By Chibesa Kalandwe II BA (UNZA), MSc (Arizona)
The rain clouds have gathered. President Lungu is a lonely man. Humbled by the Zambian voter and disserted by those he thought were his friends.
What an end to what is potentially the most controversial Presidency on record.
When President Lungu shot to national attention at the height of a destructive self-political cannibalisation in the PF, he was a man who had endeared himself to the people of Zambia. He did not fight for the Umupando, the Umupando fought for him. And he took his rightful place.
But President Lungu mixed it all. His unconcerned attitude increasingly gave way to the capture of the most important office in the land.
Jackals, opportunists and sycophants suddenly found a place around the man from Chawama. They promptly pushed away all those who mattered in the Edgar Chagwa Lungu – PF matrix.
President Lungu after 2019 was never the same man Zambians had first fallen in love with. He became distant. He was generally a man remotely controlled by competing interests – mostly business and self – preservation by the sycophants and parasites that had insulated themselves around him.
How did for example Freedom Sikazwe find himself a top Minister around Chagwa? Or why did he cede control of the PF to Davis Mwila at such a critical hour?
With Mwila at the helm, the PF became a notorious den of thuggery and violence. People simply got tired. Even me, with all the support I gave PF, I got tired.
The entry of Chris Zimba at State House was the last nail to prick the boat. An inexperienced academician who called the President a playboy was hired to win him an election that was heavily contested. How?
And why did Valden Findlay occupy such an important space in his circles? When Chagwa was a struggling lawyer in Chawama, Jack Compund to be specific, Findlay would not have been one to accommodate him. But we saw Findlay even bring in his own henchman around Chagwa in the form of Andrew Chellah as an Aide. Poor Chagwa!
And as the 2021 election approached, he had lost even before the first ballot could be counted. It was all too clear.