I’ve not issued a statement against HH – Prof Lumumba
PROFESSOR Patrick Loche Lumumba, a renowned Kenyan constitutional lawyer, Pan-Africanist and an anti-corruption activist has dismissed an online report purported to have been issued by him describing President Hakainde Hichilema as a full blown dictator.
When reached out by the Daily Nation yesterday, Prof Lumumba denied ever having issued any statement and described the story which went viral as fake and nonsensical.
“I have seen the nonsense being circulated and attributed to me. I have made no such statement. It is sad that people misuse social media,” Prof Lumumba told the Daily Nation.
Edgar LUNGU wrote:
Fellow Citizens,
This morning, I came across the latest remarks from Kenyan’s renowned constitutional lawyer and Pan Africanist, Professor Patrick Loche Lumumba concerning Zambia’s political leadership which caught my attention.
Speaking in Kenya yesterday at a radio show focusing on “democracy in Africa” as monitored by News24, the Kenyan distinguished lawyer said “everyone can now see that former Zambian President Edgar Chagwa Lungu was a democrat and that Hichilema is a dictator”. Remember, this is Prof. Lumumba who was very critical of my leadership everywhere, praised President Hichilema in opposition and my administration even blocked him from entering Zambia between 2018 and 2020.
I have read that he was expressing his latest views on recent developments in our country where Zambia Police has been blocking public rallies for the opposition parties since 2021 as well as chasing non UPND political leaders from attending church services including the brutal invasion of the Catholic Church office in Kabwe where armed police went to search for me like a criminal. “It is very clear that Hichilema was all the time pretending to be a democrat”, Prof. Lumumba concluded.
From an honest comparison, I am happy to hear from Professor Lumumba that my efforts to promote and safeguard democracy in our motherland which were undermined then are now deemed to have been far much better when mirrored with HH’s UPND regime. When foreign scholars who at some point criticized you begin to appreciate your efforts on democracy promotion against the person they once deemed better, then it means that their feedback is morally noble and politically sincere.
In September, 2020, I remember Prof. Lumumba saying “President Edgar Lungu is intolerant, paranoid and a demagogue”. Today, I am happy to hear that the same Kenyan lawyer and Pan Africanist is saying “everyone can now see that former Zambian President Edgar Chagwa Lungu was a democrat and that Hichilema is a full fledged dictator”. This gives me a sigh of relief as I am being vindicated for warning everyone that “you will appreciate me when I leave office”.
Therefore, I agree in totality with Professor Lumumba when he argues Zambians to find ways of terminating the mandate of Hichilema in 2026 because “he poses a danger to Zambia’s peace and Africa at large”. Remember, it is the first time since independence that under my successor, a brotherly nation, our own neighboring Zimbabwe now feels so insecure about Zambia because of wrong political leadership and foreign policies in Lusaka. 2026 should be marked as “a year to restore democracy and good neighborliness”.
When a person who praised you as ‘the hope and light of Zambia’ begins to describe you as “the worst dictator since Zambia’s independence”, then wisdom demands that you pose, listen and take a deep self reflection at once. President Hichilema must listen to “his former allies” like Dr. Sishuwa Sishuwa, Bflow, Laura Miti, Brebner Changala, Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu and Professor Patrick Lumumba himself and tone down on his authoritarian and law-fare politics. He is speedily losing stakeholders trust and public confidence both at home and abroad!
And if President Hichilema is to start walking democratic values, he will do better to stay away from political vengeance, bitterness, tribalism, regionalism, selective justice, weaponizing state agencies, suffocating free speech as well as start allowing opposition parties to freely conduct politics in public spaces. It is not by coincidence that Professor Patrick Lumumba, Dr Sishuwa Sishuwa, Brebner Changala, Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu, Bflow or his Laura Miti are all complaining that “he is a dictator and a threat to national peace”.
Once more, I am happy to learn that many stakeholders at home and abroad now appreciating the fact that I was by far a democratic leader who meant well for Zambia than President HH who repeatedly promised to rule democratically better than me but has delivered and shown “the worst despotic politics so far”.
Edgar Chagwa Lungu
Sixth President of Zambia
Patriotic Front President
I said it was propaganda. UKWA is desperate and clutching at straws. The government needs to put their foot down on dirty social media
Anyone publishing untruths should be penalised heavily. Professor Lumumba is too learned to make such statements.
Lungu the cadre at it again! This is the same person you denied entry into Zambia at your peak of dictatorship and today you want to acknowledge his contribution. You need excorcism.
This is how shameless Lungu is! The nerve to try to use him now for self promotion .
Who’s the media regulator in Zambia? Where’s their voice?
I thought so too. I only believe if it’s a video . Not reported speech.!!!
Whether Professor Lumumba says this, or doesn’t say anything, is not important to me..and it doesn’t change my opinion on the dictatorship we have been subjected to by Hakainde….and it’s just a matter of time before the world acknowledges the unpalatable stench coming from Zambia..and then, and only then will people like Prof Lumumba see the rot going on in Zambia..and grind their teeth, for having looked away at an opportune time.
Your hallucinations and hypocrisy truly describe who you are.
Where does this leave ECL?
It leaves ECL with egg on his face!
All of you saying HH is a dictator should go to Eritrea, Zimbabwe or Uganda. You all have too much freedoms because if you talking the same sort of nonsense against the president you will find yourselves locked up
He wanted to rig the mouth of the Professor and I really doubted it.I thought how the man who was returned from airport back to his country unceremoniously could promote the one who had shrinking democratic dispensation.Jesus was crucified on the cross not the other way round.Shame!
What is ironic is the clergy who allow Lungu to defile the pulpit to spout such lies. All for a few pieces of silver when we all know the evil that he did while in office. Who do they really speak for, while defiling the pulpit?
Ediga you used to occupy the highest office in the land. Did you not learn to verify all information from different sources before coming to a logical conclusion? No wonder you failed to read the mood on the ground before elections. Now once again you have fallen flat on your face.
As usual, that was chief propagandists’ work through desperation. The Professor did well to come out in open and challenge these enemies of our democracy. I also sincerely apologize for whatever I had said about the Professor
I knew this was PF propaganda. And the article was written by ka faza, of all people.
How do you ukwa and your followers trust Lungu, surely.
By the way, Lungu compromised our diplomatic relationship with Rwanda. This is the man who sponsored please to fight Kagame.
Please, Zambians, Lungu is not a sane person.
He wants to come back to close the mines, to reverse the many court cases of his family members and friends, and continue where he ended with the attrocities on the ordinary citizens.
Lungu cares less about Zambians because he is not Zambian.