GOOD governance and human rights activist Brebner Changala has argued that President Edgar Lungu does not legally or morally qualify to contest in next year’s presidential election.
He charges that President Lungu is now politically toxic, “he’s a spent force, he has no political shelf life; he’s a dead wood”.
On Wednesday, President Lungu told traditional leaders in Mukushi district in Central Province that the Constitutional Court had cleared him to stand again.
President Lungu, who spoke mostly in Bemba, also accused the opposition UPND of misinforming the nation that he wanted to use the failed infamous National Assembly (Amendment) Bill No. 10 of 2019 to push for his eligibility.
“…pantu muli Bill 10 tamwaba icibi icalimo iyo. Ati muli Bill 10 muli third term ya Edgar Lungu, tamwaba third term mulya, iyo. Ba ConCourt batile Lungu acitafye one term, ukufuma mu 2016 ukufika lelo ine ni one term (…because in Bill 10 there was nothing bad. That in Bill 10 there is Lungu’s third term, there is no third term there.
The ConCourt said Lungu has just served one term, from 2016 to today I’ve just done one term),” said President Lungu. “Ilya nabombele iyashile ba Sata one year six months teyandi yaba Sata, efyo balanda ku court. Nomba caisa kosa shani? Mu Bill 10 tamuli mulandu ati Lungu alefwaya ukubwelela imiku itatu, fyabufi. (The one-year six months that I served which Mr Sata left, it’s not mine but Mr Sata’s, that’s what the court said. But where is the problem? There is no issue in Bill 10, but people are saying that Lungu wants to go for a third term, those are lies).”
But Changala insisted that the Constitution, as amended in 2016, does not allow him to stand.
“When it comes to the Constitution, the term of office that he claims he did not finish or he was finishing it on behalf of Mr Michael Sata does not exist. In that the ‘term’ in the new Constitution talks about the Vice-President who was a running mate,” he explained. “President Edgar Lungu was neither a running mate nor indeed a vice-president. Secondly, for President Edgar Lungu to finish the so-called Mr Sata’s term, he went to an election, he contested an election which he won in 2015.”
Changala said a running mate did not need to contest an election in order to take over when the incumbent president dies or resigns.
“Now, a running mate or a vice-president in the Constitution does not contest an election. He/she only assumes the office of the President. There comes the effective interpretation of the word ‘term’. President Edgar Lungu has held office twice,” Changala explained further. “President Edgar Lungu has been sworn in twice. President Edgar Lungu has contested elections twice. All those instances I’ve mentioned are too numerous for him to reduce them to a term which does not describe him in his current state. He was an aspiring candidate after the death of Mr Michael Sata. He did not automatically assume office after the death of Mr Michael Chilufya Sata; it was not automatic. So, he does not benefit from the ‘term’.”
He said only Vice-President Inonge Wina would benefit from the current constitutional provision.
“The current Vice-President, madam Inonge Wina, in the event that the same famous Edgar Lungu passes on, she will become our Republican president. And if you look at the current Constitution, by the time it’s 2021, she will not have served a full term, so her term will not count; that is madam Wina,” Changala said. “The situation she’s in, that is not the situation and circumstances that President Edgar Lungu found himself in during the 2015 presidential by-election.”
On the moral side, Changala contended that President Lungu’s many governance failures had completely disqualified him.
“First and foremost, President Edgar Lungu is not eligible to stand. Let’s put the law aside, President Edgar Lungu has failed this country lamentably, socially and economically,” he said. “President Edgar Lungu has divided this country. He has presided over a Cabinet that cherishes tribalism, that cherishes the supremacy of the northerners and the easterners in exclusion of the other tribes, especially the southerners and those in the western part of our country.”
Changala said in itself was a huge failure that disqualified President Lungu.
“President Edgar Lungu is a President for a certain region only. And that you can see it from his Cabinet, from his permanent secretaries, from his Secretary to the Cabinet and the directors in the ministries,” Changala said. “But most importantly, on the moral side of public service, President Edgar Lungu does not qualify because he’s highly destructive, he’s incompetent. He has surrendered the executive powers to the arm of the police. He has destroyed the very democracy that installed him into State House. He has disadvantaged and abused his political opponents; that is on the moral side.”
Meanwhile, Changala prayed for President Lungu to live longer so that he could see how other leaders upheld democracy “where you treat politics as a game of competition, not as an entitlement in which you have abused others; those who seek to serve the nation”.
“So, President Edgar Lungu is now politically toxic, he’s a spent force, he has no political shelf life; he’s a dead wood. And the opposition must not waste time discussing his eligibility because that will be taken care of by time,” said Changala.
“And nature will handle President Edgar Lungu’s eligibility. It’s not the law alone, but there’s a human resource that must determine the fate and the way we shall dispose of both President Edgar Lungu and his PF platform. My take is that President Edgar Chagwa Lungu, in all sense and manner, does not qualify to lead this country a day longer. He’s destructive, he’s incompetent, he’s a dictator and anything that is bad in a leader that does not respect other people’s opinion.”