Opposition Leaders Must Choose Between Zambia’s Future and Edgar Lungu’s Past

*Opposition Leaders Must Choose Between Zambia’s Future and Edgar Lungu’s Past*

*By Magret Mwanza | Governance Activist*

As the opposition parties in Zambia continue to shuffle around like headless chickens—forming, breaking, and regrouping alliances with no ideological anchor—it must be repeated loud and clear that the final decision lies with the people.

Not with Edgar Lungu. Not with discredited political opportunists. And certainly not with the architects of Zambia’s economic collapse.

It is both shocking and shameful that in 2025, with all that has transpired, the opposition still clings to Edgar Chagwa Lungu—a man constitutionally ineligible to contest, a man physically unfit to endure the rigors of office, and morally unworthy of leadership.

What message does this send to the Zambian people? That among them, there is no leader fit to carry the opposition banner? *That the only way forward is backward?*
What we are witnessing is not politics; it’s desperation wrapped in delusion.

Lungu’s return is not about serving the people—it’s about saving himself and his corrupt network from the jaws of justice. Those pushing for his candidacy aren’t inspired by love for Zambia. They are driven by fear—fear that the courts will catch up with their unexplained wealth, their illicit deals, their accumulated loot.

Under Lungu, we all know that Zambia was sold off piece by piece to the highest bidder. Our sovereignty became a trading card for private jets, luxury villas, and offshore accounts.

*_Do we forget so quickly?_*

The very same people now positioning themselves as opposition messiahs are the ones who looted the Treasury, drove up public debt to unsustainable levels, silenced dissent, and unleashed cadres on the streets like rabid dogs.These were not leaders—they were auctioneers of our future.

Today, they parade themselves in new alliances and coalitions, calling themselves *“United”* this and *“Together”* that, hoping that with fresh logos and names, the people will forget. But the stench of their past misrule cannot be masked by a press conference or an alliance handshake. Zambia remembers.

And while Lungu plays the puppet master, pretending to be indifferent to the presidency, yet subtly positioning himself for *an impossible* comeback, the rest of the opposition kneels before him like *spineless cowards, begging for endorsement,* hoping for his political crumbs.

*_It is political cowardice at its worst._*

Even more disheartening are the civic voices that have joined this bandwagon, believing they are entering a new political season, when in reality they are being used to sanitize a tainted regime.

What future can you build on the rotting foundation of kleptocracy? What reform can you spearhead while tethered to the apron strings of a discredited autocrat?

Zambia deserves better. The youth of this country—jobless, landless, but not hopeless—deserve better. We cannot mortgage our future to satisfy the egos of a few corrupt has-beens.

It is time for the opposition to choose. *You are either for Zambia’s future or Edgar Lungu’s past.* You cannot be both.

*And to those hiding behind technicalities, hoping the Constitutional Court will perform legal gymnastics to allow Lungu back on the ballot—know this, Zambians are not fools. You may try and manipulate the systems but you will never manipulate the collective memory of a people who lived through the brutality, corruption, and arrogance of the PF regime.*

Let this be a warning to all opposition parties: aligning yourselves with Edgar Lungu is not just political suicide—it is a betrayal of the people’s trust.

You will go down in history not as liberators, but as traitors who facilitated the return of national plunderers.

Zambia is at a crossroads. And the people are watching.

Choose wisely.