Saturday, April 20, 2024

False Promises + Empty Treasury = President HH a.k.a. Bally in a Fix

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By Kapya Kaoma

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.

76 COMMENTS

  1. The fact of the matter is that your worst, maladministration and corrupt PF left the country in debts. Over 50% of the revenues are going to salaries, 40% to debt servicing and the 10% is what is remaining so which country can progress with the said 10%. Wait all the criminals will start going to jail soon.

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  2. What a bitter sore loser……….

    People just wanted change from your corrupt PF , not much ado about election promises ……..

    Mostly people wanted normalcy in zambia and a fair chance of a job and good standard of living without having to be a cader……

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  3. The guy is a modern day swindler.
    “Tailor musuma tasala insalu”.
    He’s supposed to be finding solutions and not throwing problems back at us. Then why is he occupying the office in the first place, is it to identify problems or to solve them?
    YOUTHS SORRY YOU GOT DUPED. HOPE SEER 1 NEVER INFLUENCED.

    DAY10

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  4. “…..President HH should hope that Eastern Zambia and Luapula, Muchinga, and Northern provinces would have reasons to vote for UPND again…….”

    You can guess where this tribal bigot is from……

    already trying to marshal the tribal supremacists……

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  5. It is so mediocre for mediocre people like Kapya Kaoma to expect all the election promises made to be fulfilled in less than 30 days of the president being inaugurated and most of all he hasn’t even made his cabinet and has not yet formed government. How can you not know that things can’t be done that way? How foolish can be to fail to understand things in the right context? Eish, many Zambians are just mediocre and useless, how can one not know?

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  6. This unhealthy, why not let one work before you begin your critics…?

    All you want is for people to loose hope in our president. This is bad. Give our president time to put the house in order.

    Sit back and relax for a while.

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  7. Spack you have missed a point and picked a wrong one ! the point people would want you to dwell on is ( will the head of state honour his promises)
    The point you picked is the weakest of them all how ever better to strengthen the case by saying that what are Zambians expecting in general is it false promises or to see promises met.
    The head of state is saying he has inherited empty coffers what does he mean as a respected economist as we all know.
    He said they are still stealing as he was interviewed by BBC, we all know that he has the instruments of power in his hands what is he doing to correct the situation, from the look of things non of the suspected thieves has left the country what is waiting for?

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  8. Author is completely lost, even if HH had not campaigned or uttered a word Zambians were still going to vote for him, there was no alternative, so don’t mislead yourself that HH lied because we did not even vote for him for what he said. We voted for him because we know he is a doer,

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  9. Completely off the mark..which country has zero unemployment in the world? You have created your own expectations or exaggerated expectations. Zambia is already better under HH, you have not noticed this?

    Enjoy the the ride, there will be intelligent attempts to to solve problems.

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  10. Those pointing at PF should reach for their reset button. PF is gone, forget them because you need to keep your eyes on the ball. The new PF….sorry I mean UPND has the potential to turn into something worse than the PF. We need to stop these excuses of wrong doing and let right be done. Turn your energy on guiding the UPND so that they don’t turn into another monster.

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  11. The writer’s truth vicious self has come out with fists swinging venting his anger at his thieving masters loss to HH. His articles go to great lengths to sound objective and scholarly, but when you listen to him his cadre mentality and blind support for PF comes out prominently ngo munwe wa pakati. Of course HH is going to fulfill his promises but it won’t happen instantly. The new government is going marshal Zambia’s resources and direct them at developing the nation. This is a process not a sudden happening.

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  12. Ba Kapya Kaoma, your letter or article or whatever you may call it is full of nonsense! The current president has been in office for less than two weeks and you can write all that nonsense? What a shame! Give the man a chance to lead the nation to prosperity, unlike the past regime that was so corrupt to the core. Only a few have gotten so rich in Zambia through corruption.

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  13. HEHH has to be very carefull, this world is full of evil bitter people……

    The president should know he is not in church……..

    We call on William banda , the police inspector for special duties and mwaliteta to protect the president. He is too nice and and does not see the evil in these crooks.

