With about a year to go before Zambia’s next elections, Dr Sishuwa Sishuwa has criticised President Hakainde Hichilema’s record, accusing the government of political interference.
Specifically, he accuses the president of secretly puppeteering the main opposition party; stacking the electoral commission against this same opposition; reshaping the courts in his image; and seeing his constitutional changes foiled by the judges he supposedly hand-picked.
By implying the government has seized control of the main opposition party, the Patriotic Front, he forgets that old political rule of thumb: never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
The collapse of the Patriotic Front (PF) is the result of the natural end to a party that spent more than a decade failing to deliver for the Zambian people. Nor is it the first time the PF has collapsed into in-fighting; it happened after the death of president Michael Sata in 2014.
Zambia needs an organised, credible and focused opposition. But responsibility for this surely cannot fall on the government. Having suffered years of political repression under the PF, this administration is in the process of replacing the colonial-era Public Order Act with a more tolerant Public Gathering Act. Rather than blocking opposition meetings, as Sishuwa suggests, we are building a more vibrant and inclusive democratic space. Citizens once again feel free to wear party colours in the streets without the fear of political violence which stalked every bus shelter and market stall in the 2010s.
We also reject the insinuation that the government is attempting to undermine the independence of the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) by staffing it with party stooges. These allegations are based on conjecture while the professional record of Mrs Zaloumis, a former member of the National Constitutional Conference, and Mr Chipenzi, former chair of the Council of NGOs in Zambia, are plain for all to see.
Sishuwa criticises the ECZ’s attempts to register 3.5 million new voters as a bid to “prepare the public’s mind” for vote manipulation. The more obvious explanation would be trying to enfranchise more of Zambia’s young, growing population.
President Hichilema is accused of trying to stack the lower courts with political appointees. In reality, the three Constitutional Court judges who he sacked in October 2024 were dismissed after the Judicial Complaints Commission found irrefutable evidence of gross misconduct. The JCC’s advice is constitutionally binding, and the president replaced them with highly qualified justices, as is required by law.
The accusations of using the courts to gag opposition figures are equally unfounded. Hate speech, which is frequently tribal in nature, is a genuine problem in a country as diverse as Zambia and can lead to ethnic tensions and even violence if left unchecked. At the same time, the government recognises its role in defending freedom of expression, which is why we repealed the draconian “Defamation of the President Law” in 2022.
Despite facing various charges of hate speech, Socialist Party leader Fred M’membe and Tonse Alliance spokesperson Sean Tembo continue to campaign against the government freely and openly. Ironically, both men have reported government ministers to the police for alleged tribalist comments, suggesting that they do not entirely reject the premise for their arrests.
Finally, Sishuwa’s critique of the president’s attempts at constitutional reforms under Bill 7 are riddled with inaccuracies and rumour. Rather than a naked attempt at gerrymandering, the redrawing of constituency boundaries is a well overdue update to the last delimitation exercise, which occurred in 2011. Back then Zambia’s population was a little over 14 million; now it’s 21.9 million.
The creation of 55 new constituencies is made more urgent by the government’s decision to increase the Constituency Development Fund — the country’s main social security pot — from roughly $68,000 to $1.5 million per constituency. Without the creation of new electoral districts, many citizens will miss out on this funding.
Sishuwa also mischaracterises the clause in Bill 7 that prevents political parties from replacing their candidates if they are disqualified after nominations have closed. In the past, this quirk of Zambia’s Constitution has delayed important elections by weeks or even months, as fresh nominations are required even when a candidate has been found guilty of corruption. Such provisions are nowhere to be found in the constitutions of other democracies, including the US and South Africa.
Column inches and the modern attention span will not permit me to tackle any more of Sishuwa’s inaccuracies and half-truths. Government is a messy business and even the best leaders cannot get every call right. But Zambians have a lot to be proud of in their democracy in recent years. Peace and respect has returned to the public square. Corrupt officials have been brought to justice. The death penalty has been abolished, freedom of information laws introduced, and not a single media house has closed on our watch. All as we emerge, slowly but surely, from one of the worst economic crises in our nation’s history.
As the survivor of two fraudulent elections and a four-month prison term while in opposition, President Hichilema has always worked to strengthen Zambians’ democratic rights. As we look ahead to next year’s elections, the government hopes that more citizens than ever will get to exercise those rights freely and fairly.
Whitney Mulobela is the Zambian government’s chief communications strategist.
We reject the insinuation that the government is attempting to undermine the independence of the Electoral Commission of Zambia
