IF PRESIDENT LUNGU HAS ‘FAILED’, WHATS THE FUSS ABOUT?

Now, I am not a constitutional expert and neither am I a lawyer to interpret the Republican Constitution of Zambia but I am made to comment on this topic because it is one which interests me as a Zambian citizen.

There is a heated debate currently going on President Edgar Lungu’s eligibility ahead of the 2021 general elections especially among some members of the opposition who have argued that the President Lungu is not eligible or qualified to contest as President having held the office twice.

Members of the opposition as well as some constitutional ‘experts’ and lawyers who have been linked to be surrogates of the opposition have argued that according to the Zambian constitution, President Lungu (ECL) is not eligible to stand as President again in 2021 as that would mean him seeking a 3rd term bid, and that him doing so would be going against what the constitution of Zambia states on 3rd term.

ECL was first elected as president in January 2015 after the death of President Michael Sata and in that election, he narrowly defeated opposition candidate Hakainde Hichilema and served for one year and 6 months only during his first term as president.

ECL was then re-elected for a second term which began on September 13, 2016 following his victory in the August polls, again narrowly defeating Hichilema alias

HH. This is his full term in office!

This is what the opposition have argued that Lungu has held the office twice and that his third term would violate the Zambian constitution which states that “a person who has twice been elected as President shall not be eligible for re-election to that office”.

Little knowledge I know about the constitution is that it says a president is only deemed to have served a term if he is in office for at least three years of the full five-year term and Lungu only served for less than two years in his first term.

Anyway that aside because we have seen renowned lawyers and constitutional experts confusing themselves about a straight forward issue and the opposition riding on the same that ECL does not qualify to contest as president of Zambia in a few months time election.

The opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) and their leader HH are day in and out attacking the ruling Patriotic Front

(PF) under the leadership of President Lungu.

HH and his UPND have accused the ruling PF of crippling the country’s economy, abuse of public funds, corruption and so on and forth.

On the other hand, the ruling PF says that it is focused on taking development to all parts of the country among others.

It is under President Lungu that we have seen a massive infrastructure development taking place in the areas of construction of hospitals, schools and opening up the country through the expansion of existing and construction of new roads, all such projects which the opposition say the ruling PF is doing under a huge amount where colossal sums of money have been spent.

Again, I am not an expert engineer or contractor to determine how much should go towards the construction or building of which project.

For me and other common Zambians out there, we are no doubt enjoying driving on these new roads, we are enjoying and are able to seek medical services within our localities compared to the past years where people would have to travel from other provinces coming to seek medical services at the UTH because under President Lungu, his administration has put up and still putting up general and district hospitals in almost all parts of the country and thereby bringing the services closer to the people.

Of course the opposition will say they are no medicines in these hospitals you are talking about but let us be fair, you can only do one thing at a time! Even God himself never created what we have in a single day.

First let the hospital be constructed, then equip it with what is required, then hire staff and lastly start operating and giving services to those in need. Same thing applies to schools and many other projects that Lungu’s administration have done or are still doing.

And we all know that all these have contributed to changing the country’s status despite many challenges.

The PF and ECL have massively embarked on empowerment programs where we have seen different age groups of cooperatives receiving all manner of sustainable empowerment projects and thereby uplifting their living standards.

One such project is the Presidential Initiative Fund under Clement

Tembo where we have seen

Zambians receiving different kinds of empowerment.

The Ministries of Youth, Livestock and Fisheries plus other line ministries are offering empowerment funds, all which can be accessed by all Zambians regardless of political affiliations. I can go on giving examples but I don’t want to bore you with a long article which can point at President Lungu’s achievements with his PF which I believe that the opposition UPND to be specific have also seen and now have nothing to tell or offer the Zambian people because President Lungu is touching everywhere and appears not to want to leave anyone behind.

What is now remaining for the opposition is an attempt to have Lungu knocked out in the presidential race by putting up a baseless argument that he is not eligible to contest as president.

After all, the opposition have claimed that ECL has messed up the country and they are claiming that they will fix it once elected in 2021, but I am of the view that if the claims by the opposition are genuine, why then should they waste time discussing as to whether he is eligible or not because if he has failed, Zambians will decide.

Otherwise you get the feeling that the opposition knows that Lungu’s PF has delivered so this is not about respecting the constitution as they are claiming but it is fear that Lungu is headed for another victory in 2021.

If indeed President Lungu and PF has failed, what’s the fuss about? Francis Chico Chipalo