Shishuwa accuses the same government that tolerates him to continue writing his anti-government theories of being intolerant, forgetting that it is also the same government that feeds him? To us, this proves the obvious that Shishuwa represents an agenda that is beyond fair academic commentary but a deeper political interest. Our conclusion is that Shishuwa is just another disgruntled and half-baked politician hiding behind the curtain of academia and must be treated as such
By Dr. Joze Manda
Were it not for Shishuwa Shishuwa’s impeccable academic background, we would have ignored him because we have followed his many biased political commentaries against Edgar Lungu and his government and we know his inclination towards the opposition from the time of the Post Newspaper, but given his academic background and the audience he represents (UNZA) we are forced to debunk his sensational claim in his recent ranting titled “This is how President Lungu is planning to rig Zambia’s 2021 general election” which is full of unsubstantiated claims.
Shishuwa exposes mediocre understanding on how governments are run and how laws are made and amended which also explains why he cherry-picks loose information and fills his analysis with too many theories and zero facts.
Shishuwa accuses the same government that tolerates him to continue writing his anti-government theories of being intolerant, forgetting that it is also the same government that feeds him? To us, this proves obvious that Shishuwa represents an agenda that is beyond fair academic commentary but a deeper political interest, which is his constitutional right, we respect that.
Step 1: Amend the Constitution
For an Oxford trained academician, Shishuwa shows a very low understanding of what the constitution is, what it is meant to achieve, and how it can be amended. He employs a biased analysis against Lungu without considering the fact that the same constitution would apply to HH in the event he failed to reach the 51 plus mark.
*Did it ever occur to our learned Dr that it is possible to have a tie of 49% votes for Lungu and 49% for HH and whoever managed to get the 2% support from the other small parties would carry the day?
Our learned friend must understand that by definition, a constitution is an aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. The constitution forms the basic structure of any government.
The constitution of any country is important because of the fact that it lays down all the legal and cultural aspects under which its people and the governmental bodies will be governed. The constitution is also referred to as a living documents. It is a living document because it should continually be edited and updated to conform to the new times and also to fit the current needs of the people.
A poor country like Zambia can avoid expensive elections re-runs and save huge amounts of money by introducing such amendments to the constitution and that’s what lawmakers are paid to do when we elect them to parliament.
Step 2: Abolish the voters’ roll
Our learned friend here he also fails to appreciate and understand the role of the voter’s roll and the independence the Electoral Commission of Zambia. An outdated voters roll is a risk to all the parties involved, which include the party in power, the opposition and the people of Zambia who are the voters themselves.
As we have always know our learned friend to be speculative, he claims “Sources in the commission said Lungu exerted significant pressure on the electoral body to abolish the permanent register rather than updating it, as required by law, and as has been done in each election since 2005 when it was first created”. Shishuwa fails to understand and appreciated that the Electoral Commission of Zambia follows its own set guideline in implementing whatever necessary changes are needed and no individual can influence them.
Shishuwa goes on to baselessly claim that, “Three of the four provinces in which Hichilema retains huge support, for instance, are in rural areas. Limited publicity about the commission’s plans to abolish the existing register, the long distances to the nearest administrative centres, the onset of the rainy season (which starts in late October), and the limited time available to complete the exercise will undermine the capacity of voters in these areas to take part in the voter registration.” Has our learned friend taken time to analyse the demographics setup of the whole country that its evenly the same countrywide and does he understand that the same way the Electoral Commission reaches the voters during voting will be the same way it will reach the same voters to register?
The commission can easily capture the nine million expected voters in the allocated time considering the advancement of technology and considering that they are able to reach the same number of people during the voting period within a twenty-four hour period.
Shishuwa concludes his article by baselessly claiming that Lungu harbours plans to arrest Hichilema on a trumped-up charge. It is very sad and disappointing when a learned academician and a government worker for that matter plays propaganda politics on the expense of educating the public just to satisfy his political sponsors.
Our conclusion is that Shishuwa is just another disgruntled and half-baked politician hiding behind the curtain of academia and must be treated as such with the gloves that fit his hands. He must be brought to account for his claims and accusations as they have the potential to breach our national security.
I cant wait for the Good Doc to punch holes in this poorly written response .Even i can respond to such emotional and less thought out arguments .
Then you’ll hear fool!sh people sayins “Ifintu nu nguLu !!!’
UPND IS TRYING TO RIG IN SOUTHERN WITH OLD REGISTER
The author Jose Manda sounds dull no offence. He must be a witch Doctor not a Doctrate holder, that can explain the shallow thinking.
Dr. Manda, the current constitution and electoral laws of Zambia requires that if no presidential candidate obtains 50% + 1 votes, then a re-run election should take place between the two presidential candidates with the most votes. In case both HH and Lungu obtained 49% votes, there will be a re-run election between HH and Lungu. This avoids having bogus small hand- picked small parties deciding who the next president of Zambia should be. The two remaining contending presidents will conduct campaigns to enable voters make informed decisions during re-run. On this issue, I think it is you Dr. Manda who needs to debunk your analysis and biased views. Free and fair elections are expensive for a good reason. Your suggested short-cuts of using small parties to make the final decision doesn’t…
Haha Ba Jose…Take a look at toulmin method is a style of argumentation. You should have asked people to read at your response before publication.
I’ve always said it, Sishupu is a upnd cadre and should be treated as such!! Spot on, Dr. Manda.
This government feeds Sishuwa? Nalisa?
Dr manda your words will always hold more water than that paid cadre shishuwa. There is no difference between shishuwa and that other empty tin hanthony habwalya. These two dunderheads are a threat to national security. Their propaganda is spreading falsehood which can be easily equated to treasonous behaviour. Be careful. The peace of this country is more important than one persons right to freedom of speech which they are clearly abusing.
