Africa-Press – Zambia. Quiet lately, there’s been a crescendo of calls to have Edgar Lungu stripped of his immunity so that he can have his own day in court to account for some of his deeds or misdeeds whilst in office as Republican President.
There are still a myriad of questions that beg express answers – the gassing fiasco, burning down of markets, procurement of fire tenders and ambulances at inflated prices, contracting construction of roads at exaggerated prices, the mukula tree scandal, 48 miracle houses, theft of millions of dollars at KCM, ransacking of our GOLD at Kasenseli mine, failure to hand over power to the speaker, hounding out people from civil service in so called national interest…..of course the list goes on and on.
If the investigative wings were to start sniffing around today for any transgressions of those in the previous administration, we wouldn’t be shocked if the trail of investigations pointed to the previous occupant of Plot # 1 Independence Avenue since the buck stopped at him as former President and commander of armed forces! How is Lungu expected to be questioned when he’s still clothed in the bullet proof of immunity from public prosecution?
Lungu mustn’t be allowed to escape being probed for any atrocities he committed while in office to serve as a warning to the incumbent President and indeed those who are yet to come. In case we’ve forgotten, Lungu stepped up on a podium at Heroes Stadium and proceeded to raise the Bible aloft and solemnly swore to protect and defend the constitution of the Republic of Zambia. If overwhelming evidence exists that he somehow breached the constitution in any ways, he must be held accountable, pronto!
One of the pitfalls we keep on suffering as a nation, is our inherent inability to make our former leaders account for their misconduct whilst in office. The danger of such failure is that we seem to give tacit approval to politicians, be it Presidents and ministers alike, to dip their magnetic hands into our coffers knowing that their SINS would easily be forgiven once booted-out of office in the spirit of national reconciliation. What nonsense!
When MMD lost power to PF for instance, some of the ministers notorious for ‘nchekelemo’ in the previous regime crept into PF before the dragnet could set in. They were duly awarded with lofty positions as ministers! Those who had active cases before the courts like ‘balya bamayo’ even had their court cases expunged from the roll.
Since it is part of their DNA, we have no doubt these characters had little trouble continuing on the same trajectory of looting our treasury. What do you make of their magical accumulation of wealth when the economy was virtually in a coma – awe-inspiring double-storied mansions here and there, impressive fleets of vehicles in their backyards and putting their kids in business class to attend elite schools and universities abroad!
Some of them even had the audacity to mock the Kaunda children for remaining poor when actually their father was Republican President. They went on to brag that a couple of thousands of Kwachas was nothing to them, but pocket money which they easily gifted their children without any qualms about it.
Now that PF has lost power to UPND, we hear they are plotting to sneak into the ruling party when no one is looking……well, if they haven’t already done so! Here’s our warning to them: please, stay right where you are and wait for DEC, ACC or the police to come knocking on your doors!
As for ba Edgar Lungu, there are no two ways about it…….his immunity must be lifted with lightning speed so that he can account for his conduct in office or lack of it thereof. Chapwa!
