Editorial: Who Is Lungu Trying to Fool?

Edgar Lungu says he has no hand in the liquidation of Post Newspapers Limited and has nothing against Dr Fred M’membe.

Edgar was responding to a question raised by Oliver Mutambekwa, a Zambian living in Swaziland, who wanted to find out the truth behind the liquidation of Post Newspapers Limited. Edgar maintained that he is not the type of leader who would use his position to deal
with anyone, and that the Patriotic Front and himself were nowhere near the matter and wondered why he was being dragged into it.

Dishonesty is a very dangerous thing in any human being, and is worse
in a leader of a nation, especially at the level of President of the Republic. Who doesn’t know that all the actions against The Post were being directed from Edgar’s government and State House? Starting with the Zambia Revenue Authority issue, all those who were involved in it were receiving orders from Edgar and his agents at State House and in his government in general. This is why the Zambia Revenue Authority
officials were not afraid to disobey the legitimate orders of the Tax Appeals Tribunal and ignored them with impunity. When The Post managers tried to enforce the Tax Appeals Tribunal order, the police officers who came to arrest and detain them were from State House and
working under the orders of Kaizar Zulu. And because of that, to this very day, those who were arrested and detained that night have never been charged with any offence. All they received were abuses – insults and beatings.

It is a well-known fact that the Zambia Revenue Authority was working with Kaizar and Emmanuel Chilubanama to fix The Post and ensure that it is permanently closed, come what may.

Even the people Lewis Mosho is using today in his liquidation of The Post are people employed by a state entity that highly employees Patriotic Front cadres and other agents of those in power. Mosho himself is a State House agent whom they used not only in this case but also in their manoeuvres against Mutembo Nchito and his arrest and removal as Director of Public Prosecutions. The police officers they are using also talk. And they continually reveal who they are dealing
with. Where have you seen a private liquidation of a company being aided so much by police headquarters, state security and intelligence agencies working so closely together with State House, the Zambia Revenue Authority, the courts and other state agencies? There has never been such high state involvement in the history of this country the way we have seen in the liquidation of The Post. Not even the liquidation of parastatal companies like the United Bus Company of Zambia, among others, has attracted such high state interest and involvement. Why is this possible? This is so because it is happening at the command of the President. That is why magistrates, judges, police officers, intelligence agents are falling over each other to nail The Post and Dr M’membe to the cross, hoping they will never have a resurrection. But as life is, where there’s a crucifixion, there’s always a resurrection. It gets dark sometimes, but the morning comes.

So it is dishonest for Edgar not to own up in his destruction of The Post. Why is he trying to hide his participation in the destruction of The Post? It is because he knows what he’s doing is wrong, but he wants to do it nevertheless. Where has Edgar ever admitted wrongdoing? Have you ever read Edgar admit any wrongdoing in the Zambia Daily Mail, the Times of Zambia, the Daily Nation? Have you ever heard him on television or radio admit any wrongdoing? Does this mean Edgar is a saint and he has managed the affairs of our country without any errors or mistakes, weaknesses or faults?

In case Edgar has forgotten, it is important to remind him of the threat he issued against The Post and Dr M’membe in Solwezi in September 2015! He had threatened to deal with The Post and warned that Dr M’membe alefwaya ukwakufwila, wanted where to die! It is also a fact that Edgar has been bragging among his relatives and friends that he will finish off Dr M’membe and he will die the way Benjamin Mwila died – that is with nothing, a pauper.

And also, when the Zambia Revenue Authority closed The Post, wasn’t it Patriotic Front cadres who were coming to harass Post staff on the street where they were operating? Wasn’t it Patriotic Front cadres who were roaming the streets grabbing copies of The Post from vendors? Wasn’t the police impotent in dealing with those Patriotic Front criminals who were unleashed on Post staff? How could that have been possible if the Patriotic Front and himself were not involved in the annihilation of The Post?

And even look at the way Edgar, his government and his party are protecting judge Sunday Nkonde from accountability over the wrongs he has done! Who is speaking for judge Nkonde? It is the Patriotic Front and its government. Why? It is because he is adjudicating their matter against The Post. This whole Post issue has Edgar’s footprints which he can’t wipe out, and it doesn’t make sense to anyone to try and pretend he, his government and party are not part of it. Let him just own up and stop telling lies that everyone can see. Who is Edgar trying to fool? He is just fooling himself; there’s no one else he can fool! Even most of his own ministers are not happy about what he’s doing to The Post and Dr M’membe, and they are talking. Many decent people in the Patriotic Front are also voicing their concerns over this matter, but are scared of openly registering their displeasure because of his ruthlessness and tyranny.