ECL’ s POLITICAL HANGOVER A DANGER TO PF

ECL’ s POLITICAL HANGOVER A DANGER TO PF

The last few days have not only been exciting but also interesting following an announcement by Former President, Edgar Lungu that he has u-turned to sit on the pinnacle of the now opposition, Patriotic Front(PF).

However, the happenings that have dominated the former ruling party in the last two years are man-made due to the failure by Mr. Lungu himself to graciously and peacefully hand-over power to a potential successor.

This is because Mr Lungu has seemingly never possessed the art of smooth transitions, as he once proclaimed that possibly he was going to hand-over State power to himself.

And his latest antics are merely an actualisation of his prophesy.

Obviously, the themed soap opera dubbed; “Return of ECL” is beyond description and difficult to comprehend considering that he had resigned from active politics after his disastrous performance in the 2021 general elections to incumbent, Hakainde Hichilema, a man the previous administration had arrested more than fifteen (15) times to thwart his political ambition.

My writings today will focus on the decision and prospective impact of his return to active politics:

Firstly, the perpetual failure to facilitate the hosting of the extra-ordinary general conference to elect new office bearers has been the major driving force to the ongoing confusion, which should sorely be attributed to the former president, who has employed political gymnastics.

This is due to his inability to provide clarity to his status within the rank and file of the party upon exiting office.

Ostensibly, this was a well orchestrated move to launch his political comeback.

This is clearly a case of political hangover. Consequently, marking the beginning of the problem thus political parties should take responsibility or simply put be accountable for their reckless behaviour than blaming others.

I am shocked to say the least that emerging leadership of young individuals are on top of their voices jubilating without seeing the need to take over and recruit rather than recalling a retiree to steer the party forward that has terribly failed to move beyond the point where the predecessor left off.

The return of President Lungu offer no guarantee that the former will either bounce back or unite into a formidable establishment to unseat the incumbent when he failed to do so when he had state power.

Secondly, other opposition leaders have validated his coming back apparently in the name of a democratic right, ‘VERY UNFAIR INDEED.’

President Lungu ironically knows that most local political parties are empty shells, money mongers and skeletons with nothing and eventually they will succumb to the ploy due to their lack of unity and subsequently, back the former in the next elections.

Thirdly, events that have punctuated the second coming of Mr. Lungu have demonstrated President Hichilema’s retention of the country to normalcy, which they can call their own amidst provocation from the former ruling party.

Previously, people would have been brutalized or in some cases shot at with impunity but today we have a Police proving professional than ever before.

Mr. Lungu is free to move about while President Hichilema is steadily focused on delivering and mending the country left in economic stitches yet people want to claim economic emancipation when the monies were in the few politically exposed characters.

Those that have called Mr. Lungu to come back into active politics are unfair because the former president did his best in seven years, which was not good enough to offer him an extension.

Mr Lungu has nothing to offer either today or in the future because he is a spent force, who initially allegedly admittedly that he had no vision for Zambia and now has no political party.

Mabvuto Phiri