By Patson Chilemba
Hakainde’s unhappy space in his brain is always active, no wonder he wants to exert maximum revenge, says FDD leader Edith Nawakwi.
But former Foreign Affairs permanent secretary George Zulu said the decision by Edgar Lungu to return to active politics is a wrong and risky one going by previous experiences.
Speaking with Daily Revelation, Nawakwi said the opposition, both good and bad, were mobilising, with the primary goal of removing
President Hakainde Hichilema from office.
She described President Hichilema as a failure trying to dismantle democracy in the nation.
“Hakainde is a novice in politics and you can confirm that with the recent happenings in the PF. It shows the complete mental bankruptcy of their party (UPND). The way they have handled Miles Sampa’s case to ingratiate them with power is not different from the miscarriage they conducted with the Hatembo’s,” Nawakwi said.
She described President Hichilema as a man who works on the spur of the moment, “typical with people who are stressed.”
“His unhappy space in the brain is always active and there is never a moment of rest and tranquility for what he can do for Zambians,” Nawakwi said. “It’s very clear he came for revenge and not to develop the country, like the incarceration of Sean Tembo.”
She charged that the President did not even care about the emotional aspect of Tembo’s wife, who she said was the “only Zambian intervention” cardiologist, trained from the University of Stellenbosch, to discharge her duties while the husband was incarcerated.
“Hakainde knows that Dr Kabwe needs to provide emergencies at the heart clinic. But how does she do that as she runs to the police and hospital?” Nawakwi asked. “But Hakainde doesn’t care as long as his ego is elevated. ‘I! I! I! I am the first President’. That’s what he likes saying. ‘I am the first President to incarcerate all opposition.’”
She said the late founding president Dr Kenneth Kaunda was being proved right now when he said that the most dangerous person he had interacted with in terms of being a danger to national unity was Hichilema.
“I have no kind words. He’s provoked the return of Lungu, good or bad,” Nawakwi said. “You can’t ask Lungu to be a statesman when there is no state to man.”
But asked on the fact that the same complaints the opposition was raising against President Hichilema, they also raised them during the time Lungu was president over his moves to kill of other parties and incarceration of opposition politicians, Nawakwi said a wrong could not be allowed to persist just because somebody committed them in the past.
“I am saying that time has come six decades into independence to call a spade a spade. A wrong can’t be fixed by another wrong. Just because we saw wrongs being committed in UNIP, MMD and PF are we going to watch wrongs continue?” Nawakwi asked. “We shall use every individual, good or bad, to get rid of Hichilema.”
Nawakwi said she had been in discussions with her fellow opposition colleagues, and that people must just watch the space, saying the people’s sentiment will guide them on who will lead them into the 2026 general elections.
“The way things are, you can even get a cat and dress it in opposition colours and it will defeat Hakainde,” Nawakwi said. “The issues that are before us, even a cow can defeat Hakainde.”
She said it was raining heavily in several parts of the country right now, yet people are still complaining of not receiving farming inputs.
“Watch the space. We are all agreed that there is need to get rid of this monster. This will be a reincarnation of 1991. And we were there. He wasn’t there. He’s a novice in politics,” said Nawakwi. “This is an indictment on Joe Biden. They are his sponsors. This is their preferred child … Even these young people who have emerged as High Commissioners and Ambassadors are doing a disservice to their countries. Actually when we were young at UNZA, some of these ambassadors would have packed and gone already.”
But Ambassasor Zulu said he had a sense of dejavu having been associated with Dr Kaunda and the challenges he faced after he returned to active politics, during the Frederick Chiluba administration.
He said Dr Kaunda went through hell during the MMD, where he and those associated with him were victimized, with Dr Rodger Chongwe sustaining a bullet wound.
Amb Zulu said he suspected “pangas” to return to the PF factions in the same manner it happened under UNIP and MMD, saying people of goodwill should encourage Lungu to reconsider his decision.
