers but, in office, has instead raised prices – benefiting friends of the governing party – and awarded distribution and supply chain contracts to companies that lack the capacity to meet demand.
Other broken promises are everywhere to see. Fuel and food costs have risen dramatically, worsening the cost-of-living crisis. Crippling six-hour daily power cuts have resumed despite Hichilema’s assurances only a few months ago that his administration had completely ended the energy crisis. After condemning the previous government’s appetite for borrowing, the government has added at least $2 billion to Zambia’s external debt in just a year. And shortages of drugs and other medical supplies in public hospitals are so acute that a parliamentary committee recently recommended the adoption of emergency measures to avert a likely catastrophe.
On democratic reform, Hichilema has disappointed too. After over a year in office, his administration is yet to repeal repressive legislation that undermines democracy nor enact any that promotes human rights and strengthens accountability. Not only that. More people have been arrested and sent to prison for breaking a dubious 1965 law against defamation of the president in Hichilema’s first year than were under six years of Lungu. This record did not stop the US from calling Zambia “a bright spot for democracy in Africa” at the recent US-Africa summit.
Hichilema has also undermined formal institutions, packing the civil service with ruling party loyalists and appointing allies to head the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ), the judicial bodies that appoint and dismiss judges, and the National Assembly. His administration’s refusal to embark on judicial reforms, its constant arrests of opposition leaders on spurious charges, and its abuse of the ECZ to exclude opponents show how democratic institutions remain as susceptible to manipulation now as they were under Lungu.
Perhaps the most serious issue alienating the president from many Zambians is his failure to reflect adequate ethnic diversity in his appointments. The late Kenneth Kaunda, the country’s founding father, identified Hichilema’s potential to divide the country along ethnic-regional lines as the foremost threat to Zambia’s future. The current president is not the first to succumb to this temptation. Lungu marginalised figures from provinces that voted for his opponents and promoted those from areas of support. But while Hichilema promised to do things differently, he has merely inverted the old pattern. From the key ministries, security services, and the justice system, to the National Assembly, civil services and ECZ, the top positions are all held by individuals from regions that typically vote for Hichilema.
Major concerns have also emerged about Hichilema’s commitment to fighting corruption. To begin with, the president has refused to publish the value of his assets despite being elected a platform of accountability and transparency. Along with Lungu, he is the only major party nominee to fail to do so since the return to multiparty democracy in 1991. This is especially concerning as Zambian presidents have generally used state power to accumulate wealth. There is no evidence Hichilema has done so, but his reluctance to release his net worth is concerning given his extensive business interests. This makes it difficult to work out to what extent his economic policies are benefiting companies in which he has an interest.
At the same time, Hichilema has resisted passing a law on access to information (ATI) that would enhance government transparency and assist the media and civil society in fighting corruption. Such a law has been promised by successive governments who have then dragged their feet over the last three decades. Hichilema’s has now joined them. In over a year, his administration has not even got as far as producing a Draft Bill. This reluctance may arise from fears among political elites that such a law would make available information – especially on procurement and asset declarations – that would make corruption easier to observe.
Finally, Hichilema has ignored accusations of corruption in his own government. When opposition parties presented evidence of executive involvement in an inflated fertiliser contract awarded to one of the president’s business associates, for instance, Hichilema kept quiet. The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), which now sits under the president’s office, also looked away. When the Minister of Health Sylvia Masebo got embroiled in what appears to be a major corruption scandal, Hichilema and the ACC again said nothing.
Zambia’s first one-term president?
In Zambia, there is a growing perception that Hichilema is promoting ethnic discrimination, ignoring corruption, mismanaging an already poor economy, undermining democratic institutions, and serving as a stooge of foreign mining companies and Western countries. Already, many ordinary people have concluded that Hichilema is not the leader they thought he was. The government may have co-opted civil society members who spoke truth to power under Lungu, elicited the silence of the West, and scared ordinary people from speaking out for fear of arrest, but the people are becoming more critical.
Regrettably, however, Hichilema appears to pay more attention to the voice of a particular constituency in South Africa, Europe, and North America than those who elected him. This strategy may come back to haunt him. As former archbishop Mpundu warned, “a government that doesn’t listen to the people, sooner rather than later goes out…People are a sovereign element in the running of the country.”
