BRING BACK LUNGU AND SEE HOW HE WILL REDUCE THIS COUNTRY TO SAWDUST

If you think this country was not run down by the Patriotic Front (PF) through reckless borrowing, corruption, and mismanagement of resources, you haven’t seen anything yet until you think of bringing Edgar Lungu and his minions back into power.

We are not in any way suggesting that the United Kwacha Alliance (UKA) is not capable of winning elections and those underestimating them should peep back into history and see where we came from and then they will have a better understanding of the political dynamics in this country.

George Carlin was not foolish when he said never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups. He knew what he was talking about and by this, we are not in any way suggesting that the UKA team is made up of fools. No. It is just a metaphorical application which makes sense to the current situation.  

In 2015, Lungu himself told this country openly that he had no vision on how to run this country but those who were managing him quickly came in to provide context to what he was trying to say.

Chishimba Kambwili as Minister of Information and Broadcasting then belaboured to clarify what Lungu meant by the statement even when his claim that he was quoted out of context made no logical sense. The Zambians were hoodwinked into believing that what Lungu said was not what he meant.

They ignored his own black sheep’s confession over his lack of capacity to run our country and voted for him but what followed was a manifestation of what he had warned us against about himself. There was total degeneration.

Among other things, our economy degenerated due to fiscal mismanagement, precipitated by high levels of Government debt, budget deficits, and inefficient public spending. Mismanagement of public funds led to economic instability and hindered long-term development.

We also went into currency depreciation which led to inflation, making imported goods more expensive and impacting the cost of living for citizens. The exchange rate instability contributed to the deterrence of foreign investment and affected the country’s overall economic performance.

Challenges related to governance, transparency, and corruption undermined economic development by reducing investor confidence, hindering private sector growth, and diverting resources away from productive uses through rampant corruption.

It’s important to note that addressing economic challenges in any country requires a multi-faceted approach that involves policy reforms, good governance, investment in infrastructure and human capital, as well as efforts to diversify the economy. It’s also essential to consider the unique circumstances and complexities of the Zambian economy, as well as the impact of global economic trends and external factors.

The rule of law is a fundamental principle in any democratic society and it encompasses the idea that all individuals and entities, including the Government, are subject to and accountable under the law. It also involves principles such as equality before the law, legal certainty, and the protection of individual rights and liberties.

What we saw under the PF was a total breakdown in the rule of law where the PF Government purposefully or inadvertently undermined constitutional principles and processes, such as attempts to amend the Constitution in ways that were perceived as undermining democratic principles and the separation of powers.

We witnessed political interference in the judiciary, which also undermined the independence and impartiality of the legal system. This eroded public trust in the judiciary and the rule of law.

The PF restricted the freedom of expression and media, including instances of harassment and intimidation of journalists and media outlets critical of the Government. In fact, it was under the PF that media houses such as The Post newspaper and Prime TV were closed. It was under PF where Jay Jay Banda allegedly urinated in a reporter’s mouth. It was under the PF that party Secretary General Davies Mwila ejected reporters from Prime TV from his press briefing.

It was under the PF that President Hakainde Hichilema had to flee from the roof of the radio station. It was under PF that cadres would storm radio programmes and disrupt live programmes with impunity whenever the opposition were accorded a chance to feature on these platforms.

Under PF, we witnessed limitations on civil liberties, including restrictions on peaceful assembly and political dissent, raising concerns about the protection of individual rights and freedoms.

Despite all these shortcomings, Lungu and his team now believe they can have a second shot into office and the UKA is seen as the conveyor belt to achieving this farcical objective and the first thing we have been told by him is that he would abolish free education.

His argument is that this free education is not of the desired quality because the pupil-teacher ratio makes it practically impossible for children to learn. For him, education must only be for those who can afford to pay for it and the rest can stay home because the country does not have enough teachers to meet the pupil population that has swelled around our schools after the introduction of free education.

But this is nothing new. It was under his reign that Lungu decided to remove meal allowance for students in public universities. One thing you can never take away from Lungu is his honesty. Sometimes, we do not even blame him but the Zambians who continue to misinterpret what he means.

When Lungu said he had no vision, for sure the man had no vision but we insisted that is not what he meant. What did we get from him? Debt and eventual collapse of the economy and because wrong decisions have a knock-on effect, we are today reeling with the after-effects of the PF plunder and reckless borrowing.

Today, Lungu has told us he will abolish free education and again, we are saying that this is not what he meant and if he wins in 2026 and does exactly what he is telling us today, will we blame him?

Beer or no beer, at least Lungu by now should have realised that Zambia’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on education include inclusive and equitable quality education, lifelong learning opportunities, no fees for grades 1-7, scaling up schooling so that all children complete secondary school by 2030, as well as ensuring at least the minimum organized teacher training for primary education teachers.

So, by abolishing free education when and if he bounces back into power in 2026, Lungu is simply telling us to go to hell with SDGs, especially the one on education because it is not possible that all children can finish Grade 12 if free education is done away with. So, if we vote for Lungu and we fail to meet our SDG on education by 2030, will we blame Lungu for it or ourselves? 

It is clear that Lungu has nothing to do with education. Whether or not some children are not in school is none of his business and no one should tell us that this is not what he meant. We haven’t forgotten the 2015 fiasco. So, you vote for Lungu in 2026, you bid farewell to free education because for him, he sees nothing wrong with an illiterate nation. For him, it is better to have a handful of educated people who can afford education than giving everyone a chance to attain a good education.

What Lungu has forgotten is that not all those who can afford to pay for themselves can attain quality education. There are children who may come from very humble backgrounds in Kabompo, Mayasanino, Sikongo, Mugubudu, Mungwi, etc from households without resources to take them to school but are extremely brilliant and can beat any of those who have money to go to school.

If it was not for free education, these brilliant brains would have been wasted. For these, Lungu cares less.