We take note of Mr Hakainde Hichilema’s response through the Minister of Information and Media, Ms Chushi Kasanda, who also doubles as the Chief Government spokesperson, to our concerns regarding the current terrible state of Zambia’s foreign relations under Mr Hichilema’s far-right UPND government.
We have carefully studied Mr Hichilema’s reaction and realised that they are aliens to the discourse they are attempting to engage us in. To put it simply, they are at sea. They do not grasp the geopolitical standpoints informing the deep foreign relation matters we have been consistently raising.
A puppet regime or puppet government is a state that is de jure independent but de facto completely dependent upon an outside power and subject to its dictates, orders or desires. Puppet states have nominal sovereignty, except that a foreign power effectively exercises control through economic or military support. By leaving a local government in existence, the outside power evades all responsibility, while at the same time successfully paralysing the local government they tolerate.
Puppet states differ from allies, who choose their actions of their own initiative or in accordance with treaties they have voluntarily entered into. Puppet states are forced into legally endorsing actions already taken by a foreign power.
And so, this government is merely pretending to be saying something even when it is vividly clear that it does not comprehend, let alone subscribe to, our detailed and patriotic stance on these matters. But since they are liars and hypocrites, they are busy issuing statements whose contents they do not fathom and in response to matters which are totally beyond their grasp, just to save face. With due respect, Mr Hichilema’s reaction today, through Ms Kasanda, is actually nothing but mere words on paper – not to be taken literally.
That said, we want to make it categorically clear once more that Mr Hichilema is leading a far-right Western puppet regime and is delivering on his key commitments to the West and NOT to the Zambian people. He is a Western project. A front for the West to dominate us and loot our minerals and national wealth in the 21st Century.
Isn’t it odd that while Western countries are very happy with Mr Hichilema, who has created an enabling environment for foreign capital and individual accumulation of wealth for those who loot Africa’s minerals and national resources, the Zambian people are waking up to the higher prices of commodities everyday? And Mr Hichilema seems not to care about the poor living conditions of our people at all.
But our people must know that this is not a new thing in Africa, because we have had leaders like Mr Hichilema before, who mortgaged their countries for personal gain and glory. Our neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), formerly Zaire, for instance, was once led by Mobutu Sese Seko, a leader installed by the United States and the Belgians to serve Western interests in exchange for personal power, glory and other benefits.
Today, Mr Hichilema appears very clearly to be inspired by Mobutu in his zeal to please the West while dividing the country and choking the poor masses with his neo-colonialist puppet agenda. But the sad part of it all is that the losers will be the people of Zambia, much the same way as the people of the DRC were the losers under Mobutu. Mr Hichilema must know that the Mobutu approach to foreign relations and irresponsible handling of national wealth and state power has always ended with disastrous consequences and hugely negated development in countries that attempted to entrench this repulsive style of governance.
Few will forget Mr Hichilema’s excitement when he was summoned to the White House upon assuming office to meet, not Mr Joe Biden, but Kamala Harris, and in his excitement, he was not ashamed to tell the world how happy he was to be “the first to be invited to the White House” (even though this was not true as Mobutu and other puppets had been there before him). We do not know how many times Africa’s founding fathers turned in their graves to see a reincarnation of Mobutu in an era when leaders should know better than being a puppet of the West.
Mr Hichilema must know that owing to his puppeteering and foreign policy inconsistencies, Zambia is currently standing out on the continent as a bastion of diplomatic treachery, transnational corporations and Western interests, a situation which is getting the country increasingly isolated both in the sub-region and across the African continent. If nobody has told him this, let him hear it from us that Zambia no longer commands the respect and admiration it once had on the continent and globally. We stand discredited and unnoticed due to this government’s treachery and prostitution on key foreign policy matters. We have shamelessly abandoned our non-aligned position on global affairs, a policy that gained Zambia global recognition, support and respect – and we expect our traditional allies to look at us the same way?
Even back at home, the situation is the same. Mr Hichilema’s commitment to serve the West and transnational corporations has distanced him from the masses who elected him, but who are left to scavenge for a living while he assists his Western masters to sustain their hegemony.
If indeed, Mr Hichilema and his far-right UPND government prioritises transparency and sovereignty throughout its decision-making process, as claimed by Ms Kasanda, we challenge them to make the AFRICOM office agreement public. If not, let them stop lying to our people and violating our territorial integrity and sovereignty through reckless decisions like allowing the US to be hovering and patrolling our country like a chosen race of prefects via AFRICOM.
Fred M’membe
President of the Socialist Party