    They have lost their sources of illicit income to a tonga , and they will work hard at causing civil unrest

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  14. After reading the article I find it incredible that the editors of Lusaka Times would accept such mediocre piece of work to be published. Reading between the lines I understand that Kaoma has a hidden agenda to see the new government fail. How can anyone be expecting failure when the president was only sworn in a week ago? It is obvious that Kaoma may have been one of the beneficiaries of the previous government. The damage done by criminal PF government will take years to rectify. The UPND government is subject to the rule of law unlike the Lungu government which disobeyed court orders.

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  15. My joy over the appreciation of the Kwacha has turned into sadness. My sister sends US$100.00 monthly. This worth over K2,000.00 from which she pays K300.00 to the person looking after her k100.00 to Zesco, K100 to the water utility company and K1,500.00 for her other needs. Now this 100 dollars has been reduced to 1,500 Kwacha and I have to meet the difference. In short the cost of living for some of us has gone up. Can the government fix this by introducing price controls because traders on their own will not reduce prices.

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  16. #1 Kalumba Your points are very valid but the point is that Mr Hakainde was very emphatic about solving problems among them youth unemployment within a week after being sworn in. You can go to one radio station on the copperbelt and ask for a recording for one of his interviews. Yes it’s impossible for one to create employment in that space of time but desperate youths believed this. After the Bible says if you have as little as a mustard seed you can move mountains, turn water into wine, walk on water and perform other miracles. Look at it from that angle, although the author is sort of off the mark.

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  17. Melvin hamalaambo of course you would feel that way because the article is genuinely critiquing your fellow tribesman. Tribalism is engraved in you. It is something inborn to you. You will never change you silly old f00I.

    As for the article, all I will say is that we told you so. You would have to be mentally retarded to believe the hot smelly sheet that comes out of hh ugly mouth. Just look at how his appointments are based on people that treated him well in prison at the expense of others. Is this employment by merit ? Look how he orders people around. Hh is a mere dictator watch and see.

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  18. By saying ‘zero’ did HH mean the literal zero?
    Instead debating what we think he said or didn’t, why don’t we ask his Press Aide what The President meant?

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  19. Dejavu the problem we have as a country is that we have disgruntled youth who became gullible and f00Iish to believe lies. Even my daughter in primary wouldn’t have believed that f00Iishness from hh. Hh claimed to appoint on merit and yet just yesterday he was clear in saying that those he employed at correctional was because they treated him well. Is this meritorious? So it’s OK to employ someone who gives me treats at the expense of those qualified to do the role? Very corrupt individual who has come back to sell more of our state resources for peanuts again. We warned you

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  20. Dokowe the press aide is a cult follower of HH. The little boy Anthony bwalya worships hh such that he is even copying hh scruffy look. You think such a useless boy can say anything against the man who feeds him? He is a brainwashed little worm

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  21. Ba Rev, Kapya Kaoma, thank you for calling off Bally’s bluff. Bally knew he lied big time to many Zambians that he could create heaven on earth. Now reality is staring him in the face and again wants to turn around and heap more lies on the many lies he told on the campaign trail by telling us that the coffers are empty. As the English say, lies have short legs. Ati, Ubufi bulabwela1 Lies cannot take you very far. Sooner than later, the chickens are coming home to roost for Bally. Bally is proving to us he is a politician cut from the same cloth like all politicians. He wanted power so much that he had to lie to so many Zambians about things he cannot probably fulfill in his lifetime. However, he will have to face voters soon in those 54 parliamentary by-elections the UPND is itching…

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  22. The problem is bally based his strategy on falsities and is now trying to justify it. To keep his supporters happy, PF have to be blamed for all of our problems and they have to look bad. Take the example of the vaccines donated by the UAE which were destroyed by ZAMRA because they were imported by Finlay’s company-total waste!! The “corruption” of the PF remain as allegations until proven in Courts but bally wants to blame PF at every turn and is now crying the treasury is empty. This is what you subscribed for, bally, FIX IT!!!!!

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  23. An excellent analysis by Kapya Kaoma. Anyway, let us pray that his excellency delivers half of his promises at an opportune time. Ofcourse it’s an impossibility for him to fulfill all the reckless promises he made during the campaign period.

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  24. WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD. CORRUPTION HAS CLOUDED HIS JUDGEMENT, HE WAS USED TO BEING SPOON-FED. GO AND NEGOTIATE FOR CONTRACTS LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE DOES.