Indeed, while Zambians may be poor at choosing good leaders, they are good at removing bad ones. It was arguably the calamity of Lungu that pushed people to breaking point and made Hichilema look like a better alternative. Despite basking in foreign approval, the current president risks becoming Zambia’s first to suffer electoral defeat after serving only one term unless he takes a long hard look at himself.
This write up can only surely be read as a joke because there is no way this writer can actually know what’s happening in Zambia right now and put up this garbage.
Suffice it to say that our current president is not a Saint- far from it, but this write up would make the unenlightened think that it’s about our previous president and not the current one when in fact the two are quite different. For starters our current president is a hell of lot more competent than the former (a low bar I suppose) but also the economic problems we have as a nation (again mostly created by the previous regime) were not gonna be an easy thing to fix and most Zambians actually get that. Undoubtedly there’s some dissatisfaction with the speed of our recovery but at least we’re on the right path, we may not get there but we are on the right path.
Finally I must say that anyone who thinks our current president will be a one term president surely doesn’t understand the Zambian citizens psyche.
Well elaborated
Excellent analysis, though as an former lecturer at UNZA in the 1970s I am indeed sad that politics is not in a better shape in Zambia. One keeps wishing for an African leader in Central Africa that can serve his people well without falling for the personal enrichment which power can confer.
Do we do any better in the United Kingdom with our leaders? I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. All that our domestic politcs shows is that having good government and leadership is harder than getting a man on the moon.
My work in Africa spans many decades – first in the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar in 1963, right through to the present day where my activities are focused in Uganda.
My message does not require any response. I only look forward to more of your thoughtful comments.
Life Member Royal African Society.
Great Piece @Sishuwa Sishuwa. The dilemma of President Hichilema seems to be the common ingredient for challenges facing most African leaders. I am inclined to believe that the democracy we have adopted, usually conflicts with the aspirations of most local people in African settings. You either win the hearts of the West and sacrifice those of your local people or vice versa. This dichotomy is evident and was manifested in the reign of Tanzania’s late President, John Pombe Magufuli.
I read this article, nothing short of amazing though I do not entirely agree with everything stated , as an 24years old male who witnessed how hush a regime the pf was, to compare its operation with the UPND is nothing short of criminal. HH has not failed , I believe they need more time to implement their promised but healthy criticism and point outs as this one are very much needed . Awesome work sir .
I expected alternative proposal from you on the way forward.
What would you have differently if you were in his shoes? Please briefly explain how you would achieve your goals.
DISCUSSING ZAMBIA’S EXTERNAL DEBT WITH DR. SISHUWA SISHUWA
By Alexander Nkosi
Dr. Sishuwa Sishuwa has shared an article indicating that the New Dawn Government has added at least USD2 billion to Zambia’s external debt in just a year.
Zambia’s official external debt is presented below:
The stock of public external debt amounted to USD14.71 billion as at end-September 2021. Of this amount, central Government external debt was USD12.99 billion while guaranteed and non-guaranteed external debt for State Owned Enterprises was USD1.56 billion and USD164.52 million.
The stock of public external debt amounted to USD14.87 billion as at end-June 2022. Of this amount, Central Government external debt
was USD13.25 billion while guaranteed and non-guaranteed external debt for State Owned Enterprises was USD1.50 billion and USD113.69 million.
Thank you!
Dr Sishuwa Sishuwa conviniently omits President Hichilema’s domestic achievements in his first year in office:
30,000 and 11,000 new jobs in the education and health sectors, Free education for Zambian children from primary to secondary school, inflation has been brought down to single digit, the Zambian Kwacha has been cited as one of the world’s best performing currencies and most importantly political violence has been eradicated, there’s peace!
A shallow anti-Hichilema article whose aim is quite obvious. So many accusations without substance.
To someone who doesn’t leave in Zambia, they would easily be misled by this article. Unfortunately this article is full of nothing but lies and conjecture.
