FATHER Richard Luonde says the election of President Edgar Lungu has brought more suffering than economic freedom to all Zambians.
Reviewing the year, Fr Luonde, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) chairperson, said the Lungu presidency has been a curse to the country.
“In the struggle for independence, a lot of Zambians lost their lives just to free us from the colonialists. This freedom is now being misused by the hungry vultures who have no heart for fellow Zambians but themselves. The election of President Edgar Lungu in 2015 and 2016 has brought more suffering never experienced before since independence,” he said in a statement. “If anyone thinks that President Lungu has been a blessing to our country, they are wrong. To the contrary, the Lungu presidency has been a curse to our country because it has brought more harm than good to all sectors of our economy. The good governance record we have held in the region for many years has been wiped out by his dictatorship. This is the only President in our history who has thrown out the rule of law and replaced it with cadreism without shame. Zambians can’t wait to kick him out in next year’s elections so that we save the little pride there is left in our governance credentials.”
He described the year as a disaster “in terms of governance and genuine leadership in a nation that is also endowed with so much in terms of minerals and other natural resources”.
“The majority of us Zambians are today wallowing in poverty which this government has failed to address, not even for an inch. We no longer feel that we are Zambians in our own God given land, which our forefathers fought to liberate from our colonial masters on the 24th of October 1964,” Fr Luonde said.
He dug into history and highlighted how the economy sank during the UNIP administration.
Fr Luonde nevertheless attributed that to mostly physical and economic attacks from colonialists that were fighting neighbouring countries.
“But this was all because Zambia was being squeezed by colonialists who surrounded our neighbouring countries and squeezed us for supporting the liberation struggle in these countries. Today, in our country we have our own brothers and sisters who have enslaved us to a level where we cannot express ourselves, or else one is arrested, sent to prison on trumped up charges or shot dead in cold blood,” he said. “We are now getting used to lawlessness, which has now become established law where police can deny murders they commit in full public view. They are now denying their own officers who shoot innocent citizens. They want to blame that on imaginary persons. Where on earth has this happened before if not in dictatorships? Cry my beloved country, this we shall not allow in our beloved Zambia.”
He said crooks had taken over and were busy squeezing the innocent.
“Crooks are now our masters without shame. They have mobilized under this dictatorship and they are trying to make us look guilty when we are the innocent ones. When they kill, torture, maim and accuse falsely, to them it is like nothing happened,” said Fr Luonde. “My fellow Zambians, the year is ending and our experience as to what suffering is should be motivation enough to come and remove this irresponsible and lawless government on 12th August 2021. There is a serious moral decay due to poverty and lawlessness championed by PF. Let us also remember that this is the same government that was gassing us early this year so that it could help them keep power. How evil can a government be! This must be revisited by electing a new party next year, not PF, twanaka (we are tired)!”