President for PF is Edgar Chagwa Lungu – Bowman
Kombe Chimpinde Mataka
FORMER Lusaka Province minister Bowman Lusambo says Edgar Lungu is not coming back to lead PF because he is PF president.
He says Lungu is enjoying his vacation and “you know that president Lungu is a God-fearing man. He wants to be in the presence of God all the time because he understands the importance of God”.
Appearing on Prime TV’s Oxygen of Democracy on Monday, the former Kabushi PF member of parliament said there has never been correspondence from the former president about him resigning.
“President Lungu is not coming back anywhere okay. People are saying president Lungu is coming back. From where? He is coming back from where? We went to the convention prior to 2021 [presidential and general elections] and he was elected president of the party and his presidency comes to an end somewhere in 2026. So we have a president in the party according to the constitution of our party. The president is elected by the convention. He (Lungu) is our president,” he said. “As I speak, the president for Patriotic Front is Edgar Chagwa Lungu. He said I want to hand over to the next president of the party. He did not say I have resigned from the position of the president of Patriotic Front, no. Even himself, remember president Lungu is a lawyer. He understands matters to do with the Constitution and the law.”
Lusambo said the party would not be ashamed or apologetic that Lungu was still in charge of the PF until the next convention decides who continues.
When challenged to explain Lungu’s correspondence with Cabinet Office over his resignation on August 28, 2021 which the then acting Secretary to Cabinet Patrick Kangwa announced to the public, Lusambo said whatever Cabinet Office is saying, “us it is a club.”
“We are not in government. Patriotic Front is a club, a club with its own rules and regulations. And in this club we have a president okay. We have a president. There is nowhere where president Lungu wrote to Patriotic Front and Patriotic Front wrote back to Lungu ‘that we have accepted your resignation’. Nowhere. Me, I have never seen that letter from secretariat,” he argued. “…secretariat responding to Lungu that ‘we have received your letter and we are greatful that you provided leadership the time you served as president of the party. Sir, we want to wish you good luck in your future endeavours. I have never seen that letter. Which means president Edgar Lungu is president of the Patriotic Front and there are no arguments. Cabinet Office is a government party. I am telling you the position of the party.”
Lusambo said it was not about Lungu or himself as “adopted son” to decide to recontest the 2026 elections but about the people.
He said Lungu was fit and enjoying his vacation.
“He is enjoying his vacation and you know that president Lungu is a God-fearing man. He wants to be in the presence of God all the time because he understands the importance of God. Remember that he is my father. He is 100 per cent fit,” he said. “President Lungu was not rejected because he failed to govern this country, no. President Lungu, people of Zambia actually said ‘you are selling us fuel at K15. There is someone who has told us that that fuel will be sold at K12 and K10. You president Lungu are selling at fertiliser at K450, there is someone who has told us fertiliser will be sold to us at K250. We want that somebody who will bring down the dollar at K10’. In fact there was even a timeframe. They said ‘this mealie meal we are buying at K130, we ought to be buying at K50. The reason why those Zambians went to vote, waking up at 04:00 hours early in the morning to remove Lungu it was not that he had failed to govern.”
Lusambo claimed that had Zambians known the cost of living would go high, they would have voted otherwise.
“Had you known mealie meal would be K300 would you have gone to vote?” asked Lusambo.