When the untouchables become touchable, the clique won’t go down quietly

CLEARLY the biggest opposition President HH faces at the moment is not the PF, which is still ship-wrecked at sea; it’s definitely not the DP with all its pettiness and confusion.

In fact, we cannot even begin to talk about all the other zero-rated political parties (sadly).

The biggest opposition that Mr Hichilema faces, and will face in the months to come is the clique of individuals who have everything to lose if he succeeds, particularly in his fight against corruption.

Yes, with all the rot (at least from what we have seen so far) that went on, they want us to simply look away and move on while singing Que sera, sera.

NO. There was bad precedent set and we cannot simply build on that and expect to have a proper functioning government or society.

But what we see now is the rise of individuals whose aim is to frustrate the fight against corruption – to kill it in its infancy.

One of the best tactics the clique will employ is to play victim in order to win public sympathy, or indeed to make ridiculous legal claims so as to distract public interest and attention.

The other tactic is to undermine authority. Their aim is to make those in power seem incompetent and scornful in the eyes of the public. At worst they will throw mud to discredit the process to fight corruption.
The claim that the fight against corruption is targeted at certain individuals for political reasons, or that it is tribal, is part of the mudslinging.

It’s not even a new tactic. We heard similar claims when Levy Mwanawasa embarked on his crusade against corruption.

Soon Levy found himself fighting against whole clans and, yes, his fight against corruption was labeled tribal, merely based on the social rule “you touch one, you touch all.”  
And so now the clique wants all citizens to believe there is a political witch hunt going on targeted at a particular region.

But remember how, prior to the August 12 elections, they themselves engaged in tribal fear mongering, painting a dystopia society overrun by one tribe, with cattle freely drinking from fountains on Cairo Road if the UPND won the elections.

The simple question I ask is, were crimes not ever committed under the previous regime? If they were and records are there to prove, then what is the fuss?

Moreover, the fact that police and other law enforcement agencies are investigating and prosecuting cases that happened four, five years ago says a lot about the kind of justice system that existed under the previous regime.

There was deep concern about selective justice then, but nothing was done about it.

The question is why did the Zambia Police not follow up these cases then? The evidence was even fresher then.

The only reason is that they were not followed is because of political influence that gave those in power immunity; and so they acted with impunity.

They turned the Zambia Police Service into a toothless bulldog where it had to seek permission to arrest a minister, and where a simple cadre could storm a police station, harass police officers and walk out without a care in the world.

But it was only a matter of time. The bulldog would grow back its teeth and come to hunt them down.

Surely, if there was political will to fight corruption by the previous administration, would we be talking about crimes that happened half a decade ago? Of course not.

Did not the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) report always talk about crimes involving politically exposed individuals and prominent influential persons (PIPs) who used their positions to syphon money from Government coffers. And what did those in power do? NOTHING!

In June 2018, FIC released a report that found some cabinet members and presidential aides had siphoned millions of kwacha from Government coffers through money laundering.

Instead the state decided to go after the FIC, accusing the institution of releasing the report in an irregular manner.

I believe the police and other agencies are not acting on fresh evidence, people reported these crimes THEN and dockets were opened THEN, but nothing was done THEN. I speak from experience.

And so the question is why not then, and if not now, then when? We cannot postpone justice forever.

Besides, when it comes to crime, time does not erase anything.

Is it not the same people who were singing the loudest umulandu taubola when they were trying to silence their political opponent based on allegations of impropriety during the privatisation process of two decades ago? Did they not vow to arrest HH after the elections?

But now that their political high horse is down and have become touchable, they will play victim.

Of course the UPND are not a bunch of saints, let us never forget that, and the police must spread their net indiscriminately.

When it comes to violence, for example, both the UPND and PF were cited as perpetrators.

HH must also remember that any pursuit of justice that is done with political intent is bound to fail.

Once the Zambian people see it as that, he will be fighting a lone battle.

But one thing for sure is that the clique will not go down without a fight, and they will fight dirty in order to save their skins.

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