MUSUSU LECTURES EMMANUEL MWAMBA

FORMER president Edgar Lungu lacked the leadership of Michael Sata and allowed cadreism to a point where his followers were brandishing guns and ransacking police stations, Bishop Paul Mususu has said.

And Bishop Mususu says President Hakainde Hichilema’s undoing are some of the campaign promises such as stabilizing the economy and the Kwacha which he notes are an opposite of what he told the electorates.

Speaking to Emmanuel Mwamba on the previous edition of The Conversation Podcast, Bishop Mususu said Zambians had not forgotten how wearing anything red was a crime under Mr. Lungu’s leadership as his own cadres took advantage of him and did as they pleased.

He said economically, it was an undisputed fact that the country defaulted from the debts that his Government contracted and that the effects of such eventuality were still being felt today.

“My analysis is that he (Mr. Lungu) is a gentle soul. He meant well and he did quite some things but I think he lacked the leadership that Michael Sata brought. People took advantage of him and I know that there were many other characters, some of them we know, that took that advantage to another level. In My own assessment, I think when you are looking at the general aspect, you can’t forget what the cadreism was under his leadership. That cannot be underplayed to a point where (Petauke Member of Parliament, Emmanuel) Jay Jay (Banda) and his team went and ransacked the police station and today, he is an MP.

“To move with a red shirt, you have committed a crime in our own country. I think he left things too loose. He needed to be a lot firmer. Economically, of course we cannot run away, he defaulted. Under his reign, we failed to pay the debts we were borrowing but on the other hand, we also saw some developments; the infrastructure that we have seen… if only we had not defaulted, it could have been a very big plus for him but with the default, it negates because you are using borrowed money and then you cannot pay back and even now we are still reeling with it. I just felt that we did not have a firm leader in president Lungu. You can’t allow people brandishing guns like that and I think that was the thing that was threatening us,” Bishop Mususu said.

He suggested that it was wrong for Mr. Lungu to come back and want to lead the country again when the best was for him to retire and allow others to take over from him while playing the role of statesman.

“Now, we have things that we cannot answer to things like gassing that happened under that regime; the markets that were burnt… those are the things that probably we needed some answers to and we still need some answers to but generally, they work in disfavour of the man. In the immediate, I think he shouldn’t have come back. I think he should have left you guys to run. For me, I think it is the same thing with (Kenneth) Kaunda coming back.

“For me, I would leave it at that. He retired and must allow others to lead. You can’t have even the (Frederick) Chiluba situation where he has to come back and finish the projects, no. I think it is past. Let him take leave. Let him rest and sometimes the statesman in him should be enveloped and embraced by the rest of us and give him the respect and dignity that office deserves. He is the only surviving former president and so, there must be some work,” he said.

“Even us, I speak for myself; we can create an atmosphere where there would be dialogue between the former and the current. We attempted it before he left office and we have been attempting now… not avoiding each other but being able to sit and talk,” he added.

He also said President Hichilema had delivered some of the campaigning promises such as recruitment of health workers and teachers as well as enhancing the rule of law but that economic stabilization and the Kwacha strength against major currencies were his undoing.

“I think for President Hakainde Hichilema, there is something right he has done. I think we can see the cadreism that we were talking about is minimized. It is not completely done but it is not the same way it was and I think that if we are judging him at his own words, sometimes that is why it is very hard for people because they are saying you said this, you said this, but has he done something? Yes, I think he has and some of them are not just rhetoric. The particular incident of the cadres that I have mentioned, the recruitment of other health workers and teachers … these are some of the positive things. In terms of the rule of law, I think some aspects of some strengths that we see as opposed to some of the things we were experiencing in the past.

“The undoing, I think, nobody in Zambia can sit pretty and say the economy is well, especially with the poverty levels and people that are crying who are my members and they need to eat. Yes, you have given some jobs, you have given this recruitment but I think we need to answer to the broader picture and I want to balance it because sometimes, even in this scenario, there are certain things that are own making and there are also other things that are instigated by international circumstances like the fuel situation. Now, what is making it complicated is that he told us that the dollar will be trading at a certain level. He told us all that and I think that those are the negatives that we face in this particular scenario. Can they be mended? I am sure they can. I think if we put our heads together and talk together and find solutions together, it can be done,” he concluded.