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  25. This is a Get real situation.
    1. H² lied many times and he is still lying.
    2. Kapya campaigned for hh in many of his articles, ooh oohh is he just flipping to a neutral gear?
    3. Cry babies h² and his gang has been all the way since he hijacked UPND.
    4.True kapya, this is a dramatic deja vu. KK = ECL and FTJ = H²
    4. Only the naive believed h² including you and the many Zambians – youths and women.
    5. FTJ overpromised like h² both believed the lies programs orchestrated by IMF and the World bank – the West. While like rightly put KK and ECL embraced the East – China.
    6. He who got lied to is a bigger f00l. Surprisingly democracy enveloped us in this container.

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  26. First of all it’s “march” not “match”. This is why school is important. Secondly, free education wasn’t a priority for the people it was the cost of living. So whether or not that promise is fulfilled, what matters is that people’s lives will be more comfortable. Empty coffers have always been an open secret, so how do think free education will be possible if someone somewhere isn’t footing the bill?

    Further more let provinces vote however they want because Lusaka and Copperbelt province will always have the final say. Even if HH is voted out it wont matter as long as he’s proved all you haters dead WRONG when you said he would never rule Zambia.

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  27. ZMK250 per 50kg bag of fertilizer; Free education from grade 1 to tertiary; US$1 @ K5; Fuel pa K7.00 per ltr; 3Meals per day per family; Lower taxes.
    These are real issues EN and Rafa are raising.

    About fake promises, all I know is that this guy is lazing about in that position trynna witch hunt. I also know that this level of inexperience exhibited by h² is appalling and will make him blunder a great deal. He had no economic lenses to see the reality of the coffers in Government.
    When the mines were sold in 1991, did he think the proceeds from the mines were hitting Government coffers month in, month out? You will soon learn that blaming the dry coffers on corruption alone will not fill the up. Begging IMF and others to fill them up again is not the solution either.
    The fixer…

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  28. The d0g KZ still comments here, he disappeared from his ka once boss who is looking for him, he messed up his yellow stinky teeth just like he messed up the country

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  29. Dunduzane is right, we voted for HH for his well known capabilities and not based on what he said, so don’t mislead yourself that HH lied to the Zambian people. Even if HH remained silent through the campaigns Zambians were still going to vote for him. So the author can hang

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  30. Kapya Kaoma is full of sour grapes. He needs to come out of his stupa and see the New Down. Already the Kwacha is twice stronger than the way PF left it. And yet HH doesn’t yet even have a cabinet in place.

    What more when he has his cabinet in place? Just wait, we are yet to see greater things. By the time upnd is half its term in office, Kapya will have unredeemable diarrhoea, all because of bitterness.

    HH is a great asset to this country. He yet to retrieve our money from PF criminals. I understand they don’t sleep in their houses for fear of the police catching up with them

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  31. Guys, have you read the story about Kaizer Zulu and pre-marked ballot papers? Check it out on Zambian Observer online newspaper. It appears we may have criminals on this site!

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  32. He hasn’t even presented his first budget and supervised its implementation. I want to give him a chance to spend the political capital he has earned and then wait and see wht outcomes follow.

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  33. This is the problem when you dont listen to HH talking like this author churning out useless ill researched articles like diarrhoea

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  34. Thorn, Zambian Citizen and other critics. Stop being bitter like you used to call the opposition. Just chill, he is your president. The comander in chief as you used to write just a couple of months ago. Just enjoy the ride. There is nothing you can do. No amount of bitterness can change the fact that he won with 1 million votes. The tribal grouping as you used to call them. Keep them complaints coming and be brave because you will be complaining for the next 5 years. Ha ha ha he he he. Funny how the world works.

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    • Mental illness is quite a big issue in Zambia. The author of the article that has sparked the debate, Kaizar Zulu et al., really are living in denial. Thorn in the Flesh, Kaizar and the whole lot of you leeches better get used to it. PF is dead and buried and you new President is the man whom you horned your skills to vicariously vilify, insult and yes, celebrate when your PF leeches nearly eliminated under a bogus treason charge. Get used, the train is leaving the station.

