The presidency of the Republic of Zambia is not only the highest office in the land, but also a position that many people aspire to attain for whatever reasons. So far, we can safely say that some men have acquired the presidency through hard work and dedication, while others have ascended to this prestigious position by sheer luck. In fact, I must state here that there is a strong correlation between the way that someone attains the presidency and the way such a one performs while in office. Most people will argue that those who have become presidents of this great country through nothing but luck have actually failed to build upon the legacy of their predecessors and thus, they have performed terribly in terms of reaching the expectations of the people. For example, President Ruphia Banda (RB) became president due to the unfortunate and sudden death of his predecessor Levy Mwanawasa. During the three years of his presidency, Banda reversed everything that Mwanawasa had worked hard to build, including all the gains made in the fight against corruption, and then went further and engaged in activities that his opponents perceived to be corrupt. To this day, no one can deny that RB was seen as a man who had abandoned the legacy of his former boss Mwanawasa and that is part of the reason why he succumbed to a terrible defeat in the 2011 general elections. The man who had ascended to the highest office in the land due to sheer luck could not secure a victory for himself after three years simply because he had nothing to show for in terms of his own performance.
As if it is not enough, the lesson from RB and his presidency seems to echo under the Lungu administration. The common denominator between RB and Lungu is that they both came into power in a similar fashion. The death of the president Sata paved way for Lungu to ascend to the office of President of the Republic of Zambia because at the time of Sata’s death, it was Edgar Lungu who was entrusted with the instruments of power. We all remember the succession wrangles and confusion within the Patriotic Front (PF) just before the 2015 presidential by-election. It is fair to observe that Lungu made a grave mistake by pushing for his candidacy in the 2015 presidential by-election because the man is now trapped between a rock and a hard place. In my view, President Lungu should have done what Jacob Zuma of South Africa did. Soon after the ANC recalled President Thabo Mbeki, the party chose an acting president to finish off the second term that Mbeki was supposed to finish as president of the Republic. Kgalema Motlanthe acted as president of South Africa from 2008 to 2009 until a new term of office for the Republican Presidency started; that is when Zuma assumed the presidency of the ANC and subsequently became president of the Republic of South Africa. This calculated move by Jacob Zuma was to ensure that he would serve full two terms of 5 years each as president of South Africa.
Today, president Lungu is seeking to be adopted by his party, the PF, as a candidate for 2021 general elections, a move I suspect will not end well for him because of article 106 of the constitution which stipulates that; if a person who has held the office of president twice, he is not eligible to run for elections. In retrospect, if Lungu knew beforehand that he wanted to serve at least for 10 years as president, he should have paved way for someone to finish that 1 year and few months of Mr Sata’s first term of office and then run in the 2016 general elections. The problem with such an approach was that there was so much mistrust among the top officials of the PF party and not forgetting the hostility Lungu exhibited towards the then vice-president Guy Scott, who was one of the closest friends and confidant of Mr Sata. In light of all that was going on at the time, Mr. Lungu was left with no option but to seize the moment or lose out completely in case the party chose someone else as the heir apparent to succeed the late Sata. It is clear now that Mr. Lungu miscalculated his moves because he was hoping that after winning in 2015 and 2016, he would then seek to manipulate the constitution so that he can go beyond 2021. Hence, the man was banking on the constitutional amendment Bill 10 of 2016. Therefore, the defeat of this bill only leaves us with one significant question which is; what is next for President Lungu and his plans for 2021?
As a reminder to the good people of Zambia, the pattern we have seen in terms of poor performance versus the way someone assumes power in Zambian politics cannot be denied or even ignored. According to some people, both RB and President Lungu will go down as the two worst presidents in the history of our country because of their performance or lack of performance, which is very much related to how they both came to power. Unfortunately, the two presidents should have been the hardest working leaders of our time because they both obtained the presidency of our country on a silver platter. We should never forget that those who worked hard for the presidency such as Mr. Sata, of whom it took 10 years in the opposition, treated the job of president with the sacredness it deserved. Therefore, such a man knew that upon being elected he had to work extra hard to deliver on promises he and his party made to the people, that’s why the 3 years of Mr Sata’s rule cannot even be compared to the 6 years of Mr. Lungu in power. And of course, most, if not all, the infrastructure projects that President Lungu has been running around and commissioning across the country are projects that were planned for and budgeted for by his predecessor. In a nutshell, President Lungu’s presidency has been nothing but a presidency of empty pronouncements and no action in as far as fulfilling promises to the Zambian people. The people still await to see this government create jobs for the masses of our unemployed youths. We are yet to see more money in our pockets, and we are still waiting to see better health services delivered to our people.
There are many schools of thought that seek to explain this correlation between the poor performance of president Banda’s administration and how he came to power, as well as the terrible performance of President Lungu’s administration and how he also got elected as president. The one thought which seems to resonate with me is the explanation that if you have truly suffered for something and you finally achieve that thing, you will do everything you can to take care of that thing. However, the opposite is true as well, if one has not suffered to accomplish something in life and everything is handed down to them, such a person would be careless for whatever they have accomplished, they will in fact do things for instant gratification rather than for investment or future benefits. And a final quote by author Daniel Goleman comes to mind that, “great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice, and is never the result of selfishness.”
With that said, the two presidencies of Banda and Lungu will go down as the two administrations that cared less for the people and as the two most corrupt administrations in the history of our country.
Email; aaronngambi@yahoo.com