By Staff Reporter
Kantanshi member of parliament (PF) Anthony Mumba says former president Edgar Lungu should focus on organising his office to become a statesman rather than being drawn into partisan politics.
Speaking with Daily Revelation, Mumba said president Lungu’s role must now be more of a statesman people could look to for guidance rather than being drawn into the PF presidential political talk, saying if anything his office should have been at the forefront of bringing the feuding UPND administration and the Catholic fathers together.
“Look, President Edgar Lungu lamentably failed the 2021 general elections. President Edgar Lungu lamentably failed the 2021 general elections. We have never had in this country a party winning a party in government by one million votes. That was history. And for somebody in the MCC to start peddling such kind of thoughts into president Edgar Lungu is surely shameful. President Edgar Lungu needs to take his position as a statesman,” Mumba said.
He said the statesmanship should start by organising the former president’s office which he said is not organised, wondering who even the PA and the press aide is.
“He just has security. The office, you don’t even know who manages his diary. So that’s what the president needs to focus on. He did his seven years. He did the projects, some of them are being completed now, some of them as usual in politics, politics is a thankless job people have even forgetoten about them. What he needs to do now is to become a statesman, a person where people will be going for advice, not for him to have any form of activity on the political arena in as far as what people’s opinions are suggesting,” Mumba said. “We have never heard formerly from him, but again it looks like some of the people that hung around him have an agenda. Probably it’s not being driven by him but certainly it’s clear. How do you have a party with no head for two years? So where is the back going to stop in the PF party? That’s why everyone is commenting. That’s why even me I am commenting because there is no one who is going to take the responsibility of the party.”
Mumba said the PF was not short of leaders and that it was not even about people like him, “as I have been accused by Davies Chama to say if I aman enough.”
“Of course I am man enough I won PF in 2016 (as an independent). What do you think? I am man enough. But is this the right time for me to go into the face of president? The answer is no. Is this the right time for me to assist the party to organise itself and become relevant to the people? The answer is yes. So we who have given ourselves to help this organisation for the sake of democracy we don’t want you to start saying no UPND president Hakainde Hichilema wants to have a one party state when you are failing to just organise your own party,” Mumba said. “You have been asked can you bring documents so that the registration of your party is upheld? You are still kot providing that. Bit it’s the law. Now why do you want some of us to sit and fold our arms and be scared of you that you are going to call us sellouts … unprincipled? You are the ones who are unprincipled and you are the ones who are sellouts. Because you don’t want to face the reality that the party lost and when it lost it simply meant that people have lost trust in you? So if people lose trust in you what happens is they don’t vote for you.”
Mumba said there was an opportunity that the party could reorganise itself but cannot do that “quoting what Antonio Mwanza said, with this sort of leadership.”
“Let’s make president Edgar Lungu a statesman. Let’s not draw him into petty politics. Let the president’s office, 6th office of the president be structured as we have seen in the past offices of former presidents. There is press aide. There is it a private secretary? We are not seeing that,” said Mumba.