At the time of assuming office inflation was at 24% but today it is at 9%…. within 1 year of assuming office Hichilema has paid retirees their pension which they had waited for, for years and years, within 1 year in office Hichilema has introduced free education in all public schools and introduced bursary for all boarding schools including mission schools….within 1 year of being in office, Hichilema has reintroduced students meal allowances abolished by the previous administration. Within 1 year in office Hichilema has increased the Constituency Development Fund from $83,000 to $1,430,000 equivalent… within 1 year of being in office Hichilema has recruited more than 40,000 teachers and more than 11,000 health workers… adverts have for the first time in many years been running for recruitment in the defense forces, the civil police, the correctional service and the department of national parks and wildlife…. Far reaching reforms aimed at reducing the cost of doing business have been introduced at NAPSA the pensions authority…. Talking about governance issues; the evidence of the improvement environment is the freedom the author of this article has to freely write such lies without any consequences something he knows could not be allowed under the previous regime. Within 1 year in office, Hichilema has proposed to amend the Public Order Act, he has proposed to abolish the law on defamation of the president to give people like Sishuwa even more freedom to speak lies against the president…. the list of successes is too long to itemise here.
On his allegation that Hichilema might be the first one term president in Zambia, this is also is ill informed because for the first time in many years, Zambia has a president whose preoccupation is not the next election but serving the people in the current period. On the contrary, Hichilema will have the easiest re election at the next election as the majority citizens have seen the positive impact of his leadership knowing too well the depth of the problems we are coming from.
This is just an attack from the 1.8 million. The upnd is on the right track
Blatant lies coming from a learned man. It’s shocking to say the least. It’s a process to fix an ailing economy on.
Yes, there are so many areas that need improvement but overall HH is doing well. The economy is doing well compared to what we had previously.
Fuel is at all time high but commodities are relatively cheap.
We’ll put comrade. You truly stand for the truth.
Dr Sishuwa,
You are a great writer and without doubt a comfortably educated person, this we shall not take away from you. It is also true that you have a huge following from both abroad and back home in Zambia. A following you seem to be taking advantage of on the possible grounds of ignorance.
My worries however germinate from the soils of your possibility to mislead this very innocent following that has over time believed in your information, which unfortunately at this point is deliberately coined to mislead, maline, and position this very innocent lot for your benefit.
I may not be the right one to say this, but my advise to you is to go back and correct your facts on a number of your claims, that include but not limited to the domestic borrowing facts directed to central Bank versus Government supported enterprises or indeed interests, your claims of HH using the west and generally bad Governance in other countries to score which are just not true. Lets face it, HH has just scored against all odds Dr and he deserves his praises. Allow HH to work and let him be judged against all KPIs at the close of his term, that way and then you will be speaking to realities and not assumptions.
Powerful analysis our able professor
What is disappointing in your engaged is failure to underscore positives that this government has actually achieved for the past one year..any meaningful engagement must or should portray a certain sense of understanding in both angles without one been perceived like one who want to engage in discourse of condemning…For me your article Lack engagement in a positive way
On the contrary I think the opposition is the one that is paddling in those lies what I know is that, There was too much mess in the government system and obviously he had to change some few individuals who are not in support of his agenda. And I think these are the pipo that are complaining and also there is another group of individuals that is busy complaining coz they were used to handouts and these out number those that were in the government system. These are those that were on zesco payroll, zamtel and other parastatals. So when researching let’s also take into consideration that the pf led government had infiltrated the system with their own cadres. Lastly there are those that used to collect revenue from markets and bus stations and let not forget that these are places where politicians concentrate for their political mileage. So all these pipo put together they are the ones complaining, however most of the youths that voted for the Upnd are quietly enjoying the tranquility and the jobs that they have been.given and some more are yet to be employed in the coming years…
Dr. Sishuwa Sishuwa, I don’t know why you are like this nowadays but the truth that I know within myself (and you can research on this if you can), is that you are no longer the man I thought you were. These are lies and you know it yourself, although you won’t admit it, I know. You have brought out your own personal views here. This is not good. Please help your President without hating or hurting him. He needs you in his team.
You re wise
Hmm, as usual Mr Sishuwa has taken some healthy liberties with the truth.
On top of that our president ain’t no saint – he’s done some things well (especially on the Macro level) and tanked at others (mostly the kind of stuff that immediately affects the common man) but surely if Sishuwa really understood the psyche of a typical Zambia voter & our current situation he’d know that it’ll very hard to make HH a one term president – at the very least he has to do worse than edigah & friends ( that takes a special talent) and Zambians have to rally around an alternative singular candidate ( not sure one can emerge in the next 3 years).♂️
The author is just a bitter soul. HH is governing the country just fine. He removed oil susbsidies which were escalating zambia’s debt. The susbsidies in question were to blind fold the country by the previous regime that all was well and affordable whilst they plundered the economy in broad daylight. There was rampant corruption in the previous regime with inflated procurement costs of Fire fighting equipments, Road construction tenders, infrastructuaral development, etc.
