BOWMAN Lusambo’s behaviour may be the last straw in the destruction of President Edgar Lungu, a senior citizen in Mufulira has observed.
Pepino Kashishi says Lusambo’s mocking of founding president Kenneth Kaunda’s family has further fuelled the growing public perception of endemic levels of corruption under the Lungu Administration which has dealt a devastating blow to his presidency.
Kashishi, an avid political and social commentator, said Lusambo’s recent attack on the ‘poor’ Kaunda children in defence of President Lungu’s daughter’s accumulation of wealth reveal that no one is willing to listen to the public outcry on the Lusaka Province minister’s behaviour because the Lungu regime has plucked its ears with cotton wool and filled its eyes with logs.
“The way things are shaping up now, Lusaka Province Minister Bowman Lusambo may just be the last straw in the destruction of the Lungu. Anger, despair and frustrations have been building up in the nation against President Edgar Lungu and his administration for some time now and the least one would expect is something like Lusambo’s lack of respect for public opinion and perception. His general behaviour is far below what is expected of even the lowest levels of any type of leadership and it epitomises contempt for the collective intelligence of the Zambian people. But he has, so far, gotten away with it, thanks to the apparent tacit support from his appointing authority,” Kashishi stated. “The latest statements on the Kaunda children and ‘the K2 million is nothing’ grate on public nerves. It is as if Lusambo has been programmed specifically to erase even the little confidence the public may still have in the Lungu administration. Anyway, who will listen or see with a regime that has plucked its ears with cotton wool and its eyes with logs? But the reality is that there is a public reaction to such type of behaviour by public officials. It may not be evident now and could even be hidden but it is coming nevertheless, sooner or later.”
Kashishi argued that Lusambo’s attacks on Kaunda’s children for failing to take advantage of their father’s 27 years in State House to enrich themselves was direct confirmation of what is obtaining under the current presidency.
“He is telling the nation that under President Lungu, family and friends take advantage of their relationship with the President to enrich themselves. The Kaunda children, in his wisdom, are dull and/or foolish for having failed to enrich themselves using their father’s presidency!” he noted. “…well, President Lungu has taken devastating steps on some of his real or perceived enemies as we have witnessed a trail of destruction of many people’s lives, examples include The Post newspaper and Prime TV to name but only two. But the people who are really chipping away at his presidency are close associates like Bowman Lusambo who, through their impunity, are alienating many people from the PF government administration in general and President Lungu in particular. Kaunda, as founding president, is held in high esteem by all Zambians not only because of his heading the independence struggle but also because, on hindsight, he is probably the best and most effective president this nation has ever had, despite the mistakes he made especially under the one party state. Kaunda is an icon within and far beyond Zambia.”
Kashishi stated that other close associates damaging President Lungu were those peddling tribalism like livestock and fisheries minister Nkandu Luo and her commerce counterpart Christopher Yaluma.
“Apart from a few misguided Zambians, tribal sentiments feed into public resentment of the establishment and President Lungu in particular especially that he appears to tacitly support such dishonourable conduct by not taking any sanction against the culprits,” stated Kashishi. “The average Zambian hates tribalism as it is irrelevant to his daily life. If, therefore, there are people undermining the PF government administration and the Lungu presidency, it is the likes of Bowman Lusambo through their unguarded words and deeds. Maybe it is their strategy as they do not truly belong to the PF. They are vultures from other political parties.”