EVERYBODY in government today, and God bless them, will one day be out, says MDC secretary general Lucky Mulusa.
He reminded those in the government to always remember the mortification that late president Frederick Chiluba suffered when he left office.
Mulusa was an outspoken Solwezi Central MMD member of parliament from September 2011 to December 2013, when his seat was nullified.
He once served as national development planning minister under President Edgar Lungu.
Mulusa was also President Lungu’s special advisor for projects, implementation and monitoring.
At a media briefing in Lusaka last Friday, Mulusa was asked to comment on the shrinking political space in Zambia.
He said the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has already been subjected to the “antiquated” public order Act because it took 12 months just for the opposition party to be issued with a certificate of registration by the Registrar of Societies.
Mulusa regretted that the application of the public order Act was such that it restricted other players, “but allows the ruling party to do as they like.”
“Unfortunately, all these inconveniences are being created for us in the opposition by those that are ruling. What they don’t know is that there’s limitation of staying in government. There is tenure!” he said. “Everybody in government today, and God bless them, will one day be out there. They will be on the streets and they will feel the impact of the policies, procedures and the laws that are being promulgated today.”
He added that history had a tendency of repeating itself.
“You’ll recall what happened to president Chiluba, may his soul rest in peace. Whatever wrong things he could have done in government…When he left government, president Chiluba found himself in a prison without walls,” Mulusa explained. “He could not freely move around. Wherever he went, he was insulted, heckled, shouted at. He would try to lower the [vehicle’s] window, people would realise it’s him [and] they would insult him. He ended up staying [at] home and sadly, he left us. History repeats itself!”
He cautioned those in the government today to: “know that the conditions they are creating in this nation are the conditions they will find when they leave government.”
Mulusa also warned that the “shenanigans” going on at the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) were not helping the development of the country’s democracy.
“It will result into election of extremely bad leaders, who cannot take this country forward,” he noted.
Meanwhile, Mulusa listed some values which set the MDC apart.
They include transparency, accountability and zero-tolerance to corruption, limiting of presidential powers, uniting the nation, wealth creation and ownership, law and order, among others.