POWER IS TEMPORAL - ECL

Speaking in an interview yesterday after he was blocked by the State from visiting ailing Chishimba Kambwili, who is admitted at Maina Soko Medical Centre, former President Lungu said those in power now should ask him and would be able to advise that power was never permanent and should always be used for the benefit of the governed.

The State yesterday blocked Mr Lungu from visiting Mr Kambwili at Maina Soko Medical Centre after he was brought back from Zimbabwe where he had been stranded after the State confiscated his passport at Chirundu Border.

But former President Lungu said he was disappointed that the Ministry of Defence could block him from visiting Mr Kambwili on grounds that he had not sought clearance from the State.

“You remember the other time I told you that Zambia was sliding into a police State and anarchy….in fact we are now a confirmed police State. But these guys (the UPND government) should know that power is temporal. They should ask me. I was the most powerful person but I am now an ordinary citizen. So, they should know that time will come when they will not be in power,” former President Lungu said. The former head of State in explaining his ordeal of how he was treated by the Maina Soko Medical Centre command said even after he had courteously informed the hospital authorities to expect him, the command just refused to allow him to enter the premises.

He said after leaving the Namibian High Commission where he had gone to sign the book of condolences for late President Hage Geingob, he called the sentry at Maina Soko Medical Centre that he was on his way to visit Mr Kambwili.

“I got the news that Mr Kambwili was admitted at Maina Soko Hospital and so I decided to visit him. When we got there, we could not be allowed to enter into the premises. The commandant said he could not allow me in and we were asked to be in the car park because the commandant wanted to consult. We waited in the car park for a long time and we gave up because the commandant could not come back to brief me about what was happening,” Mr Lungu said.

Mr Lungu said the UPND government was not going to kill him by keeping him away from the minds of people and that Edgar Lungu was just a human being who happened to be a citizen of Zambia and once a President of the country.

“It is like the Commandant could not even touch me with a bamboo stick because they were acting under instructions from I do not know who. But you cannot kill me by keeping me out of the people’s minds. Edgar Lungu is a human being who happens to have been graced with the privilege of being President of the country,” former President Lungu said.

Mr Kambwili, who had been in Zimbabwe for a week was brought back under unknown circumstances and was driven straight to Maina Soko Medical Centre.