The Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland came to Zambia on 6 August. During her brief visit, she was granted permission by President Lungu to visit the incarcerated UPNI Leader Ilakahinde Hichilema at Mukobeko maximum security prison.
Mrs. Scotland is the second foreign dignitary allowed to visit Hichilema. The first was the former President of Nigeria, Mr. Obasanjo. It may seem that outside pressure has succeeded to soften the hard stance taken by President Lungu against those advocating a political reconciliation between PF and UPND. During her brief visit Mrs. Scotland, reaffirmed the Commonwealth position on the result of the August 2016 presidential elections — in the sense that President Lungu had won.
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Indeed both the European Union and SADC election observers had pronounced the elections free and fair. The UPNI leader Hichilema had disputed the elections and resolved that the UPNI had won despite the lack of credible evidence to support his claims. Though it is too early what was discussed between Hichilema and Mrs. Scotland. In any event, Hichilema was released soon after her visit. Hichilema and five others had been facing treason charges arising from an offence committed in April this year when they tried to stop President Lungu's motorcade on its way to Western province. The action could have resulted in a fatal road accident.
Mrs. Scotland visit to Zambia took place at the height of the Kenya presidential elections where they incumbent president Uhuru Kenyata once again defeated Railla Odinga, by a margin of 10 percent. Odinga has disputed the elections results citing irregularities in the counting of votes. It may come to pass that disputing elections results has become a political culture especially in African countries where parliamentary democracy gives room for manipulating elections. Parliamentary democracy, to differentiate it from single party political systems, has proved to be a recipe for ethnic and tribal animosities.
Politics in Zambia are more or less infused with traditional and cultural prejudices in the sense that most people can only vote for a person with whom they have close ethnic and tribal affinities. Thus winning an election in Zambia depends upon manipulating the relative population densities regardless of the political and intellectual credibilities of a given leader. Political opposition parties can only win the sympathy during periods of unemployment and arising cost of living which translates into rising fuel and mealie meal prices. Social economic development in Zambia is always associated with the prices of copper exports otherwise than with micro-economic policies which may be framed by the ruling government. Thus the fortunes of political parties are dictated by the price of copper and nothing else.
Zambia's economic underdevelopment is tied to its cultural and traditional mentality in the sense that the ruling political elites refuse to acknowledge that capitalism cannot work in the interest of the marginalized workers and peasants. It is impossible to achieve any semblance to economic developments without exploiting the working class. Inflation and unemployment shall never be outlawed from capitalist society and the current political scenario in Zambia must be understood from the overriding cultural and traditional standards prevailing in African countries. The freedom to criticize is everywhere frowned upon and every opposition party is subjected to political molestation that defeats the onus or political pluralism. It becomes a matter of political conjecture to believe that the opposition stands to derail the economic policies introduced by the president Lungu. Due to their lack of class consciousness, it can be predicted that the way people vote is determined by ethnic and tribal prejudices regardless of the fall of mealie meal and fuel prices.
Cephas Mulenga Chimwemwe,
Kitwe, Zambia
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