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  35. Well, those who think HH lied can as well eat sand and die! No lies were peddled but as you can already see, the currency has started appreciating its value, point scored, cadreism is a thing of the past now, just after a week since he was sworn in, life in the streets is normal and marketeers are going about their business in peace and Councils are collecting taxes without being harassed by PF cadres. Cant you appreciate all these positive changes in just one week? As for jobs, very soon Councils will be employing some youths to help with revenue collection and depositing for a start and this shall create some means of livelihoods for some families that had completely nothing to live on due to money being syphoned by PF Cadres. Truth be told, HH has brought sanity to Zambia and our image…

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  36. For 20yrs HH was busy mastering dunana reverse and now he’s giving Dunana reverse remix……all Diasporans are already missing Lungu….kikikikikikiki….all those Zambians back home with Families in the Diaspora are already missing Lungu…. Bally fix it…all we have seen is Mutinta dressed like a spoiled queen….when did she make all those tasteless outfits….and why is HH wearing surgical gloves…can someone tell HH that he is passing germs….it’s not hygienic to wear disposable gloves all day…he needs to wash his hands regularly….thats how you keep your hands clean…now he looks like a clown

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  37. Let these PF thieves continue talking – Ati ifya Boma. Na tola fye. For TEN ( 10 ) solid years, one may just die of BP. Now that you taught us how to rig elections, Will rig the 2031 elections. Ha ha ha ha ha…………….!!!!

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  38. On any day the last two weeks and HH as HOS o Zambia is far better that yalya amafi yaba PF of the last 7 years of thuggery, unprecedented inflated public works costs which malume ECL presided over. It is a fact up to date ECL’s rule has been the worst since 1991 and its too early in the day to state HH has failed to fulfil his campaign promises – in political fairness.
    Elyo ukulanda ati Eastern, Muchinga, Luapula naku ku mwesu ku Northern we may not vote for UPND again are you implying these people must only elect leaders on tribal grounds…nechipuba nga Kambwili.
    If this article was written in June/July 2022 and the situation then is as it is now I could have maybe said you might be right. Not now. Nwako amenshi tala mune.

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  39. Rev Kaoma, I have always read your articles with interest. You play the devil’s advocate. You hate personality cults and you want people to be brought down to earth- and you are right. But people did not vote FOR HH because he is a saviour, they voted OUT Lungu because his was a government of scoundrels. Freedom dear Reverend is more important than wealth. Northern Rhodesia was prosperous. People did not shirk off the yoke of colonialism in order to drive Mercs, they did it to be free. Of course to cox people to come out and vote, you have to dangle a carrot before them- UNIP’s was ‘an egg a day.’ Having said that, free basic education is not utopian. A majority of countries on earth have it- AND IT IS AN Sustainable development goal!

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  40. Kikikiki, you should see how KZ is bitter when someone tells him his days of impunity are over. If I were him, I would go back to the lab and never surface again. What goes around, comes back around….

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  41. My take is that, the president new what the country’s coffers were like.
    The country was failing to pay Kwacha and Dollar creditors. Zambia is on first list as Africa Covid pandemic era defaulter. We all agreed to stop PF from contracting more debt.
    What is new to alarm about Zambia being broke?
    Even when Lungu came to power, the nation was moneyless no wonder Sata went for the two Eurobonds before he died.

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  42. President Hichilema has told the BBC that he has inherited what he described as an empty treasury and that people are still trying to make last-minute movements of funds, which are unauthorised.
    He added that the debt situation had not been fully disclosed by the PF government.
    President Hichilema said the hole is much bigger than was expected and his administration has a huge task of correcting the situation.
    #Mr Kapya Kaoma;
    Having read your article, I’m convinced that you’re seeking relevance. Unfortunately, your article is ill timed
    and seems to be influenced by your inability to take all into context. I deliberately highlighted the quote above to refresh your mind.
    Development is a process your readers will need to understand. WORK ON YOUR BITTERNESS FOR ONE HH BALLY!…

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  43. This the truth anything can happen don’t be excited, a Nation is not a business entity. There are policies involved, and we have to learn politics is all about lies and situations to entertain you goals and needs.

