16/03/2023
Edgar Lungu Not Yet Healed From 2021 Lose
It is easy to experience great sickness after a lose like the recent ended general elections and sense of déjà vu when analysing political leadership in Zambia especially where you have to deal with failed leaders like Edgar Chagwa Lungu who has suddenly recovered from a serious shock that left him pale and disillusioned after losing the 2021 polls.
In his own imagination, Edgar and his cronies suddenly have the perception that UPND leaders under the leadership of President Hakainde Hichilema have failed to rule and they (Chagwa and the gang) are the best way out. This is laughable but since it’s an illusion, Zambians will allow it to be what it ought to be.
Whilst hiding in a cellar in Ibex, Edgar was initially using hired guns like Sean Tembo and Chilufya Tayali and his own cohorts in like of Raphael Nakachinda, Emmanuel Mwamba and others, to outlandishly discredit the Presidency and the UPND leadership in general.
But it dawned on him that his propagandists are inconsequential in the current political environment as their messages where seen through to be outright cheap lies.
That explains why he has now decided to come to the fore himself – he couldn’t continue bankrolling his propaganda team using stolen money while hiding in a cacoon.
It thus goes to say that HH was absolutely right when he said kutumpa uko (that’s being foolish, stupid) in reference to the man who insisted that he will hand over power to himself, a man who threatened judges not to go the “Kenya way”, a man who oversaw the maiming and killing of his fellow citizens, a man who was overseeing grand corruption and theft, a man who is hater and a deep-rooted tribalist.
HH must have been pushed to the edge to say “kutumpa uko” because ordinarily he never uses such words though they were appropriate for the moment.
President Hichilema noticed that Edgar was being stupid or foolish by taking advantage of his good heartedness. Being human, HH brought out his utter dismay in the manner he did because he was shocked by Chagwa’s ingratitude.
Seemingly, HH has been protecting Chagwa from prosecution as a way of breaking the trend where former presidents are prosecuted like was the case with Dr Kenneth Kaunda, Frederick Chiluba and Rupiah Banda.
President Hichilema has actually been heeding late president Rupiah Banda’s call (which was made after HH won) for him to break the trend of prosecuting former presidents.
Alas Chagwa is not a kind who can keep his mouth shut and enjoy his retirement in peace hence the President’s statement that kutumpa uko. HH in his wisdom equally realized that the bad precedence where every former president is prosecuted was not good for the country.
It was more concerning for Chagwa because Zambians where so bitter with him and his barbaric regime that all they wanted was revenge. HH meticulously managed to calm the situation leading to a healing process that culminated into Chagwa being a lucky duck in the pond as he has remained untouched up-to-date.
It is this very gesture of goodwill on the part of HH that Chagwa is abusing despite all his atrocities. Chagwa is head over heels thinking he has gotten away with the stolen loot undeterred and he now wants to sound cleverer than the person who extended an olive branch to him – what kind of insolence is that? Kutumpa uku!
HH has been magnanimous enough to allow Chagwa to roam around and rant as he wishes but Chagwa should note that freedom is not absolute. HH is being good to Chagwa yet the opposite can never be the case and that’s why we are saying kutumpa uko.
Didn’t Chagwa state during the campaigns in 2021 that his immediate preoccupation was to jail HH when (not “if”) he is reelected? How do you plan to jail someone before you arrest them, prosecute them, secure a conviction against them? This was ukutumpa of yesteryear now it is resurfacing through the churches where Chagwa has found sanctuary.
Does Chagwa know that some of the citizens that were maimed under his barbaric regime belong to these same churches where he is seeking solace? Some members of these churches lost their loved ones because of Chagwa’s brutal regime and there he is pretending to be holier than thou. Kutumpa uko!
In fact the United Church of Zambia (UCZ) should consider themselves lucky because anything red was bad for Chagwa and PF. It was not going to be surprising if the UCZ were attacked on the basis of adorning a uniform with a red top or jacket.
The colour red was bad in PF days. We have not forgotten how Chagwa was adorned in green siziba and head gear just to avoid the colour red. Chagwa and his PF’s level of pettiness is obnoxious – it’s even difficult to fathom how such an abhorrent lot managed to rule or is it misrule this country for ten years.
PF was petty yet vicious and still is. Using their pettiness, they are now capitalizing on a statement kutumpa uko which means nothing but foolishness. Chagwa and his PF should know that when you treat others with respect and dignity, they reciprocate by treating you similarly.
Before they raise a finger to condemn HH for the ukutumpa statement, Chagwa and his cohorts should take a full day to listen to their language especially prior to elections and to the language of the people who surround them as well as every other cadres who supported them.
