Africa-Press – Zambia. In psychology, it is said that a behavior that gets rewarded is likely to be maintained and becomes a part of a person’s permanent behavior. This is sometimes called behavioral modification. If a child in school is rewarded for one good performance, rest assured that it won’t be the last performance you’ll see from that child.
This is the pattern around which Mr. Lungu’s behavior has been modified. When vying for the highest office in the land, Mr. Lungu used violence or threats of it to secure adoption as a presidential candidate in the election he eventually won in 2015.
How can we forget his behavior at Mulungushi Rock of Authority against Guy Scott and one Miles Sampa ? Recall the burning of motor vehicle tires when he was removed as PF Secretary-General. Those who may have forgotten will remember Harry Kalaba’s wrinkled face when issuing threats against Acting President Mr. Guy Scott.
The utilization of violence as a political strategy made Mr. Lungu the President of Zambia and nearly kept him in power for life. From then on, Mr. Lungu believed in violence to an extent that he set up points of terror to perpetuate violence. He established points like Kamugodi, Intercity, etc., as his cells for violence. When he wanted a job done, he just sent a word to those cadres manning his well-established cells of terror, and they acted.
On several occasions, he got his way through the use of violence or the threat of it. Recall during the presidential election petition, after the court ruled on Friday night that two parties to the petition be given two days each to submit and respond.
Noticing that Mr. Lungu would lose his fraudulently acquired victory, he dispatched two or three of his cells led by Chongu and directed them to camp at the Supreme Court grounds to issue threats against the judges. This move was even broadcast on ZNBC to ensure the judges saw those images.
When Monday came, Mr. Lungu had his way. Not only did PF lawyers not turn up for the court hearing, but the judges yielded to the threats and flip-flopped, coming up with the 14 days diversion.
Furthermore, in the aftermath of that joke of a petition ruling, Mr. Lungu continued with his threats and earned yet another reward. He managed to get a registrar of the High Court to swear him into office.
This did not stop; Mr. Lungu continued to thrive on threats of violence. During another episode of his breaking the law with impunity, when seeking a third term of office, he once again issued a veiled threat against the judges in Solwezi. He warned the judges not to be overly ambitious and go the Kenyan way, lest they set the country on fire.
After the threat to the judges, they passed the most weird judgment. First, they refused to mention Mr. Lungu in the judgment but just interpreted the periods. Because they knew that mentioning Mr. Lungu would put them in violation of the Constitution and failure to make a judgment in his favor thugs would be unleashed on judges.
The latest event in his cocktail of threats was when he said during his Facebook presser that he would seek justice from the court, seek justice politically, or fight through civil disobedience. Again, he wants things to go his way.
This is what Mr. Lungu’s behavior is all about; it has been rewarded for far too long. Threats, threats, and more threats. The most unfortunate part is Mr. Lungu would blame anybody else but himself. What was he doing with the government pension?
Because of the government pension he was earning all this while, there was no way he would remain a party member. Politics and party membership are intertwined. No way you can retire from politics and remain a political party president. For this reason, any list that has Mr. Lungu as a president is a forgery.
Mr. Lungu knows that no court will listen to his faction’s nonsense. All Miles Sampa would do is subpoena the Secretary to the Cabinet and ask him to present to court payment vouchers of Mr. Lungu’s retirement benefits if he claimed to be the legitimate president of the party. Surprisingly a man who sunk our nation into debt, corruption, violence, Lawlessness and all kinds of atrocities thinks he has the solution for our nation. Case over.
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