Lungu worked very hard for this country – Mundubile
By Thomas Ngala
I THINK president Edgar Lungu deserves some respect from all of us, he is only human, Brian Mundubile has said.
“What remains the fact is that he also worked very hard for this country,” he says.
Mundubile, the Mporokoso PF member of parliament recently told The Mast that it is not true that Lungu is planning to recontest the presidency in 2026.
He explained that despite the former president having a mandate up to 2026 as PF leader, he already made his intentions clear that he doesn’t want to be actively involved in politics.
Mundubile said this following allegations that “he would just be warming the seat for Lungu” should he be elected PF president at the convention.
“I think it is a matter that we have to clarify and maybe hopefully put to rest. I think it is just some misunderstanding. What people must know is that in 2021 after losing elections, president Lungu came and he said he was resigning. Remember it was still his mandate up to 2026 because we only elected him in 2021,” he said. “He wanted to take a back seat and just rest. Central committee said no, you cannot leave us now. We want you to continue until the next leader is elected. Yes, you have written to Cabinet [Office], you have written to us, the Cabinet ideally is just a copy but we are your employers. He is still serving the term that we gave to him in 2021.”
Mundubile added that the PF constitution is very clear that the party president is elected at the convention.
“So if that argument was to be sustained, it means somebody is saying even president Lungu has power to put the president without going to the convention,” he said.
Mundubile explained that if whoever will be elected at the convention wanted to leave, there will have to have another convention to elect the president.
“Because of people are saying that Mundubile will be there until 2025, then, you come and put Lungu, using which law? That the president is unable to use right now? So, if the president can’t use it now, being the president, where will that Mundubile or [Mutotwe] Kafwaya or whoever get that power to say oh, boss nomba isenipo (now takeover)? If whoever will be elected at the convention wanted to leave, there will have to have another convention to elect the president. That is what it is. So it is not true,” he said. “And I think president Lungu has remained very helpful to all of us as his children in offering guidance. I don’t know what more the man would have shown in saying he wanted to go even when he wanted to sit there. He said let me just put someone else to do this. So for me my take is its very important that we develop a culture to respect our former leaders. Those in office, and those that have left office. if there is one thing that I admire about the US is that they have a lot of respect for their former leaders. We have seen leaders in those advanced countries make blunders, like they have gone to war unjustifiably and the whole world is condemning them and calling them names but in their country, they accord them the respect. Why? Because they were once leaders.”
And Mundubile said it takes a lot of sacrifice for one to be a leader at the level of presidency.
He stressed the need for Zambians to accord those that are in the office of the president as well as those that have left the respect they deserve.
He said Lungu may have erred in one or two places but Zambians need to focus on the bigger picture.
“What remains the fact is that he also worked very hard for this country. During his serving years, Zambia was transformed. No question about it. In one cabinet meetings he just put a dot in the middle of the paper and he said what is this? We in the room said there is a black dot. He said this is where the problem is. Why haven’t you seen the white surface? You want to pick just one mistake that the president made,” Mundubile said. “You know, even those that are going at him are very proud to appear at Dr Kenneth Kaunda International Airport and show the visitors that ‘welcome to Zambia,’ [but] there is somebody behind it. There are people who did this work. Look at Mulungushi Conference Centre [Kenneth Kaunda Wing], talk about load shedding for instance, do you know that there was $3.2 billion investment in the energy sector to be where we are? From the time we got independence up to 2011, we were only generating 1,006 megawatts. In the 10 years [of PF], we went to over 3,500 megawatts. Close to 2,000 megawatts additional. That is not small.”
Mundubile added that Lungu was called names when constructing the Kazungula bridge.
“He has wasted money. He has failed to complete it, he is defaulting. But before he left office, Kazungula bridge was opened. Who has come up to say Lungu well done? ZRA has increased revenue collection because of that huge decision. Look at Chingola-Solwezi road, K1 billion financed by NAPSA. These are tough decisions that president Lungu had to make,” he said.
Regarding the much-anticipated convention, Mundubile said “of course we had minor setbacks. We should have been going to the convention by now. There are matters that were taken to court by a member who felt aggrieved due to some decisions that were made.”