LUNGU’S PLAN B INVOLVED PICKING TONSE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, RUNNING MATE – CHRIS ZUMANI

LUNGU’S PLAN B INVOLVED PICKING TONSE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, RUNNING MATE – ZUMANI

TONSE Alliance National Coordinator Chris Zumani Zimba has revealed that late former president Edgar Lungu’s Plan B involved choosing a presidential candidate for the Alliance in the August polls.

Zimba also claims that initial wrangles in Tonse started when Given Lubinda refused to hand over the Alliance’s chairmanship to Prof Danny Pule, the constitutionally recognised vice-chairman, after his return from India.

Meanwhile, Zimba says some PF members left the Tonse WhatsApp group last Tuesday, indicating that they had left the Alliance in protest of a planned virtual meeting to amend the constitution.

Speaking when he appeared on Diamond TV, Thursday, Zimba said Lungu died before announcing the presidential candidate, lamenting that the Alliance had not made any progress politically since then.

“From the time our founding president and chairman Dr Edgar Chagwa Lungu died to date, we have not made any progress politically. So there have been frustrations among our members who wanted that after the death of ECL, there should have seen specific amendments to the constitution in order to bring everybody to political equality, political potency and clear direction. You may be aware that Tonse Alliance was designed around the comeback of Edgar Chagwa Lungu into politics and also to allow him to contest for 2026 as a presidential candidate. Consequently, the Tonse Alliance constitution specifically enshrined ECL by name as the Alliance chairman and 2026 candidate. So the moment he died in June last year, we had a leadership crisis because everything crumbled because it was centred around his presidency and his candidature,” he said.

“Before he died, of course, he was blocked by the ConCourt from contesting and in his wisdom, he said since it was around him as a candidate and as former president, ‘I’m going to pick a presidential candidate and the running mate under the Plan B concept.’ So his Plan B was the one the Alliance hoped for and waited for that once ECL unveils that candidate and the running mate, the Alliance will run with it.

Unfortunately, he died before announcing it, so we had a moment of political darkness and a leadership crisis from June last year to date. The reason is very simple: members started demanding that we amend the constitution to allow other Tonse Alliance members to contest that position because they joined Tonse not because of PF, they joined Tonse because they believed in the leadership of Dr Edgar Chagwa Lungu as the chairman and as the candidate”.

Zimba said Lubinda was only appointed to act as the Alliance chairman in the absence of Lungu and Pule.

“The leadership crisis came in when Prof Danny Pule also went for medical treatment in India. So we didn’t have both the chairman and the vice-chairman. After a lot of delay and discussions, that’s when in his wisdom, president Lungu appointed Honourable Lubinda to act in the absence of himself and Prof Pule.

That’s the only time Honourable Lubinda comes into the picture. For the two or three months ECL was out and Prof Pule was around, Prof Pule was the one chairing the meetings alone. When Prof Pule came back after his treatment in India, Honourable Lubinda refused to hand over power, the chairmanship, to the constitutional vice-chairman, and that’s why we had wrangles,” he revealed.

“Myself, Sean Tembo, Mr KBF, and others supported the position that the coming back of Prof Pule warranted Honourable Lubinda to hand over; he refused, with his PF team and others, so we had two camps until, unfortunately, our president and chairman died. So ECL died when we had a camp of Lubinda and a camp of Pule. In the process towards September and October, there was a reconciliation after you saw our battles in the media, that out of respect for ECL, let’s allow Prof Pule to be co-chairing with Honourable Lubinda. So that in case there is a meeting, either both of them sit as co-chairpersons or, when one of them is not present, one of them can chair. So from September to October, that’s how we have been operating, both Honourable Lubinda and Prof Pule are co-chairpersons at par. No one is senior, no one is junior. It was a compromise so that we could sustain that until we elect a new person”.

Meanwhile, Zimba said some PF members left the Tonse WhatsApp group in order to collapse the quorum of a scheduled virtual meeting meant to amend the constitution.

“If you read the article which provides for the Council of Leaders, the quorum is 15. For any Council of Leaders meeting for the Tonse Alliance, it requires 15 members plus the chairperson, either Honourable Lubinda or Professor Pule, or both of them. A notice was given to all of them. Prof Pule communicated, I communicated the notice, and everyone in the group was reading and responding to say, ‘look, let’s respond to these petitions to amend the constitution in order to retain those who want to leave.’ The PF was aware, everybody from the PF camp was aware, the meeting was set for Tuesday virtually at 16:00. They raised a point of order, I think Honourable Miles Sampa that there is a rally in Chawama at 14:00, so the meeting was adjourned to 18:00 to allow full participation of everybody,” said Zimba.

“What do they do? I think around 15:00 to 16:00, we saw some PF members exiting the group in protest so this meeting cannot go ahead. Honourable Miles Sampa himself exited the group, MCC [Gabriel] Kibombwe, who is the right-hand man of Honourable Lubinda, also left the group. He also left a notice that ‘we have left Tonse Alliance because there are problematic people who do not want to respect us as PF.’ I think Mr Wright Musoma also left the group in protest, saying ‘no, we have left Tonse Alliance.’ So on Tuesday, we saw some PF MCCs leaving the group and announcing that they have left Tonse Alliance. But Honourable Lubinda remained in the group, and a few others, Honourable Jean Kapata remained in the group, Honourable Prof [Nkandu] Luo, Honourable [Brian] Mundubile, Honourable [Stephen] Kampyongo, Honourable Mutotwe Kafwaya remained. So when the meeting was starting at 18:00, we had to go ahead; I think they were leaving in order to collapse the quorum”.

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