By Daily Revelation Editor
Former President Edgar Chagwa Lungu has in the past couple of weeks raised so much dust following his comeback to active politics, which all those who are reasonable know he did not retire from.
We understand that Edgar has every right to participate in the political life of this country, however, people still have the right to question his decision considering that he is the immediate past president who ‘temporarily’ left active politics after exiting the presidency.
We too as a media house and other media have so many questions following Edgar’s political comeback. This is not to undermine or question his political rights, but it’s always important to scrutinise anyone offering themselves to serve this country, especially in the highest office of the land. For a long time, Zambians have ushered into political offices mediocre; substandard politicians; people with no substance – who do not add value to both the growth of our democracy and economy as a whole.
To start with, Edgar was privileged with power to champion the development agenda of this country for close to eight years. He had everything; he had the political power to do the best for this country. Equally, Edgar had the power to the country’s purse, which if prudently utilised would have left Zambia in a better place. Unfortunately, Edgar left this country worse than he found it after the late PF founder, Michael Sata. A lot happened under the leadership of Edgar, and we can take the whole day listing them. Of course this is not to say that he never did anything good. He did a lot of good stuff, but also a lot of bad stuff. And please let’s remember, people elect Presidents to do good always.
Lest we fall prey to what Frederick Chiluba once said about Zambians having short memories, just as others are frantically working for Zambians to only remember the good which happened under Edgar’s government, we also take this opportunity to also remind about the mis-governance of his era, the corruption, the caderism, tribalism, disregard for human rights and individual freedoms, subduing democratic principles among other ills. Even towards the 2021 polls, Edgar had the audacity to mock Zambians that he will hand over power to nobody except himself. That’s how pompous power had gotten to Edgar’s head. And his minions were ululating and jubilating over such nonsense, as if Edgar would vote for himself!
Amid all this political miscalculation and pomposity, Edgar had told Zambians in plain language that he had no plan, no agenda for Zambia. “Chimbwi no plan”, as Hakainde Hichilema [then in opposition] would refer to him. What his followers saw in Edgar perhaps was only “akasaka ka ndalama” to fill their pot- bellies and massage their political egos.
He tried to explain away that famous saying of “I have no vision” on his recent comeback by saying he used the phrase as there were programmes that were already running from the Sata administration. And therein lies the answer for those who entertain thoughts that he has only come in to serve PF and the shrinking democratic space, and would handover to another person who the Zambian people will want from among the opposition, that he is back to actually take over and run again. Because how can someone who is only coming back to save the party be redressing issues to do with what he said earlier about his vision, as if they are trying to cleanse themselves with the public in order to announce their new programme?
Well, since the earlier “no vision” was about finishing up the programmes, we want Edgar now to tell us his plan of action for Zambia, now that he’s back in the political fray, because as far as Zambians are concerned, he has not mentioned how he plans to address the many challenges besetting the nation if he were given another opportunity. The only thing Zambians have seen from him is appearing in public chatting, sitting with his legs placed on top of the chairs, dancing and saying “nalitumpa.” There is therefore a huge expectation, especially from him as a former president to tell the people of this country about his action plan. What keeps him awake at night about this country? How does he intend to address the failures he has noticed in his successor?
This is the only country where voters seem to me moved with slogans and phrases rather than the action plan politicians have for addressing challenges affecting the country. Nowonder, people start regretting that no sooner they vote in the leader than they start regretting, because they did not appreciate or were not taught to appreciate the leader’s programme of action.
It is against this background that every Zambian is concerned about Edgar’s non-commitment thus far to address Zambians about what he intends to do if he were accorded another term of office.
We are of the firm belief that when one retires, there must be critical reasons to forgo retirement and get back to work, especially people in Edgar’s age circle. Maybe, he has disclosed the agenda to people within his inner circle, but he too has a duty to disclose to the whole nation.
Among the questions people are asking is: what is it that Edgar failed to do in seven years of being in power that he wants to do now?
Edgar left the economy equally in bad shape. His cadres too were all over the place harassing people in all manner and form. What plans does he have to address that?
What plans does he have now to deal with the corruption that defined his administration in the same manner it is defining his successor’s administration? What is his agenda on external debt on which he failed to reach a deal with the external creditors – something his successor seems to have achieved? What is Edgar’s plan on education, health, agriculture, manufacturing, labour (job creation), media development, and many other aspects of the economy?
There is actually no time for Edgar to waste and dance around, as the burden on him to explain to the Zambians people is much more than his fellow opposition leaders, in that this is one person who needs to convince the same Zambians who meted out such serious punishment on him in 2021, on why they must entrust him with the reins of power again.
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