I AM very worried because I rated President Hakainde Hichilema very highly but there is a sense of disappointment in the manner he is governing, Constitutional Lawyer John Sangwa has said.
Mr Sangwa said the current removal of subsidies had weighed badly on the President as he was now being called a liar for not upholding campaign promises to better lives of Zambians.
He said during a radio interview on Capital FM that President Hichilema should own up and tell the nation what Government cannot implement now even if they were promised during campaigns.
Mr Sangwa said former President Frederick Chiluba managed keep Zambians calm even when there were economic hardships during his tenure because he owned the message and explained the real situation on the ground.
“The last thing is to lie to a Zambian, tell us the truth. The President is supposed to come forward and explain the situation, not what we are seeing where they are now saying we never promised this, we never promised that. Let’s be truthful,” he said.
Mr Sangwa said he was worried because the initial excitement and hope he expressed in the new government was being replaced with a sense of fear.
He said he expected a lot more but what he had seen so far was something that does not give him comfort.
Mr Sangwa said the other biggest problem which was emerging was the intolerance to criticism.
“When we criticise government, we do so out of love and out of concern.
“I have a vested interest in seeing HH and his government succeed because I made a choice to say I am not voting Edgar Lungu, am voting HH, I made a judgement where I believed between the two men, who is better placed to drive the country in the right direction and I opted to support HH despite not being a UPND member,” he said.
Mr Sangwa said it would be a serious indictment for people to say they made a mistake in 2021, saying “that will also be a personal failure on my side.”
He said leadership required humility, but already the language had changed.
“The indicators are not good, I don’t like what am seeing,” said Mr Sangwa.
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