LUNGU TODAY A HERO …thanks to UPND inertia to take the bull by the horn – Changala
By Ernest Chanda
BREBNER Changala says former president Edgar Lungu is a hero today, thanks to inertia from the new dawn administration.
He says President Hakainde Hichilema is reaping what he sowed by refusing to constitute a commission of inquiry into the 10-year PF rule.
On Thursday, Lungu challenged authorities to lift his immunity and probe him for corruption if they believed he was guilty.
When some PF members of parliament visited him after hearing that Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) officers had visited one of his properties in Lusaka east, Lungu went into an outburst, claiming that there is lawlessness in the country.
“He who alleges must prove and we will defend ourselves,” said Lungu. “My urge is that may the President institute the lifting of my immunity by going to parliament to lay a case so that he can eventually prove what crimes I committed.”
Commenting on the issue, Changala supported Lungu saying he has been given enough time to say what he said.
“Edgar Chagwa Lungu today is receiving sympathy because of the indecision, inertia to take the bull by the horn. Today Edgar Chagwa Lungu is a hero,” he said. “The fight against corruption by the new dawn administration is almost reaching a dead end. It is looking like it’s targeted and it is not achieving the intended purpose for which the people of Zambia desirably wanted to see that money stolen from the treasury is recovered.”
Changala said President Hichilema had refused to make PF accountable as he promised during campaigns.
“Mr Edgar Chagwa Lungu is former president. He’s a man many citizens or Zambians have been having an urge that he accounts for the period that he served as President of the Republic of Zambia. We, the concerned citizens, immediately after the change of government, asked the current President of Zambia Mr Hakainde Hichilema to constitute a commission of inquiry in which we should have examined the 10-year rule of the Patriotic Front in which law and order literally broke down. In which the rule of law was nothing but academic. In which corruption became the order of the day,” he said. “Mr Hakainde Hichilema resisted that commission of inquiry and he has resisted, and I wish him well. But as fate has it he (President Hichilema) is reaping what he sowed. The outbursts by former president Mr Edgar Chagwa Lungu are totally in order because the journey to make him account for all his shortcomings has been meandering around the inconsistencies.”
Changala said PF have outsmarted the DEC, hence the outbursts of confidence from most former ruling party members.
“But we have come to realise that the Patriotic Front is smart and smarter. What the DEC has been doing in recent days and weeks, they are playing in the hands of suspects. Their investigations and seizure of properties is being placed in doubt. How are the investigations done at DEC other than arresting people or indeed seizing property out of mere suspicion, not out of founded and credible investigations?” he wondered.
Changala said because of the way the DEC has been handling Lungu they are in fact laundering him.
“President Edgar Chagwa Lungu today is being laundered and almost being turned into a saint by the new dawn administration. And I can tell you without hesitation that Mr Edgar Chagwa Lungu and his colleagues in the former cabinet will walk the streets once again with their heads high, unless a miracle happens,” he observed.
Changala gave credit to Lungu whom he said has played a low profile after leaving office in August last year.
“I must give credit to Edgar Chagwa Lungu in that he has taken a low profile. He’s only made to wake up from slumber by a few men and women in the investigative wings who go and rattle his nest. Without that he’s one of the most peaceful citizens at the moment, having come from the highest position in the land to nothing but a commoner,” he said. “But we must also come to terms with the very fact that this is a man that enjoys constitutional immunity. Whatever they are trying to do they must observe the law and treat him as a former head of state. And when they gather information that is incriminating they should do what he has asked for himself – lift the immunity, let’s go to court. It’s a very serious challenge and an indictment on Mr Hakainde Hichilema.”
Changala accused DEC of being highly incompetent.
“The DEC is exhibiting high levels of incompetence where they want to excite the citizenry knowing very well they have no case. They want us to believe through their pronouncement that they have a case and they are recovering property. Even the seizure notices that they are throwing like confetti all over the show must be checked properly,” said Changala. “Some of these are being done carelessly. They are not well-founded. They are being done because they have the authority to sign a seizure notice. Because the law allows them to sign a seizure notice. But that seizure notice must be duly signed in a responsible way and with proper investigations. Then it can work.”