By Sean Tembo
1. As Patriots for Economic Progress (PeP), we have noted with regret the efforts by the ruling PF party in general and President Edgar Lungu in particular to buy votes ahead of the 12th August general elections.
Almost on a daily basis, President Lungu is donating millions to certain privileged individuals in the name of empowerment, the latest being 52 fuel tankers worth more than K200 million that were donated to selected youths a few days ago. These disparate gestures on the part of President Lungu are not only a violation of the Electoral Process Act No.35 of 2016 and the Republican Constitution, but are an insult to the dignity of the citizens of this Republic.
2. As Patriots for Economic Progress, we wish to advise Mr Lungu that if Zambians were a gullible type of people that could sell their votes in return for gifts and donations, then the MMD Government would still be in power today. However, the majority of Zambians are upright individuals who care deeply about their future and that of their children and who will only give a vote to a political grouping that has the potential to take this country to greater heights of national development.
President Edgar Lungu and his PF party should further be reminded that the Zambian people have been very gracious with them. Despite not showing any tangible signs of potential, the Zambian people gave Mr Lungu a vote in 2015 and made him President. A year later in 2016, despite very poor performance in the intervening period, the Zambian people were again very gracious and decided to give Mr Lungu the benefit of doubt that perhaps the one year period that he had been President was too short to judge him fairly.
3. However, after a full five year period that has been characterized by haphazard economic policies, blatant corruption, total disregard for the rule of law and ceaseless political violence, there is now no doubt in the minds of all reasonable Zambians that Mr Edgar Chagwa Lungu has dismally failed to properly discharge the duties and functions of the office of Republican President and should therefore be retired in the national interest, while this country still has a chance to make a full recovery.
Should the Zambian people make the mistake of re-electing President Lungu and his PF party, there will not be any Zambia left to talk about at the end of his additional 5 year tenure.
4. By 2026 under a continued Lungu presidency, the economy would have completely collapsed such that we shall be carrying money in wheelbarrows to go and buy a loaf of bread at a nearby grocery shop. Zambia would have produced its first dollar billionaire being one of the PF Ministers, due to incessant corruption. and Any opposition leader with a dissenting voice will either be in prison or in exile.
And PF cadres will be managing police stations on a full time basis, in the same manner and fashion that they are currently managing bus stations and markets. The future of Zambia will be very dark and gloomy.
5. As Patriots for Economic Progress, we wish to take this opportunity to remind all well-meaning citizens of this Republic to remain steadfast in their resolution to retire President Lungu and his PF party in the national interest. They should not be swayed by the donations and gifts that the President and his party officials dish out on a daily basis. We all know that President Lungu has no personal financial resources to talk home about, and neither does his party, the Patriotic Front.
Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that the billions of Kwacha which the ruling PF party has so far donated is ostensibly taxpayers’ money that is being pilfered from the treasury. The Zambian people would be so naive to allow their votes to be bought with stolen money. Money which belongs to the people themselves in the first place. And money which will be recovered by the PF through additional theft of public funds, should they be re-elected into office. Let us think critically and vote wisely in the upcoming general elections.