Tribalism kills!
by Dr Sishuwa Sishuwa
Thursday, 2nd April, 2026
The buck stops at President Hichilema – and there is no need to shield him from responsibility or to change the narrative. He appointed the Minister of Education who then appointed the Council of the University of Zambia (UNZA) who in turn appointed the university management. Nearly all these appointments were largely based on ethnic-regional, partisan, or other narrow considerations. The outcome of this interconnected process is what happened yesterday: the death of Emmanuel Bwalya, a second-year student in the School of Humanities who, while he was walking innocently, fell and drowned in an open pit filled with water on the university’s main campus. The lesson is clear: Tribalism kills.
Almost exactly two years ago, in April 2024, Margaret Chibesakunda, a 22-year-old third-year public administration student at the same university, was fatally electrocuted in her campus room while attempting to plug in her phone charger. The incident highlighted the poor safety and maintenance of electrical infrastructure in the university premises. Following her tragic death, there were spontaneous demonstrations, like this time. UNZA did nothing, like this time. The government did nothing, like this time. No one was held to account, like this time. After some time, everyone went back to their lives. Life continued, but the problem persisted until now, when we have lost another young life.
The death of the student resulted from poor infrastructure maintenance. The line of accountability runs through co-ethnics or one region: from the leadership of UNZA (like of other public universities in Zambia today) to the leadership of the line ministry (education), to the leadership of the ministry responsible for infrastructure and urban development, to the leadership of the ministry responsible for finance and national planning, to the leadership of the ministry responsible for inspecting public health standards (Local Government), and to the leadership of the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit. We were assured by the president that he was being methodical in his appointments and picking only the best. We were also assured that he had drained the swamp of its lazy and thieving elements. So where is the problem?
How then can we explain the cesspool at the University of Zambia? Money for Bill 7 can be found overnight. Money for the creation of over 70 extra constituencies can be found overnight. Money to bring all the councillors to Lusaka so that they could endorse our Dear Leader can be found overnight. Even money to ferry students from around the country to a stadium in Kitwe so that they could endorse our Dear Leader can be found overnight. Money for…can be found overnight. But money to fix basic infrastructure at the country’s main public university cannot be found. Money to…. cannot be found. These are the priorities of our methodical president, our sober and hard-working government. This is the callousness of the current regime. I do not know how these people sleep at night.
Argh, leadership failure makes my blood boil!
Source: https://x.com/ssishuwa/status/2039369166684028955?s=20
