THE press conference held on Wednesday by leaders of various opposition political parties led by former President Edgar Lungu accusing the New Dawn administration of all sorts of bad things cannot pass without attracting a comment.
It was baffling to hear the former head of State brazenly stand tall and start addressing members of the press about the challenges Zambia is experiencing.
Zambians are still wondering how Mr Lungu, who misruled this country for seven years with an iron fist and ruined our economy through reckless borrowing, can start telling people to move on when he is the root cause of the current challenges.
In the first place, Mr Lungu assumed the Presidency accidentally, without any blueprint for taking Zambia to another level in terms of development.
We find Mr Lungu’s incessant attacks on President Hakainde Hichilema, who is working day and night in efforts to address the problems created by the Patriotic Front (PF) administration, hypocritical.
The former President and his cohorts are engaging in political hypocrisy, reminiscent of people who tell you not to eat candy while they chomp away on licorice all day, people who say they hate cars but always beg you for a ride.
So, when State House chief communications specialist Clayson Hamasaka says it is time to ask honest questions about the economic mess in which Zambia is, he is spot on.
“It is time for Mr Lungu to act like an honest, grown-up man, showing remorse and shame for his actions. He must cease being paranoid when questioned about his party’s criminal past,” Mr Hamasaka shared in a statement.
“Mr Lungu should refrain from insulting the collective intelligence of Zambians by urging them to ‘move on’.”
Mr Hamasaka is right because we equally find it outlandish for the former President, who presided over a corruptionridden PF regime, to criticise President
Hichilema for the challenges the country is facing.
When the PF got into government, they found Zambia with US$2 billion external debt. By the time Mr Lungu and his corrupt administration faced a humiliating defeat by President Hichilema in August 2021, they left a choking US$13 billion debt.
When President Hichilema was sworn in as Zambia’s seventh head of State, he inherited teething problems created by the PF regime. He is now working tirelessly to have the challenges addressed and put Zambia back on the right trajectory.
During the PF administration headed by Mr Lungu, lawlessness was the order of the day. PF cadres amassed so much power that they conducted themselves as minipresidents of the country.
They became so heartless that they brutalised innocent people, and could even beat up police officers.
PF cadres took over the running of markets and bus stations from local authorities and collected levies, leaving councils financially crippled.
Councils across the country were struggling to pay workers their salaries, to an extent where some local authorities owed their employees salary arrears of up to six months.
This is no longer the case under the New Dawn administration. Local authorities now collect adequate revenue in form of levies from markets and bus stations and are able to pay workers’ salaries on time.
During the brutal PF administration, media freedoms were blatantly transgressed. Ruling party cadres often hounded out of radio station studios opposition leaders who were being featured on live programmes.
Closures of media houses perceived to be ‘enemies of PF’ were the order of the day.
So, how can a former President who destroyed Zambia’s economy parade himself before cameras and start blaming a leader in Mr Hichilema, who is working so hard to rejuvenate the country’s economy?Indeed, it is political hypocrisy for Mr Lungu and his cohorts!
It’s political hypocrisy for Edgar Lungu
THE press conference held on Wednesday by leaders of various opposition political parties led by former President Edgar Lungu accusing the New Dawn administration of all sorts of bad things cannot pass without attracting a comment.
It was baffling to hear the former head of State brazenly stand tall and start addressing members of the press about the challenges Zambia is experiencing.
Zambians are still wondering how Mr Lungu, who misruled this country for seven years with an iron fist and ruined our economy through reckless borrowing, can start telling people to move on when he is the root cause of the current challenges.
In the first place, Mr Lungu assumed the Presidency accidentally, without any blueprint for taking Zambia to another level in terms of development.
We find Mr Lungu’s incessant attacks on President Hakainde Hichilema, who is working day and night in efforts to address the problems created by the Patriotic Front (PF) administration, hypocritical.
The former President and his cohorts are engaging in political hypocrisy, reminiscent of people who tell you not to eat candy while they chomp away on licorice all day, people who say they hate cars but always beg you for a ride.
So, when State House chief communications specialist Clayson Hamasaka says it is time to ask honest questions about the economic mess in which Zambia is, he is spot on.
“It is time for Mr Lungu to act like an honest, grown-up man, showing remorse and shame for his actions. He must cease being paranoid when questioned about his party’s criminal past,” Mr Hamasaka shared in a statement.
“Mr Lungu should refrain from insulting the collective intelligence of Zambians by urging them to ‘move on’.”
Mr Hamasaka is right because we equally find it outlandish for the former President, who presided over a corruptionridden PF regime, to criticise President
Hichilema for the challenges the country is facing.
When the PF got into government, they found Zambia with US$2 billion external debt. By the time Mr Lungu and his corrupt administration faced a humiliating defeat by President Hichilema in August 2021, they left a choking US$13 billion debt.
When President Hichilema was sworn in as Zambia’s seventh head of State, he inherited teething problems created by the PF regime. He is now working tirelessly to have the challenges addressed and put Zambia back on the right trajectory.
During the PF administration headed by Mr Lungu, lawlessness was the order of the day. PF cadres amassed so much power that they conducted themselves as minipresidents of the country.
They became so heartless that they brutalised innocent people, and could even beat up police officers.
PF cadres took over the running of markets and bus stations from local authorities and collected levies, leaving councils financially crippled.
Councils across the country were struggling to pay workers their salaries, to an extent where some local authorities owed their employees salary arrears of up to six months.
This is no longer the case under the New Dawn administration. Local authorities now collect adequate revenue in form of levies from markets and bus stations and are able to pay workers’ salaries on time.
During the brutal PF administration, media freedoms were blatantly transgressed. Ruling party cadres often hounded out of radio station studios opposition leaders who were being featured on live programmes.
Closures of media houses perceived to be ‘enemies of PF’ were the order of the day.
So, how can a former President who destroyed Zambia’s economy parade himself before cameras and start blaming a leader in Mr Hichilema, who is working so hard to rejuvenate the country’s economy?Indeed, it is political hypocrisy for Mr Lungu and his cohorts!