Could This Be the End of the PF? Three weeks ago, I wrote an article on this column in which I said Edgar Lungu despite the swelling support after the death of President Michael Sata may not be the right person to be PF President let alone Republican President. I said that the people behind the candidature of Edgar Lungu were criminals whose main interest is their private welfare. I cited individuals like Willie Nsanda who sell road contracts from Roads Development Agency (RDA) to Chinese nationals. Today I’m vindicated. The events of the PF General Conference that declared Edgar Lungu as the new PF President, and then shortly later invalidated his candidature, proves me right. Criminals are behind Edgar Lungu. Why do I say so? Edgar Lungu’s supporters knew that the majority of his supporters were not accredited delegates because most of these people were just thugs picked from bus stations like Kulima Tower and Intercity. According to PF constitution, the delegates at the conference are elected officials, these being constituency district, provincial, MPs and Central Committee members. Edgar was not sure if he had enough support among the legitimate delegates. With money from corrupt contracts at RDA, Willie Nsanda and the Nkandu Luos of this world bused several non-delegates to Kabwe. Whilst at the venue, other candidates supporters were stopped from entering, registering as delegates and even stopped from wearing campaign regalia that was not branded Edgar Lungu. Home affairs Deputy minister Stephen Kampyongo even transported fellow thugs from City Market to stop delegates suspected to be close to Miles Sampa or the former First Lady. Kampyongo used to be a thug at City Market before he became Deputy Minister. That aside, it was the un-enabling environment that forced Acting President Guy Scott to ask that accreditation of delegates be done outside the venue of voting. The team Edgar Lungu refused. Later the two factions agreed that accreditation can be done at the venue provided all non delegates left the venue. Inonge Wina the Party Chairperson tried to convince the non delegates to leave the venue but Nsanda and his team told the thugs not to leave. Wina then declared the Presidency vacant while other candidates were discussing modalities with the Acting President. Returning officer Tutwa Ngulube called names of candidates but only Lungu was in the arena. A question was then asked for those supporting Lungu to show up. Thousands raised their hands in support of Lungu and the returning officer then declared Lungu unopposed. The question is the following: How did the returning officer know that those who raised their hands where genuine delegates, especially with the knowledge that there was a combination of delegates and non delegates? This is what Scott was trying to avoid. Scott may not be the most ethical politician in Zambia, but he has tried to be democratic amid this recent chaos. Let people vote freely. If Lungu goes ahead, it likely the PF would lose elections. Why do I say so? Miles Sampa, Chishimba Kambwili,Wilbur Simuusa and Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba have close to 500,000 registered voters in their constituencies. Apart from Simuusa, the rest are very popular in their constituencies. How much votes will have been taken away from Lungu? Please note that PF won with just above 120,000 votes in 2011. Could this be the end of PF? Only time will tell, but I foresee some court documents being served on one or two individuals. It is about time Lungu started behaving like a lawyer instead of a drunkard associated with criminals and thugs. zambiareports/2014/12/01/end-pf/
Posted on: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 23:58:25 +0000