This is an ad hominem response, shame on you!
The current definition of brain drain isn’t the trend whereby the educated leave Zambia and go to work abroad, it’s how brains leave the educated especially when they decide to support a political Party. Both Sishuwa and Manda fall in that category and they’re not the only ones
Rubbish… the author promises facts to debunk Dr Sishuwa’s well articulated article but he fails to present any. Instead he resorts to emotional outbursts and actually fails to present any valid arguments to Sishuwa’s. Sitting here as an independent, apolitical person, Sishuwa articulated his points well.
This Dr sounds like Sunday Chanda spewing verbal noises with no substance.
The author wants us to trust Lungu and ECZ merely because they are in government, without presenting the reason why. The onus is on those in power to instil confidence in the citizenry and right now we don’t trust these crooks.
@ Fake Kaizar Zulu, you would build a bit of credibility if 1) you learned to shut your mouth sometimes; 2) you wrote something that criticized your ‘no-do-wrong’ god Lungu; 3) you wrote some complimentary about your ‘no-do-right’ arch enemy HH.
Right now we know that you are an attention seeking sycophant based in the UK, and wishing to be that thug Kaizar Zulu. Pathetic!
Have tried to follow Sishuwa and each time I have always concluded he is Under 5’s surrogate. Does he think we are that dull to believe his trash. Only will lean upon his own misunderstanding.
A Manda, silence would have served you best here. There is no neutrality in your write up. It stinks of the very caderism you are accusing Sishuwa of. Also making reference to his title of civil servant(that he is fed by govt) is very careless and upatriotic on your part. Doesn’t Lungu also draw a salary from govt treasury? Or you/he thinks he was appointed by God? In my final analysis, you are more of a PF cadre/bootlicker/ngwangwazi than Sishuwa is an opposition cadre. If things were OK in the Country, no one would criticize Lungu. Zambia nichalo chesu bamwine, doesn’t belong to one Lungu.
NIBAPUNGWA, UTUBEEMBA, BAMWANKOLE BACHILOMOLOMO.
AKABEEMBA IS A SMALL BIRD THAT CAN CATCH SMALL CHICKS AND CAN FINISH ALL THE CHICKS WITHIN A SHOT PERIOD OF TIME NO KUBENDELELA SO IS BA POLICE FORCE (PF) BY THE TIME YOU COME REALISE THEY HAVE FINISHED YOUR CHICKS.
UKULILA KWANKOKO, PUNGWA TASAKAMANA SO BANE TWISUMINISHA ABA BAPUNGWA BASOMPOLE NOTUSHELEPO, ALA NABASOMPOLA NAPANSHI PATALALA, FINSHI IFYO TWINGACHITA, BALIKWATA AMAPULANI YAKUSOMPWELAMO UBUNONSHI KKKK. LOLESHENI BAMBI IFYO AMENSO YALELOLESHA.
Sishula is a full chap, wonder what he teaches our children. A proper academician would have taken time to explain the positives and negatives in each system. No system is perfect. They all have their good and bad sides. The UK uses the proposed system and it is working well for them. America has electro college system. Who is he to show his ignorance and tell us which system is the best.
Sishula is a full chap, wonder what he teaches our children. A proper academician would have taken time to explain the positives and negatives in each system. No system is perfect. They all have their good and bad sides. The UK uses the proposed system and it is working well for them. America has electro college system. Who is he to show his ignorance and tell us which system is the best. Hope he reads and responds to my comment.
There was a very cheap way of dealing with a tie that did not need to go for a re-run. The voters could have simply been asked to state their top three choices, eg. 1 Lungu, 2 Kambwili, 3 Hichilema. A computer algorithm can in a matter of seconds tell who the preferred candidate is without going back to the polls.
Am tired of this rigging claims. Can someone please tell me this. When upnd wins in Dundumwenzi with a big margin there is no rigging but when the lose in the Northern province PF has rigged. I have NEVER heard Upnd claiming that elections were rigged in Southern province.
Dundumwenzi UPND : 32000. PF: 200. No rigging
Mwasabombwe PF : 13000. UPND 1000 the election was rigged. Am failing to understand UPND.
Sishuwa has never ever said or written anything decent about succeeding governments over the past nine years. Such a bitter character.
Illogical logic. Spot on. Cry babies who believe their own lives.
This is more wrapped than what it’s trying to debunk.
1. Saving the poor nation money by avoiding election reruns – in a country where the ruling party feeds on byelections as way of proving its popularity and strength.
2. The constitution reads WE THE PEOPLE GIVE OURSELVES…. Constitutional amendment that is not people driven.Why doesn’t the PF ask us whether or not we want to amend the constitution? We have said no, but PF is shoving its amendment down our food – starved throats with the preamble, WE THE PF GIVE THE PEOPLE OF ZAMBIA A….
A lot can be said about this writeup, but hey why waste the time on one track – thinking cadres.
These UNZA lecturers from the Humanities are a waste of time. They are always shouting “forum” instead of being the intelligentsia of the country
Its sad to see that true Patriotism is seen as being partisan or opposition these days. We only have one country, one place we belong.
That said, this argument is moot. HH and EL can’t both have 49% and convincing a 2% being a determinant. By definition, there has to be a true majority.
There’s no politician too smart for the educated public. We see through all of you. Forcing a new register while disadvantaging your oppositions strongholds when it comes to voter registration, we see through it all.
Fellow tribesmen, I’m Bemba not stupid. PF is clearly bad for us.