By Sunday Chanda
I have known Anthony Mukwita for a lot of things in Zambian media starting from being an innovative journalist that could push the envelope and create some of the sauciest newspaper headlines to being an academic and a consummate diplomat.
Today, however, I feel he has redefined himself to perhaps being one of the bravest novelists and documentarists Zambia has had in recent history.
I base my opinion on his depiction of former vice President Guy Scott in the thrilling political book Against all Odds-President Edgar Chagwa Lungu’s Rough Journey to State House.
In this book, the author exposes the man we know today as Guy Scott in a shade previously unknown. A political villain of sorts.
Mukwita cleverly shows the immensely divisive role, Dr Scott played in the 2015 Presidential election following President Michael Chilufya Sata’s death on 28th October 2014 and his open contempt for Edgar Lungu esq.
The author doesn’t miss out the messy and hasty plan to grab power from a hapless Edgar Lungu who was then the rightful and legal acting President of Zambia.
I note with interest, the dimension by the author emphasizing that Acting President Edgar Lungu was holding onto the instruments of power from the Scott camp.
Maybe the author should have probed further whether the “forceful” transfer of power the next morning after President Sata death was above board or not. Maybe in his revised edition, Mukwita would answer some ‘mystery’ questions: did the Attorney General at the time Musa Mwenye and former Vice President Guy Scott abrogate the law as per Article 36 of the 1996 Constitution?
Did the Constitution at the time permit for the acting President to cease performing the functions of President without being informed by the Speaker of the substantive President’s return?
Was there any provision in the law providing for the handing over of power by the acting President to anyone else apart from either the substantive President or indeed an elected President?
This was crucial to dissect because when late President Michael Sata left the country for the United Kingdom, the nation was informed that he was going for a routine medical check.
Clearly under that law, President Sata left the country under the then Article 39 (1) of the Constitution of the Republic of Zambia which deals with Discharge of functions of President during absence, illness etc.
Under this provision, the Acting President could only hand over the instruments of power upon the return of the President, or upon the election of a substantive President.
It did not provide for anywhere that the instruments of power shall be handled to another Acting President.
The question which this great book should ask is what happened to the law on that particular morning? Was it breached?
Lungu wakes up to the fact that not everyone in the PF is his friend in a section the author calls ‘The Candidate and the frenemies’ and alas Scott leads the pack of the ‘United Hates of Edgar Chagwa Lungu.’
Absent in the book in my view are the reasons for Scott’s immense dislike for Edgar Lungu whose reluctant ambition to go to State House are to use Mukwita’s lucid description ‘monkey-wrenched’ at each turn with apparent glee by Scott and friends.
This starts from Scott insisting that the broke ruling party must hold a convention for Lungu to contest against nine other internal ‘enemies’ even as opposition maestro HH stocked up on political canons and dug holes around the PF.
Edgar Lungu was standing on quick sand but Scott kept hitting at him including firing him from the position of General Secretary President Sata stripped of Wynter Kabimba and bestowed onto him (Lungu.)
The author also shows Scott’s immense hatred for Lungu when the estranged vice President also writes the Chief Justice to stop Lungu from filing in papers as the candidate of the ruling PF.
As you read Mukwita’s page turner, you wonder when Scott is going ease the heat on Edgar Lungu who has now gained a huge national following but alas Scott like a restless ghost keeps stealing Lungu’s sunshine right to the very end of the election relentlessly according to the book.
At the end of the book, you ask yourself some questions?
Why did Scott get out of his way to stop Lungu from being the PF president and indeed president of Zambia?
Would Scott have gone to similar breaths and lengths to stop Wynter Kabimba if he had been the one acting President?
Was Scott’s resentment exclusively for the man of the people from Chawama and Chimwemwe—Edgar Lungu?
In great pieces of literature I have read and reviewed during my university days, there often is a villain and a protagonist to keep the story running.
Author Anthony Mukwita passes this literature test by show-casing Scott as the arch-villain.
You must be familiar with villains such as Shere Khan from The Jungle Book stories by Rudyard Kipling? If you are, you will recall that Shere Khan’s sole purpose in life was to lure the innocent boy Mowgli and eat him up.
