LET LUNGU REST – SACCORD 

By Jessica Mwansa

WE do not know the interest of those people calling for the former President Edgar Lungu to come back into active politics and recontest for the 2026 general elections but they should respect his desire to remain in retirement, the Southern African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (SACCORD) has said.

In an interview with The Scoop, SACCORD Executive Director Boniface Cheembe said it would be in the right direction for the former President’s advisors to respect his decision and allow him to enjoy his retirement from active politics.

Mr. Cheembe there was no need for the former ruling party to continue calling for Mr. Lungu’s comeback for the 2026 elections because he had said it numerous times that he was no longer interested in being actively involved in politics.

“In a democracy, you cannot shut people or stop them from making calls as well as those in the confines of the law as long as it is being done peacefully. The former President has made it clear that he has no intentions to come back and we have to take him at his word and respect the decision that he has made not to come back and for those who are calling for him to come back should ensure they respect his desire for him to remain in retirement,” Mr. Cheembe said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Cheembe says that it was difficult for a country like Zambia to run a high economy without being dependent on what is happening in other parts of the world as far as the economy was concerned.

 “We are still in the post Covid19 recovery phase and the unfortunate war between Russia and Ukraine is still on going. Therefore, economies worldwide are struggling. The high prices of commodities are a global phenomenon and very few Zambians understand that the high cost of living is global.

“Nonetheless, we urge the Government to explain this phenomenon from a contextual Zambian point of view so that it is clear to the masses in terms of what the country is doing to arrest the high cost of living,” he said.

He said it was a very difficult economic time for everyone and that unfortunately, everyone had to face the pinch.

“It is no longer about whether people have to endure or not. Everyone has to endure. It is now about how to make that endurance a little more comfortable by ensuring there is adequate information and understanding of this global phenomenon.

“This is important that the public will buy in and support the Government as it tries to manoeuvre the country into economic stability and economic success to the average Zambian so that he or she begins to make ends meet without having to endure so much,” he said.