NASON Msoni, the president of All People’s Congress, says President Edgar Lungu is a State liability who must peacefully leave office in August this year.
Msoni says President Lungu’s season is nearly over and people are politely asking him to go peacefully by raising the eligibility issue.
He also charges that the miserable failure to pass the Constitution (Amendment) bill 10 of 2019 undoubtedly spelt doom for Lungu’s third go at the Republican presidency.
In an interview, Msoni told President Lungu that when most Zambians tell him about his ineligibility to run for office, for a third time, “he needs to pay attention.”
“When Zambians are saying that you are not eligible, it is a message that people are fatigued. They are saying that ‘please, Mr President, go peacefully; we have had enough of mismanagement of national affairs’,” Msoni said.
“So, Zambians are being merely courteous to you, Sir. They are saying ‘please, spare us; go now.’ That’s what Zambians are saying! But they are trying to be polite. Indeed, you are ineligible and so stand down.”
He added that Zambians were anxious of a better future beyond August this year.
Msoni said most citizens’ views and understanding were that the Lungu administration had not performed well.
“And indeed, they are right by saying you have not performed. Look at the high cost of living! How many people are able to have three square meals a day? At today’s prices, thousands of our people are going without food,” Msoni regretted.
“As if that is not bad enough, Mr President your government went to procure expired drugs which have finished many of our people. So, you no longer have any attainable role of being in government – you are no longer useful. You are a liability to all of us. You have become a State liability.”
Msoni wondered how one whose government procured expired drugs for citizens could still want to remain the President of the country.
“Shame, Mr President!” Msoni exclaimed. “Please, spare Zambians [because] you have caused so much damage, pain and anguish. Look at corruption! Theft of public funds! And you still want to remain in that office doing what?”
He stressed that everybody was fatigued with the “corrupt” PF government.
“You have defended ministers who are criminals with ‘oh! Give me evidence that this one is corrupt, oh! The presumption of innocence…’ You have been protecting these criminals [but] now we are saying can we have a serious President who can help this country move forward,” Msoni said.
“So, eligibility issues are a polite way of saying ‘can you please go at the end of your term of office in August this year’. Kindly leave space for this country to move forward; you have become a stumbling block to the progress of this country, because your interests are self-serving.”
Msoni further noted that this year’s elections could not be proper ones if those in the PF continue to openly buy votes, by dishing out huge amounts of money.
“You have extended corruption even to elections. And this so-called election commission of yours is clearly part of the scheme to steal the election,” he charged. “This is not the Zambia that our forefathers bargained for. Lungu has betrayed public trust and should not be allowed to take advantage of citizens he has impoverished.”
Meanwhile, Msoni indicated that bill 10 of 2019, which was shot down in Parliament on October 29, 2020, was intended to be a political bypass to the possibilities of a constitutional challenge for anyone who had previously or already held office twice or had been sworn-in twice.
He said the flopping of bill 10 was self-evident and an acknowledgement by the PF themselves that the candidature of President Lungu was in the deepest quagmire and: “still is, relative to what the Constitution says.”
Msoni believes the Constitutional Court judgment was arguably the PF’s fallback position and effort of last resort after the miserable defeat of bill 10.
“The ConCourt did not give a seal of approval for any particular candidate to stand in the 2021 elections. The Constitutional Court had only ruled on the question of the term of office and not on the eligibility of President Lungu,” Msoni argued.
“The closer we draw towards the elections, the more the jittery and the panicky the PF is becoming.”
He added that given what was playing out, the eligibility Math for President Lungu was not “adding up” and that the prospects of him succeeding to be on the ballot were: “remotely less.
“[It] is not looking very good for the President. It may well be that he hangs up his boots and try farming. Indeed, to every season there is new seasons,” Msoni said. “And I think that his season is nearly over for him in the highly coveted Office of President of the Republic of Zambia.”
He told President Lungu to reconsider his insistence on putting himself forward for election this year.
“He knows too well that the Constitution has imposed limitations and any attempt to circumvent the Constitution could well amount to encouraging lawlessness in the country,” cautioned Msoni.