PF’S GODFATHER – DON ECL
How Edgar Lungu Run a Corrupt Mafia State, That Looted & Bankrupted Our Coffers.
To gain access to national resources, Edgar Lungu created an environment which allowed many of his trusted lieutenants to loot without being questioned, it is also believed that he got a cut of every big deal that was made by government. In essence, he created a mafia state. Rumor has it that he owns properties dotted across the country and one such property is Ndozo Lodge which he registered in a proxy’s name
By Daimone Siulapwa
Unbeknownst to most people even now, the elections of 2016 placed the patron of criminals into State House. Prior to these elections, Edgar Lungu’s campaigns were financed by criminal elements because then acting President, Guy Scott had, rightly so, locked out government resources. This was the beginning of the State capture as Edgar Lungu’s allegiance was not to the State but to the criminal elements he was indebted to.
Institutional malaise then ensued where the arms of government, such as the judiciary, that should ideally promote the rule of law got compromised as the then President Edgar Lungu publicly threatened them thereby affecting the efficient delivery of justice.
By his own necessity, Edgar Lungu opened a Pandora box that ensured that power evolved around his personal bonds as he had crippled the Judiciary and law enforcement agencies. This is how Lungu and his PF created the all-powerful cadre movement that brought about their downfall among other issues.
As figures of the grand national heist and corruption begin to emerge, one is left to wonder how much money members of the former ruling party (PF), their children and associates are in possession of. If you put the pieces together, it is clear that ECL turned Zambia into a mafia state and allowed, knowingly, the looting of our country’s coffers by his criminal associates which was inimical to the country. Inarguably, there are pointers that indicate that he actually was in the forefront of looting and all the red flags where there for all to see, but I alas, he was too powerful to be challenged!
In the first 15 months of his presidency, President Lungu, according to a declaration of assets which he filed with the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ), grew his fortune from K10.9 million to a whooping K23.7 million, representing a magical increase in his wealth of about 120 percent.
Additionally, as of May 31, 2016 President Lungu indicated that he had slightly above K491,000 in his bank account and he also declared that he owned a Toyota Land Cruiser GX V8 worth K450, 000; a farm at no. 919/50 in Lusaka valued at K2.5 million and a piece of land in Kanakantapa area valued at K150, 000.
Further, President Lungu declared that he owned a plot at stand No 12676/m in Chalala valued at K800, 000; Lex House suit No.1 worth K2 million; Lot No 211 Njalwe valued at K1.5 million and another on 38479 valued at K4.8 million and five real Estates plus shares in three private companies.
If President Lungu could grow his wealth by over K10 million in just one and a half years after ascending to power, how much wealth is now under his wraps?
However, one question begs answers. From what legitimate business activity did President Lungu generate that income when his official remuneration was only about K417, 000 plus another K117, 000 special allowances amounting to a gross of K534, 000 per year?
To gain access to national resources, Edgar Lungu created an environment which allowed many of his trusted lieutenants to loot without being questioned, it is also believed that he got a cut of every big deal that was made by government. In essence, he created a mafia state. Rumor has it that he owns properties dotted across the country and one such property is Ndozo Lodge which he registered in a proxy’s name.
During Edgar Lungu’s rule, criminal entities (both local and international) successfully infiltrated and compromised government institutions at all levels. Cadres became more powerful than the police, ministers became more powerful than the Judiciary and thus the rule of law was thrown into the gutter.
One year down the lane after being kicked out of government, the cruelty of the PF regime against its own people is still being felt and it will be felt for many more years to come. The PF regime was so gluttonous and selfish, such that while they were looting millions of dollars, bathing in milk, honey and champagne, and all sort of glamor, the masses whose money they where looting were wallowing in poverty. This self-entitlement caused them to neglect paying for the services they had acquired from innocent citizens both at party and government level and this sent many businesses and individuals to their early grave.
It is an open secret that criminals penetrated and infiltrated the PF government at all levels. All lucrative government deals where either given to non-existence businesses or businesses with questionable backgrounds and hefty amounts of bribes where paid to government officials to secure those deals. It is agonizing to note the amounts of the unexplained wealth the ACC is now exposing.
How did we economically go bust after borrowing millions in loans? Staggering incompetence, corruption and kleptocracy is at the core of it all. The state coffers were pillaged on an industrial scale by the PF elitist and their close criminal associates. With no transparency or public accounting of state budgets or expenditure, it is hard to calculate how much was looted from our coffers, but the Auditor General’s report for the last five years gives an insight of what was happening.
The ACC would do the country a good service by conducting a financial and lifestyle audit on all citizens who held a position of influence during the PF rule, from senior technocrats like directors all the way up to the level of minister.
As citizens, we need to know how much was really looted from our coffers. Without hard data, all we can do is to recognize the scale of the corruption from the terraces knowing that all this is a consequence of greediness and lack of transparency among others.
If nobody knows how much the state is earning and how it is spending it, then there is no accountability and therefore officials who control budgets can easily divert funds into their own pockets or those of their friends. This kleptocracy during Lungu’s rule is certainly one of the main factors that has brought Zambia to the edge of economic collapse and bankruptcy.
During Lungu’s rule, cadres became the new police, they could do anything they pleased without repercussions. They grabbed land and assets from innocent citizens, they beat and stripped naked police officers and usurped military power. They become a law unto themselves and most senior police/security officers become their ponies to the extent that senior military officials were saluting civilian PF cadres. If anything, the cadres became the biggest threat to the PF rule and in the end, they where the main cause of the fall from grace of PF.
The concept of mafia is omnipresent but very poorly understood in Zambia. A reason for our lack of understanding of this phenomenon lies in the inherent danger that there is an approaching the underworld. Undoubtedly, this is because a deeper investigation in this field is likely to severely reduce the researcher’s lifespan.
The key feature of the mafia state is that, favors are only given to a few loyal cohorts and their trusted associates. To this end, politicians-turned-godfathers must centralize protection payments, chiefly by ensuring that they receive a share of all commissions paid to access public procurements.
All and all, they must remove any challenge to their rule, so that their clients of protection understand that they need not pay anyone else but themselves. This, was the kind of governance that Lungu subjected Zambians to, during his seven-year rule. In the end he paid a high price and lost power and most importantly, he is yet to face the law for the grand abuse of office.