GOOD governance activist Brebner Changala has accused President Edgar Lungu of having mutilated leadership in the country.
He says going by what occurred at the PF convention, President Lungu has reduced the entire PF into an assembly of zombies.
Closing the PF general conference on Sunday, President Lungu described himself as a tested leader and full of integrity.
The Head of State counted his successes, touching on his rise in leadership as one reason Zambians should have him as their President beyond this year’s elections.
He also claimed that tribalism was fought with might in the PF.
“We have been tested and we are here. By tested I mean a man who has served in both private and government sectors at the highest levels. I have served in conglomerates such as ZCCM before. Some of you know me! Where leadership is of integrity…” President Lungu praised himself.
“I have worked in parastatals where procedures are…And I have worked in government; I served as a member of parliament for Chawama Constituency, then deputy minister in the Office of the Vice-President, then Minister of Home Affairs, then Minister of Justice, then Minister of Defence, secretary general of the party, then President. Can you compare such a record?”
But Changala said President Lungu has no any amount of integrity to talk about.
He described the President as “the exact opposite of what he was talking about”.
“President Lungu is not credible. He has not raised any political or economic bar in this country. If anything, he has mutilated the leadership. And the perception about being a leader has been reduced to being corrupt, in the first place,” he said. “You must buy your vote and you must destroy the national unity! In short, President Edgar Lungu has failed on all democratic tenets. And he has damaged the Zambian reputation, both locally and internationally. He has reduced the democratic space where political opponents have been reduced to mere criminals and suspects.”
He said President Lungu is the only leader in the history of the country who has seen most of his political opponents troop to courts of law almost on a daily basis.
Changala said there was no way President Lungu could boast of integrity when he had destroyed the media as well.
“He has turned the State media into his personal newsletters. He’s the only one who has turned his party, the PF and himself more richer than the national treasury. They have more money than the country, and he has not explained the source of that money. And for some of us we know its money driven from corruption,” Changala added.
Asked to comment on the just ended PF convention, Changala described it as disaster.
“It was a sham; it was a disaster. You cannot allow people for almost two months to campaign for a position of youth chairman, position of finance, campaign for the position of commerce and other relevant positions that are available in PF and only to call people to a general conference and you ask for a list of how many people applied; and singularly you doctor the list and pick 54 people without anybody casting a vote and you call it an election,” he said.
He challenged President Lungu to read and understand the difference between electing and selecting.
“I am asking President Edgar Lungu to go back to the dictionary and search for the word ‘election’ see what it means. He must also search for the word ‘selection’, what it means,” Changala said. “What he has done now is to reduce the entire PF into an assembly of zombies. People who don’t think, people who cannot aspire, people who cannot choose leadership. And they have reposed so much power in him, and declaring President Lungu as a small god.”
He said he would not be surprised if PF members erected a church where they would worship their leader.
“In fact, I would not be surprised that sooner than later PF members will stop going to church. They will be going to the temple of Edgar Chagwa Lungu and worship the almighty Edgar Lungu,” Changala said. “He has started a church along Burma Road with Bishop… That church will go far because that is the church where PF will be assembling to worship their great leader; because any normal citizen in a democracy cannot accept what transpired at that convention. They merely just went to sing and dance for one person; declare him a sole candidate and make him choose as to who is going to be member of the central committee. Even the founder of the PF, Michael Sata, never did that.”
He also described President Lungu as the emperor of tribalism.
He said the Head of State has broken the country’s record as the most tribal leader.
“President Lungu is actually the emperor of tribalism. He has divided this country into regions. And this can be manifested in his Cabinet, in the permanent secretaries, in the directors, and most importantly the people heading the State-owned enterprises; they’re all from Northern or Eastern,” Changala said. “He will be remembered as the only leader who has retired Tongas and Lozis in national interest en masse. It’s a crime now in this country to be Tonga or Lozi. And I want you to quote me very effectively, that it’s a crime to be a Tonga or Lozi speaking person under this administration headed by Edgar Lungu. In short, he’s an emperor and prophet of tribalism; let him challenge me on that.”
Meanwhile, responding to President Lungu’s claims that PF is popular, therefore Zambians will vote for the ruling party, Changala said: “President Edgar Lungu has now come to take the people of Zambia for idiots. With all the suffering, with the poor economy, with all the tribalism in his party he still can go on a microphone and claim that we love him so much and we shall retain him! If he’s sleeping, my advice is for him to wake up. I know he’s sleeping on a lot of money and with that money he has lost wisdom, he has lost touch with the people of Zambia; and he’s insulting people on daily basis.”