In recent years, the African nation of Zambia has seen an alarming rise in suicides, specifically by its LGBT citizens that make up roughly 9% of the country’s population. This unfortunate trend stems from their relentless persecution by the Zambian government, headed by the incumbent President Edgar Lungu, which regards homosexuality as a criminal offense.
Hikainde Hichilema (known locally as “HH”), a wealthy Zambian businessman, politician, and perennial presidential contender (currently entering his 6th presidential race since 2006), is looking to change the country’s archaic laws regarding prosecuting homosexuality. The country’s sodomy laws have gone largely unchanged since Zambia was under British colonial rule, and many of its citizens continue to hold strong beliefs in the criminal nature of their nation’s homosexual citizens.
Unlike Zambia’s current president, Edgar Lungu, who frequently preaches anti-homosexual biblical verses and fully intends to continue the strict enforcement of old sodomy laws in the country, HH is demanding that gay and lesbian rights become legal in his nation and is looking to purge the criminal language from the country’s constitution.
The anti-gay sentiment in the country is strong. Current laws punish homosexual acts with 14 years sentences and even criminalize attempts at such acts with 5 to 7-year penalties. This has driven the LGBT community of the country into utter despair, with many reported cases of abuse, disenfranchisement, and shunning of gay, bisexual, or transgender citizens, commonly even by their own families. This has led to heavy bouts of depression, as well as turning to drug use and alcoholism. These are contributing factors to the persistently high suicide and attempted suicide rate in this community.
Hikainde Hichilema’s idealistic and political opponents have seized on claims that he belongs to the formally secret Freemason society, which they regard as a satanic cult. Of course, the Freemasons are known as a group of wealthy individuals who are seeking to take world governments further away from religious leanings into a more secular governing direction. The accusations of this nature against Hichilema of course carry significant weight in a country largely populated by hyper-conservative Christians that share the ideas of the criminal nature of homosexuality.
Hichilema’s opponents have claimed to receive a letter from the leader of Africa Liberal Network addressed to the repeat presidential candidate offering a financial backing of 720,000 American dollars to HH’s presidential campaign and an offer to help to any extent that they can. This document has supposedly been leaked by a member of Hichilema’s own UPND (United Party for National Development) who was tired of working for someone who will “ruin” Zambia.
Hichilema remains unapologetic however in his support for gay rights and continues to push for the deletion of sodomy laws from the current Zambian penal code. The August 12th, 2021 general election may end up being another fruitless attempt by this candidate to advance his agenda, but it could also have him come up in victory, which would be a life-changing win not just for HH himself, but many of Zambia’s LGBT citizens as well.
