15/10/2023
EVALUATING ZAMBIA'S SECURITY CHALLENGES
On Wednesday July 26, 2023 ZAMBIA's Defense Minister Honourable Ambrose Lufuma officially announced that the chairmanship of the Central Joint Operations Committee (CJOC) had moved from the Zambia Army Commander Lieutenant General Sitali Alibuzwi to the Zambia Security Intelligence Service (ZSIS) Director General, Mr Friday Nyambe.
According to Honourable Lufuma the changes were necessitated by the change in ZAMBIA's national security dynamics. He argued that the United Party for National Development (UPND) government under President Hakainde Hichilema had seen it fit to make the changes because Zambia was faced with mild security challenges, which were mainly internal and were best discharged by the ZSIS.
Consequently, two months later on Tuesday September 4, 2023, while addressing a rally in Lusaka's Kanyama compound, ZAMBIA's Republican President Mr Hakainde Hichilema warned of stern action against those who were plotting to overthrow a democratically elected government.
President Hichilema reiterated this in a Facebook post later that evening stating that "However, to colleagues that think, we are timid by being kind and that they can break the laws and entertain thoughts of illegal take over of government including undemocratic coup d'état, our only word is that; We are coming for you and we will not allow you to make Zambians start running around as is the case in some places."
This post and the actual warning by President Hichilema did not seat well with some sections of the ZAMBIAN society, among them Dr. Sishuwa Sishuwa who accused President Hakainde Hichilema of looking to divert the attention of Zambians away from his own denishing popularity due to the high cost of living among other accusations.
However, while there could be some level of truth in some of the facts that Dr. Sishuwa Sishuwa raised, the fact still remains that President Hichilema is preview to intelligence reports and going by the changes made at CJOC prior to the warning by President Hichilema, it's possible that they could have been or there is some intelligence related to a planned coup.
Like Dr Sishuwa rightly observed, it's possible that some elements within the rank and file of the military could have been planning unconventional take over of government through undemocratic means especially looking at the growing and unbearable cost of living and the fact that previous coup attempts in Zambia, both in the second and third republics took place during under extremely difficult cost of living for Zambians and both were squashed by the ZSIS.
It must also be acknowledged that there is alot of agitation in Africa following the spat of coups in West Africa for leaders perceived to be "puppets" of the West, accusations that have followed President Hakainde Hichilema especially from his political opponents.
Consequently, it is these coups in West Africa that could be another possible motivation for whoever could be agitating for unconstitutional change of power in ZAMBIA and President Hichilema knows better than anyone for a man who while in opposition would boast of receiving daily intelligence reports before the Head of State, a point that railed the intelligence community in Zambia under his predecessor President Edgar Chagwa Lungu.
It is therefore fair to say that ZAMBIA's security challenges lie more from within than out side and by assessment the high cost of living, regional coups in West Africa and possible agitation within the "system" over the state of affairs in Zambia are all factors leading to adjustments within the ZAMBIAN security apparatus and the eventual warnings coming from the ZAMBIAN Head of State. It will be as well critical for the ZAMBIAN government to make some key adjustments in arresting the cost of living especially the high cost of the stable food, maize meal, to avert the eminent security challenges.
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