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  44. HH is now walking like Edgar Lungu with his hands clasped….kikikiki is this part of the Presidential walk….and what happened to the HH who used to shake hands freely with marketeers…..now is has surgical gloves on his hands…..this man thinks he has inherited a kingdom and his wife thinks she’s now queen

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  45. HH was hindered from campaigning we voted for him because we were simply tired of PF thieves. And KZ your time is coming pray and fast and keep digging your hiding hole bigger because when we catch you jail will be your home.

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  46. We have a lot of morons who read the introduction of the book and think they know the rest of the book. This is not yet the time to start shouting that HH lied about this and that, give him time to clean up and organize the govt, ba mwankole the man has not yet even appointed his cabinet you are busy criticising. That is why you kill, tekanyeni mwebantu, things do not happen overnight!

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  47. Why don’t we start closing borders and grabbing their passports, the lodge in Mwinilunga, the trucks in Kafue, the properties in Lusaka, Johannesburg and Dubai need to be accounted for. Strange that DEC was investigating 48 houses when Mwine wa chisuchi said he had 70 properties and surprisingly he is not bein queried, and now he is asking for bonds from bank of Zambia. Our great leader and commander of the defence forces should look into this, let us all ignore the spineless author of the article, this is the same fallen watsapp group with now moriband Kaizar

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  48. Mr Kaizar zulu, I saw you fighting on the video with someone saying don’t point this on me. What happened Sir

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  49. Give HH a chance to prove himself, he has not even announced his team yet plus it is not entirely up to him alone to turn things around, it requires commitment from all and change of mindset as well as shift from kaponyanomics. HH’s success will be partly determined by the quality of his team across public service he brings on board. Zambia is a vast country with a mere population of 18million people, with abundant natural resources, what has been missing is prudent and strict management of the economy/finances, once these are in place job opportunities will be abound in no time. Change is here, let us embrace it and do our part even as individuals @ home and abroad. Let us make Zambia a success story.

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  50. Who did Bally give chance all those five times he lost? He never recognized anyone as President and was always in attack mode. So why does his sycophants, soothsayers and cheerleaders want us to treat him with kid gloves? He made his bed of thorns and now is our time to make him lie in it. Bally made us think he was the special one who knew everything about how government is run. His self-conceit and know-it-all arrogance is now coming back to bite him, and bite him really hard. Let others also criticize him the way he criticized others. Tit for tat is fair game! Why do you think we curse and throw away from us a bicycle that brings us down and hurts us? Or, why do we throw a stone at a dog that bites us?

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  51. This is such an ignorant article the author should have Integrity this kind of Poor journalism is the reason why people don’t read Lusaka times

  52. THis Kapya Kaoma is becoming a nuisense. I could NOT read this sh!T.
    He is already accussing HH for lying, after 7 days in office. Please, be reminded, he has 5years to proove himself.
    THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE is BULSH!T . IAM NOT UPND, BUT ATLEAT I AM FAIR IN MY ASSESSMENT. THESE DISGRUNTLED PFs ARE JUST MISLEADING EVERYONE.

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  53. Kaoma should distinguish the National Treasury and Bank of Zambia’s forex reserves . President HH said the National Treasury Coffers with Ministry of Finance are empty. The Treasury hasn’t got the Kwacha to pay for its expenditures which includes Govt Salaries and wages Govt operations and Debt. The National Treasury has failed to service the Eurobond loans so its broke. Yes the Foreign Reserves stand at USD 2.9 billion against a Foreign Debt of USD 35 Billion. Clearly the National Coffers are empty. Why doesn’t Mr Kaoma get it?

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  54. @Deja Vu,
    The impact of appreciation is not instant. It can only be felt by ordinary person after 2-3months. Simple explanation is that those stores bought their inventories at the rate when kwacha was at 22. Until that inventory is used up, when they start buying at the appreciated rate, that is when you can see a reduction in prices or cost of living. There is nothing like “introducing price controls ” the prices are determined by markets, supply and demand.
    The “introducing price controls” , was good in the KK era- In free economy, that is not necessary.

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  55. Kaiser Zulu and the writer you are bitter but as the party in power and Zambians that ensured that ECL the most corrupt President in Zambia lost by over 1 million votes.
    Kaizer Zulu you are just a thief wait the way you ordered to kill Mwalitata and Dep IG will catch up with you

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  56. #61 Gen Kanene, I know that but in Zambia it has never happened and will never happen. The only solution is to pay people more money to catch up with the current prices. I gave an example of what has happened to my mother. The change in her living standard has adversely changed instantly…my young sister sends her 100 dollars every month and now that has more than 25 percent in Kwacha terms so I have foot the difference. And what about Dstv do they still have old stock?

