A thieving president, lessons from Chiluba case (analysis)

By Staff reporter

Isn’t it confusing and perhaps unbelievable that Chishimba Kambwili can’t be arrested for consistently calling the head of State of Zambia, Edgar Chagwa Lungu a thief when protagonists vehemently defend him as an honest, humble man?

Kambwili, the former minister of information in the Patriotic Front government until he fell out of favour under President Lungu, has been bringing out issues or publicly announcing Lungu’s involvement in illegal and corrupt dealings. President Lungu denied the allegations at the United Nations General Assembly in September saying he was committed to fighting corruption in the country. But the people want explicit answers to specific issues Kambwili has raised which include Lungu’s acquisition of wealth not commensurate to his legitimate income.

In 2015 when Lungu first contested the presidency following the death of his predecessor, Michael Sata, he was only worth K10.9 million. Fifteen months later, during the last elections in 2016 president Lungu made a declaration of K23.7 million. Lungu’s critics questioned what business would have earned such leap in wealth acquisition.

Perhaps President Lungu has some lessons to learn from Chiluba’s case of defamation against his former finance minister Edith Nawakwi.

Late president Frederick Chiluba whose corruption had become endemic once challenged, using provisions of the constitution, caused the arrest of opposition political leaders Nawakwi, Dipak Patel and journalists Fred Mmembe and Bivan Saluseki for defamation of the president. Nawakwi and Patel publicly called Chiluba a thief while editor of the independent newspaper M’membe and then senior reporter Saluseki were alleged to have caused the publication of an article that accused Chiluba of looting government coffers to his personal and those of his friends’ benefits.

Chiluba in his naivety believed that his theft would not be revealed but following the court process that he had instigated but to his surprise, a lot of thieving revelations including the infamous State intelligence account, ZAMTROP were uncovered. The revelations brought out some of the details on how Chiluba, his family and friends including the Chief Justice for Zambia then, Mathew Ngulube being implicated in one of the most oudious financial scandals against the citizenry. The records and evidence presented in the courts of law exposed Chiluba’s shoddy dealings over many years. The case led to several revelations, which were difficult to defend. The case was eventually dismissed by the courts but it left Chiluba with a burden to prove that he was not a thief all the way to his grave.

We all remember that Nawakwi only dared Chiluba once at a public rally in Kabwe where she was pursued as a common criminal for calling the head of state a criminal. Nawakwi’s life was threatened by security wings of government, particularly when she made the pronouncement at a public meeting in Kabwe. A team of police and intelligence officers chased after Nawakwi as she was heading back to Lusaka but she managed to elude them in some bushes about 10 kilometres outside Kabwe town.

That is besides the point, but Kambwili has consistently called Lungu a thief the past few months since his dismissal from the PF, a decision he called irrational and has since challenged it. Earlier this year, Kambwili in his own words said: “President Lungu is corrupt and there is no way we can be beating about the bush. The man is corrupt and is not fit to be a head of State. If telling him that he is corrupt is an insult, I’m 100 per cent guilty and come and arrest me. If you are corrupt, we’ll not call you humble man [because] there is no humbleness in stealing. Mwakubelaminafye mulya ati (it’s just a hiding place) humble. Whoever says President Lungu is a humble leader is being economical with the truth! Lungu is corrupt.”

Perhaps Lungu is smarter than Chiluba by deciding not to challenge Kambwili to a myriad of accusations and claims that he has made so far. It is hard to believe that Kambwili who has been challenged to provide evidence of graft by the people he has termed ‘toothless dogs’ is still walking the streets a free man. Maybe that’s not the point but that President Lungu should at least respond to the accusations with more honest and convincing answers to the questions that Kambwili is raising and continues to bring out.

The Roan member of parliament seems to be ready for a show down but the defending or is it the loosing champion folding his arms for the future fight when the playing field is level?

Shall Lungu survive the onslaught launched by his former ally and defender of his deeds and those of his government? However Lungu has proved to posses capacity to deal with those who threaten his hold to power, whether he chooses the legal or gastapo ways of doing things. Remember the story of the closure of Post Newspapers Limited where he used a bunch of his crooked friends to annihilate the company!

Kambwili should not be too excited by challenging Lungu without him responding because even in the case of Post newspapers, to his friends and supporters it was not closed by him but by “its debts” which remain challenged in the courts of law to date. Despite the matters challenging the seizure and liquidation of Post Newspapers Limited still very active in courts of law, Lungu’s agents have gone ahead to sell the assets of the company.

Kambwili’s challenge to President Lungu might not be resolved by the courts of law but he likely is going to meet his fate for exposing things that put the president in bad light with the general public.