By Prince Bill M. Kaping’a Political/Social Analyst
The Edgar Lungu Foundation which was launched last Friday by the former president is nothing but a covert political project aimed at endearing and keeping him connected to an otherwise skeptical public as he prepares for a political come back in 2026. Those in doubt, watch this space!
Immediately Lungu lost power; a coterie of individuals with ill intentions didn’t waste time constantly flocking to his place, ‘whispering’ to him, like the Serpent in the Bible, the sweetness of power! Didn’t he himself recently confess that some individuals such as Antonio were urging him not to concede defeat once it became clear he had lost to one Hakainde Hichilema in a landslide victory?
It appears Lungu has finally yielded to the seduction and he’s plotting a comeback! The so-called foundation is nothing but a cover-up. How come he hasn’t publicly denounced his involvement in politics and told the nation that from now onwards he’ll be devoting his precious time to community work? Isn’t that what others do?
For someone who was out-rightly rejected and thumped by a million votes and booed in the Heroes stadium, the wisest thing to have done was to take a sabbatical far away from the proverbial snakes in Lusaka; preferably in a serene and green environment such as South Luangwa National Park. To be entertained only by Mother Nature as he embarks on a soul-searching exercise! There and then, he would have savoured solitude to reflect on his time in office; and possibly taken time to write his memoirs even if he may have trouble doing so. His peers, whether it’s in Zambia or in other countries elect to disengage themselves from the public for prolonged periods of time before deciding to step back into the limelight. It’s too early for Lungu to start engaging with the public when some of us are still hurting due to his poor leadership.
Does he need reminding that our people were gassed in their houses during his time as Commander-in-chief of the armed forces? What about the burning of our markets where poor people lost property worth millions of Kwacha, who was behind it? Police brutality was the order of the day during his tenure – does he go to bed peacefully knowing that a lot of people died and got injured at the hands of his police or indeed ended up being condemned to cells smeared with fecal matter on tramped up charges?
Lest we forget, the notorious PF cadres reigned supreme and terror in our communities – urinating in our mouths, knocking out our teeth, gorging out our eyes, and maiming our limbs as long as they suspected you of being opponents or critical of the government. This shouldn’t have happened to our country in the first place. Our almighty God is surely going to punish some people when the time of reckoning comes.
Whoever is advising the former president at the moment doesn’t love him, and is surely doing it for selfish reasons. This country isn’t short of capable leaders to weather the storms and take us to the Promised Land for him to start flirting with the idea of running for public office again. Somebody on social media challenged us that we are dead scared of Lungu, hence the reason we feel uncomfortable each time we see him in public.
You’re joking! How can we be afraid of a man who shamelessly allowed our nation to be polarized to alarming magnitudes by tolerating tribal politics? Didn’t we see corruption spiraling to record levels during his tenure? Was he in a hurry to create jobs for those youths we saw desperately turning up for census jobs? As somebody once said, it was parte, after parte, after parte! The sooner he abandons his political maneuvers and concentrates on growing spinach in his backyard as he sings to the cameramen, “mulekopa…..mulekopa…..” the better, otherwise he’ll end up being bruised, irreparably!