As a Zambian citizen, I am proud of HH’s governace of the country so far and those who are just bitter for not having been given positions.
Your article is an absolute lie. Basing your opinion on what the opposition parties are promoting. The zambian people who voted for president HH are still 100% behind him. In the past 1 year he has done a remarkable job
Sishuwa is right on to the point. He’s one patriot Zambians have failed to recognize. He courageously spoke out when the previous government was busy destroying the same institutions that UPND is now crippling. Please continue telling it the way it is
You’ve always been anti HH. I first read your reports during sata’s reign. You never condemned satan and you never condemned Lungu on their way of running the economy. Yet these 2 failed us. HH is correcting the wrongs that pf brought upon our lives. And the only way is austerity measures and you’re choosing to politicise this straight forward issue. Stop abusing your education.
I assure you pf is not coming back. We the citizens are behind hichilema.
Sishuwa sishuwa, you need to provide evidence whenever you right an argument, otherwise we’ll just consider it to be hatred, jealousy or you’re suffering from “pull him down syndrome”. Waumfwa?
from the time HH was in opposition you’ve always been against him. He comes to power you’re still fighting him. Awee sure, rest your case and find peace ba professor.
Insightful.
Great efforts but highly opinionated.
More blanks fired.
You brought out many issues but one of the blanks was comparing prices of commodities ie fuel which were previously subsidized (left in huge debt) without comparing other dynamics ie international pricing then & now. Do a better comparative analysis to validate your claims.
It’s easier debating on facts than opinions. Give us a proper breakdown in figures next time so we engage better.
Thank you
Hello Mr. Sishuwa,
Which sampling method did you use to ascertain that people of Zambia feel HH, might be a one term President? What questions were asked and to which demography were the questions target to? Let us start from here
@Chris: Sishuwa is right. Zambia’s debt increased by $2billion in one year. For instance, the government of Zambia borrowed $1.3bn from the IMF in August. They also borrowed millions of dollars from the World Bank and others, bringing the total to $2b in one year. This is a fact. So why would anyone dispute what is in the public domain? I note that Alexander Nkosi is deliberately counting debt up to June 2022 yet much of the borrowing occurred afterwards, between July and September 2022. They may be concessional loans but they are loans and add to the country’s debt stock.
A nice read from Dr Sishuwa. I may not have the details on domestic issues raised , but I agree that HH social media team are very good at what they do. HH excitement with wests approvals can be seen all over his social media. His engagement with westerns allies is out of this world. Otherwise the comments are exhilarating to read. A good article we can start interrogating. Good comments from everyone.
Well elaborated it’s unfortunately hungry singers can still cook up their own stories. personally you have nailed it because economically things are not well in Zambia.at my work place people called me HH because of my support for him, at the moment I just hiding myself because their genuine criticism . so please my President subsdise mealie meal before its too late if possible because are upset with the system of government we have now.
HH is day is coming . We are good at removing bad leaders and this tread will continue
Zambia cannot get rid of Hichilema fast enough. In the meantime, the people are taking measures to ensure that his plans to sell our resources fail. Before long, his masters will be asking him for a refund.
My brother Haambote, greetings. Mālō e lelei. You made a good point about the 30,000 jobs. But to lift our people out of poverty, we cannot separate our people from their natural resources. The small number of Zambians who are wealthy (Mutati, Shamutete, e.t.c) made their wealth through the mines. the copperbelt was built through mineral wealth. processing our minerals to produce EV batteries and solar panels could bring more wealth than Zambia has ever seen. Processing cassava into flour could make us richer than Switzerland. Hakainde has no such plans for Zambia. He has been hired to turn over all our wealth to foreign corporations. HH will leave us with nothing! I know the PF disappointed us, but please brother, if you love the Zambian people; DO NOT VOTE FOR HH AGAIN. HH is as much a Tonga as Obama is a member of the Lou people. Such men sold out Africa a long time ago. let us work together to remove HH, and save our people from neocolonization.
Sishuwa keeps on parading his petty politics! How did this guy even earn his academic credentials, let alone a doctorate? Shocking!