IT IS FOLLY FOR LUNGU TO SUGGEST HE LEAD A BETTER GOVERNMENT
Astro Television Editorial
15 August, 2024
To suggest that Mr. Edgar Lungu presided over a better government than that of Mr. Hakainde Hichilema in his first three years is rather folly and utterly dishonest and we will elaborate why we feel that way in this editorial.
On his Facebook page, Lungu said he was a proud former President because his PF government left a better legacy in general terms as compared to the legacy of the UPND Government so far after their three years in office.
He went on to compare prices of commodities as at 2021 and those of today, which had generally doubled over the years.
Fellow Citizens, we are not fools, are we?
The most fair comment from Mr. Lungu would have been him acknowledging that this country finds itself in this position entirely because of his reckless and senseless borrowing that has seen the UPND Government fighting an uphill battle from day one in their bid to clean up his mess.
This country is grappling in untold debt beyond what it can pay. If you recall dear citizen, it was Mr. Lungu’s government that became the first government in Africa to default on a Euro bond payment of US$40million despite them spending a similar amount on second hand refurbished Fire Trucks earlier. They failed to pay and plunged us into a non-credit worthy country.
Our country today is battling with about US$18billion worth of foreign debt, a bill which substantially disappeared into individual pockets.
To bring this into perspective, first President, Dr. Kenneth Kaunda (KK), accrued a debt of about US$7billion, a debt which made this country to be part of the countries deemed ‘Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC).’ This is the debt that KK failed to pay leading to the Privatization of the mines under Dr. Frederick Chiluba (Edith Nawakwi as Finance Minister), and led to the HIPC Completion point under Dr. Levy Mwanawasa (Ng’andu Magade as Finance Minister) in which the country begged for forgiveness of our debt. The program was continued by Dr. Rupiah Bwezani Banda (Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane as Finance Minister) after the untimely death of Dr. Mwanawasa. From independence, we had accrued $7billion and battled with it until 2011 when Dr. Banda handed over a debt of only US$0.5billion to the PF government, literally zero debt.
In ten years, the PF took us back to a debt higher than we had ever gotten as a country, $18billion. At such high debt burdens, we cannot continue to live lavishly as a country as some belts will need to be tightened.
That much money was pumped into the country by the PF government but we can not see what it really did. Had it been invested into cash generating ventures, the debt would be paying itself off today, but no, the PF government spent it on over priced, non-revenue generating projects and pocketed the rest.
We are like a household overburdened by debt brought in by an Uncle who keeps mocking the brother for eating only vegetables without cooking oil while the brother is trying to pay off the debt he brought against all sensible advise.
Upon assuming office, Mr. Hichilema has done nothing but try to renegotiate the external debt terms, in what has been coined as Debt Restructuring. He continues to push for this program to be actualized because it is the only solution that will save a little money in the country to revamp our economy.
Mr. Lungu should be the last to speak at this table. He presided over one of the most corrupt and most reckless governments to date since independence.
We have only spoken about debt, we haven’t even touched on caderism brutality, Police inefficiencies, removal of bursaries, gassing, City Market gutting, grand corruption, and many other negatives scored by PF government, these are stories for another day.
To stand on the podium and claim he did a good job is insulting to his successors who are trying desperately hard to mop after him.
This, fellow citizens, is why we say it is folly for Lungu to claim he presided over a better government than Hichilema.
May we start addressing the Republican President as Dr. Hichilema because it is disrespectful to the conferring Universities not to recognize the three honorary Doctorate conferred on him. Media houses should spear head this agenda.
No Sir. After the award in Scotland the president said he didn’t want to be addressed as “Dr”. Nelson Mandela had numerous honorary Doctorates conferred on and not once was he referred to as Dr. Mandela. The same goes for Thabo Mbeki, Jacob Zuma, Robert Mugabe, Barrack Obama etc. What is it about Zambians and titles? In any case it is not a must that people are compelled to address the recipient of an honorary Doctorate as “Dr”. In fact it is more honourable to remain with the title Mr., Ms, Mrs, Pastor, etc., if one does not hold a PhD.
Just call him Hakainde.
I wonder why this conman is forcing institutions to award him fake honours. He is a specialist in failure.
Vote wisely in 2026.
Chibaba, chikali kubaba? Only those with an inferior complex will want to be as “Dr” from an honorary installation. HH till 2031, we should start a petition to make him life president mwe
Your reply is noted by Mr Krabs.
HEAR HEAR very well articulated.
The most unfortunate part is that Mr. Lungu does not realise just what a disaster he and his PF were to our country. He considers his despotic and chaotic rule as a sterling performance. In short, he is very proud of the mess that he put us in and if voted back into power, he will dispense more of the same rule.
We can only talk about HH’s legacy after he leaves power. Mr. Lungu had seven solid years to destroy Zambia and considering the immense damage he wreaked on our country, it will take more then ten years to repair the damage. It is very easy to destroy but extremely difficult to build. A tree which took twenty years to reach maturity can be cut down in a matter of minutes using a chain saw. To grow the same tree will take twenty years.
PF came into power with a massive chain saw and shredded our economy to pieces. Mr. Lungu, in his twisted logic, expects HH to grow another tree in three years.