  57. The author of this article sounds like a chicken running around splashing blood from its neck just after it’s head has been cut off, the only difference being that this chicken had the opportunity to learn how to read and write.
    We all know that the change of government means drying up of wells and tits that many selfish people have been parasitically latched to during the PF regime. If this dude could be honest, he has lost something, somewhere, somwhow. Change for him means some door has been shut on him.
    We understand you writer, you are going through the stages of grief over your dried tits, but don’t share public articles out of bitterness. It is not wise. Any mature reader can sense your rage, it’s nakedness is so obvious throughout your script.
    So immature

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  58. There’s something Kapya Kaoma has said in his article that requires an appropriate rebuttal. How does getting public money and driving it into private pockets as the PF government had been doing benefit the people of Luapula, Northern, Muchinga and Eastern provinces? The output of government is good public services if it’s good at governing or public pain if it’s awful. The people of the above provinces do not have interests that are different from the rest of the country. If the UPND government performs up to expectations, there’s no reason why it should not do well in the named provinces during the 2026 elections.

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  59. @Deja Vu, I read you comment very carefully, and I think you had a valid point as it represents a general question that many people would be asking. Its always easy to increase prices when they are on an uptrend, but NOT necessarily easy to get them down. And that can only happen with market factors such as competition, etc.If you want to see at least prices go down, cost of fuel should be the first one. If fuel price goes down, chances of some prices going down are high. But prices of fuel can not go done at every appreciation. You will only be able to see that effect in 2 – 3months, not now. Now is time for speculators to make money. Dstv is luxury stuff, lets focus on prices of food. If you are concerned with Dstv, then you are rich, and your concern is bogus.

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  60. Sycophants like Mulenga Makungu will soon join the Trump sycompants.The article is factual and non-partisan.
    Learn to accept criticism as your President has “advised.

  61. #66 No I am not rich and I only use TV in order to spend time at home where I would be spending not less than K100.00 per night.

  62. Kaoma Kapya you are a fool, HH inherited the PF run budget which was misused and you as a learned fellow can post such useless sponsored cadre can surely expect to see all the promises to be implemented within 3 weeks when your party PF promised to change things within 90 days which they terribly failed to achieve. Such analyzing of issues like yours has greatly costs this country the much required development.

  63. PF carders now want HH to fulfil his promises when they used to mock him and they didn’t vote for him, why don’t you chaps like Deja vu direct your criticism to PF since you want your party to bounce back. Seleni tubombe just like the way you used to shut others down

  64. If Zambians were not the meek, indolent, docile people more acquainted with profane fuelled assaults on authority and women often conjured in the aftermath of heavy bouts of liquor consumption, civility cast aside, the resulting ethnic wars would obscure the Rwanda/ Burundi perennial cleansing trilogies. Thank God Zambians are so intellectually inept, morally depraved and politically compromised to pose any substantive threat even to themselves. The preceding comments attest to the absence of intelligent discourse on the state of the State, We can do better!

  65. Enjoy the freedom of speech. You would have to be an educated ***** to expect overnight resolves to the mess created by PF tribalists. UpND Alliance is already fixing things. Prepare to get jobs and contracts on merit and not through patronage. Rebuilding this country’s economy is the responsibility of every well meaning Zambian that was affected by the crookedness of the PF regime. Who says HH appointees do not have the requisite qualifications? Your article is full of bitterness and still promotes the regional supremacy of the certain regions that were favoured by PF. A level playing field is being created in business opportunities, education. Provision of services etc. Your bitterness will kill you. Us the educated youth know that opportunities will be created to enable us be our own…

  66. Upnd supporters are turning out worse than those of PF. How does one fail to accept basic criticism about making false promises? How do you now say that people didn’t vote for HH based on his promises but based on his qualities? Really? What qualities, if I may ask? Kindness, compassion? NO! People voted for him to change their situation based on what he said he would do,period!
    So people have every right to complain and be angry when they discover that the promises were false. Learn to accept criticism, HH is only human after all.

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