WHAT’S AHEAD ISN’T ALL ROSY – LUBINDA
By Fanny Kalonda (The Mast)
ALL of us should be in bombasa (briefs) because what is ahead is not all rosy, warns PF vice-president Given Lubinda.
Lubinda has called on members of the Tonse Alliance to start campaigning at funerals, parties, markets and wherever there is an opportunity to do so.
He said former president Edgar Lungu knows what it means to lose an election.
“Edgar Chagwa Lungu knows what it means to lose elections and he has utilised this period and he is still utilising this period to sharpen his skills so that after 2026 the leadership he will provide for the people of Zambia will be much much better than what he provided in 2016,” Lubinda said on Thursday after Lungu accepted to be Tonse Alliance 2026 presidential candidate. “Now let us make sure that we use all available platforms to campaign. Go and campaign at funerals. Go and campaign at parties. Campaign on social media. Campaign on the bus, Campaign in the market. Campaign wherever you have the opportunity to campaign. Our lawyers, time has come for you to rededicate yourselves to the liberation of Zambia – the third liberation.”
He argued that there is no one who can be compared to Lungu.
“Time has come for us, for you to come and give the Zambian people a good government. You have to be willing to sacrifice. This is not a closed shop. This is an open shop. Let every party, every organisation that comes and says I share your ideas, let them come. If they don’t share our ideals it is our duty to show them our ideals so that they believe in what we believe in so that in 2026 we want stand up and truly say that tilitonse (we are together),” he said.
Lubinda explained that after 1964, the second liberation was in 1991.
“President Edgar Chagwa Lungu was sixth republican president. Whoever comes after him cannot be better than him. Because whatever he did is what you are building on. Lessons learnt from Botswana. When the time for reckoning came, even before the last person voted, Donald Trump was miles ahead. This is a lesson to you. Don’t listen to propaganda, instead listen to the people. I hope that every President today is learning from these people that after you lose, you concede. Prepare yourself for two eventualities when going for a race. Either you win or you lose. And I hope [President] Hakainde [Hichilema] is hearing me. Prepare yourself for either to win or as I think you will lose, prepare yourself so that when that time comes you concede with dignity not with tears. But there are also lessons to be learned,” he said. “You have no one to compare Edgar Chagwa Lungu to. No one. Because the only ones you could have compared him to are long gone. Now he’s alone. The only truly experienced person and the fact that he did accept defeat, to be vanquished, means that he is coming up even stronger.”
Lubinda said what was seen in the US is “exactly what is being” witnessed in Zambia “where one person thinks that they know it all”.
“And now the people in America are learning our song, alebwelelapo, alebwelelapo pamupando (he’s coming back to power).
The second lesson to be learnt is that to win an election is not to be elevated above humanity. That because you have won an election and therefore you are better than everybody else, no. To win an election calls for humility. But what we have seen in Botswana, what we saw in the United States of America, is exactly what we are seeing in Zambia where the person who has been elected thinks he knows it all. He’s the advisor to himself and also advisor to his advisors,” Lubinda said. “Third lesson to be learnt from … and from Trump, is that persecution in politics is not a deterrent, no. Persecution in politics is not a deterrent instead it must be an incentive. Why is it that [Raphael] Nakacinda has to go to court every day? Why is it that president Edgar Lungu and his family must be in court everyday? Why is it that Sean [Tembo] every time he speaks, he must be arrested? No one throws stones at a barren tree. In politics, persecution must be an incentive. If you are useless nobody will persecute you. And after all it is said, fire makes diamonds. So all of you my friends who are being persecuted count it a blessing. And Hakainde, please arrest us even more. We want the people to know that we are being purified for challenges ahead of us.”
And Lubinda called on US President-elect Donald Trump to stop the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
“…and now because [US President Joe] Biden said those words after we lost elections, what words should I use to him today? My message to Biden is that the Americans have removed a rogue government. A rogue government of warmongers, a rogue government which supports homosexuality. A rogue government which has promoted … in the world by telling Africans not to cooperate with whichever country they want to cooperate with. The Americans have decided to vote for a person who shall respect people because he did it before. Remember, I said you test people by what they have been. They have now voted for a man when he was president of the USA he showed that he was not going to interfere in other countries’ business. So welcome Donald Trump, and in welcoming you Donald Trump, I have a request on behalf of the Zambian people and on behalf of Africans. Number one, do away with your executive order imposing LGBTQI rights on African states. Cooperate with us on equal terms. Let us keep our values and beliefs and keep yours. Let us treat each other as equals,” said Lubinda. “Number two, Donald Trump please do away with your …Act against Russia and against China. Number three, Donald Trump use your influence to stop the wars in the world. Stop the Russia-Ukraine war because you know that that is sponsored in White House. Stop the war between Israel and the Middle East. And also Donald Trump, I pray, come and remove your AFRICOM from Zambia.”