By Prince Bill M. Kaping’a Political/Social Analyst
The stench emanating from Edgar Lungu’s tenure as head of state is repulsive…….nay, nauseating! This morning, we woke up to a screaming headline in the Zambia Daily Mail newspaper that the former president’s alleged proxy had 60 houses and several shops in prime areas to his name.
This comes barely after the former first family was in the news for all the wrong reasons a couple of days ago. Mrs. Esther Lungu found herself at the center of controversy involving the whopping US$400, 000 cash she had entrusted in the hands of her niece for safe keeping. Upon learning that the niece couldn’t account for the suspected loot, the Lungus decided to defile justice by abducting the culprit and her accomplices for interrogations. They even went to the extent of confiscating property from them!
As a former head of state, obviously the Lungu’s enjoyed both state and private security 24/7. It therefore boggles one’s mind that the former first lady chose to go and ‘hide’ such a staggering amount of money in a shanty compound where the junkies are on rampage breaking into people’s houses for valuable items including the green bucks!
What is the source of this money? Why didn’t she take it to a Bank? How much money is still stashed at the Lungus’ mansion? We are even further disappointed that some clergy and senior citizens quickly rushed to Ibex Hill to offer solidarity to the Lungus and condemn the police raid without waiting for facts.
In the US for instance since that’s where we seem to ‘import’ the so-called democracy from, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) raided former US president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Florida residence in a dramatic escalation of legal investigations into the former president. There were no hoodlums to obstruct them or stand in the way. As a matter of fact, the secret agents protecting Trump even assisted the FBI with the investigations.
Did we see the clergy or influential figures shamelessly parading themselves in support of the former US president. As someone observes in the movie Blood Diamonds, this is indeed Africa; we tend to behave in the most outlandish manner and support the dumbest of things!
In case we’ve forgotten, not so long ago, the authorities unearthed K65 000 000 and a further US$ 57, 0000 at the home of the alleged concubine of the former president…….there are many of them, we hear. Her lawyers quickly negotiated a settlement without the lady in question even seeing the inside of prison.
Are we all equal before the law as we are made to believe? Of course, we are not girl! How many news reports are we inundated with daily regarding vulnerable folks in the shanties and villages that get condemned to the gallows by some cold hearted judges and magistrates for stealing chickens or loaves of bread when real criminals are still walking our streets?
There’s no doubt there was massive plunder of national resources and untold criminality during Edgar Lungu’s watch. We are left with little option but to demand that President Hichilema immediately appoints a commission of inquiry to investigate the previous regime or indeed strip him off of his immunity so that he can be tried before the law.
Ba UPND nabena…….you are yet to fathom African politics! By the way, I haven’t been paid by anyone to commit my thoughts to paper, may be it’s high time HH started forking out ka something.