TAKEAWAYS FROM THE DEBATE ON PRESIDENT HICHILEMA's HEALTH. By John Noel Lungu Introduction In a democracy, leaders are accountable to their citizens and voters. The UPND should not be made to believe that they are infallible and are simply doing Zambians a favor, by providing the barest minimum as far as meeting our expectations is concerned. A different article in the offing , will be dedicated towards analyzing the barest minimum that this regime is giving Zambians, . This article seeks to address several pointers that can be deduced from the current conversation regarding the health of the President. ANALYSIS THE MEDIA AS REFEREES . Scribes sometimes choose to play a totally different role , which attimes may not be popular, especially when they choose to be referees . It was fascinating to observe the role the Zambian Whistleblower played when rumors circulated around the President’ s alleged affair with his aide, Chipo Mwanawasa which resulted in a “pregnancy” .. ZWB’ s stance was that they deliberately stayed away from the discussion, indicating that they didn't want to interfere in matters involving two consenting adults. ZWB only weighed in when the President publicly humiliated Ms Mwanawasa, showing a clear manifest for lack of emotional intelligence. Such pointers are key for personnel in the media because they bring to light the President's inability to withstand pressure and his propensity to self-destruct. A President or system which cannot handle pressure is a dangerous one.. Such character flaws would definitely instigate a President to take wrong decisions especially when faced with pressure. How else can we explain a number of insensitive decisions and choices the President has made with regard to the rule of law, his appointments and the corruption drive were he chooses not to target current corruption but focuses the country's resources in pursuing previous corruption . Universally,. a more popular corruption fight is the one that focuses on current corruption . Again the author is elated with the ZWB team for not taking sides in the current debate about the President's alleged illness.The author believes that the stance taken by ZWB is in no way insinuating that citizens should not have the right to speculate about the health of their leaders. Citizens have an entitlement which is backed by the constitution to talk about everything except anything bordering on national security. On this score , the Zambian Whistleblower only jumped on the discussion, when the Zambian government decided to become a bully by threatening citizens with arrests for merely exercising their freedoms of opinion and expression. The author frets; why should the same mouth promulgate constitutionally enshrined freedoms and rights but again use the same mouth to issue threats by making reference to secondary or subordinate pieces of legislation? If mismatches or conflicts in laws are discovered between superior and subordinate laws, why is the system not in a hurry to address such lacunas by focusing on reforming subordinate laws ? One seeks to wonder, If this government can have the audacity to issue threats whilst the Human Rights Rapporteur on freedoms of opinion and expression is in the country, what damage on human rights can and will they do in her absentia? A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE The author carried out a brief research to find out what the general mood was, when both President Mwanawasa and President Sata were rumored to have fallen ill. In both instances, speculation was rife. In the case of President Mwanawasa, negative sentiments in the form of celebrations emanated from both members of the UPND and the PF. The UPND members were celebrating because they thought their time to govern had arrived... The basis of celebrations by the PF were similar to that of the UPND but they also thought the end had come for a regime that was tribally marginalizing them. Because of the connection that President Sata had with the masses, celebrations of his ailment were only more pronounced among UPND members and sympathizers . With President Hichilema's situation, negative sentiments appeared to have spilled over to the general public premised on the current economic hardships and human rights abuses most Zambians are being subjected to. CONCLUSION It is therefore prudent to conclude that comments about the perceived ailment of a sitting President can be used as a pointer of the political atmosphere on the ground and also provide an insight on the outcome of the general elections( not necessarily by-elections).. What are your views? #zambianwhistleblower #zwb