Or perhaps you recall O’Brien from ‘1984’ the dystopian novella by the celebrated George Orwell.
O’Brien is a cynical and intelligent villain perhaps remembered more for the quote: “One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.”
It is all about the villain and the protagonists in the examples I have given above as much as it is in Against all Odds (The Good Guys and the Bad Guys) which sometimes I think should have been the battle between Edgar Lungu and Guy Scott.
Anyhow, Mukwita makes my day, as a reader who followed the events leading to President Lungu’s election closely, so therefore I believe I speak for many readers when I say the “evil dude hit parade of literature” could not be complete in Against all Odds-President Edgar Lungu’s Rough Journey to State House if the author neglected to show the deeply divisive role Scott played and his immense hatred for Lungu.
Read the book and you will learn a lot on how to tell a story and create a plot within a plot if you are an aspiring writer.
If you are a historian, here is a piece of history set in modern Zambian times waiting to be peer reviewed.
At the end of the book, I ask again, “why did Scott play super villain against Edgar Lungu?”
Perhaps, the author Mukwita will tell us more about that in another book.
For now, I close the end page with a sigh of relief that the protagonist, the man fired and re-hired Edgar Lungu gets sworn in as President of Zambia against all odds on 25th January 2015 and proceeds to clinch his first full five year term in 2016. The stone that Scott had refused becomes the head corner stone.
I also observe that Mukwita doesn’t lose sight of the positive role Scott played in getting PF into office with his friend President Sata, before he turned rogue that is. This is commendable.
Against all Odds is a captivating book I would not hesitate to endorse while Mukwita tells the story like no other author can in my view.
The Author has a law degree University of Lusaka and has written broadly locally and internationally on various socio politico economic and legal issues. He has worked as Programme Development Manager, Centre for Leadership Development, University of Pretoria; Programme Development Manager, Afrika Leadership Development Institute, Pretoria, South Africa (a multi-university initiative); He also holds a Certificate in Asset Based Community Development from St. Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Mr Chanda is a local pundit who at the time of review was pursuing a Master of Science in Project Management with University of Lusaka.
Book details
Publisher: Partridge
Author: Anthony Mukwita
Pages: 175
Formats: Hard cover, Soft Cover and e-books
Available: Bookworld Zambia, Amazon and Exclusive Books South Africa
Language: English
Genre: Political, biographical and thriller.
Who is selling this book,is there a ISBN Nr.?
Scott is twice the man the author and Lungu would ever be.
With him PF was born and bred.
Thanks
BB2014,16
True @Mushota. But he (Scott) turned ROGUE, like the book says!
Chanda sounds like the usual PF junk!! Trying to sale useless spam book. Kiss Mukwita balls, maybe he help you get diplomatic job.
Thank Scott for creating PF for you.
Anthony Mukwita’s book about visionless Lungu is a one sided & half baked story trying to paint doctor Guy Scott as a black corset with the now violent, confused & anarchist PF.
Mukwita is pleasing his visionless paymaster after blind Lungu with the use of lifting hands, pangas & axes, forced himself on the PF presidency. Dr Scott organised PF democratic elections, but to Scott’s shock, Dagama’s bandits like Nsanda etc “anointed” Lungu with machetes.
More brown envelopes for conifer Anthony quicksilver. Dr Scott is second best former president of Zambia after Dr Mwanawasa.
The Skeleton Key
~206~
The Skeleton Key
~206~
Typical PF and Lungu Puppets, sometimes, its better to stay quite than write to be embarrassed. what ever goes up will come down, so know that Lungu is nothing different to every other Zambian president we had. Using emotions to divide the community is not good. Guy Scottt is not a bad man as you wrote.. so write facts than Over- Exaggerating
Nothing brave about the author for writing about the dark side of a former vice president.
Ba Sunday Chanda mulibe vokamba. Cant you see this is a bootlicking book meant to please Lungu?
That book only making noise among pf cadres.
Against All Zambians is a better title
How much is it at bookworld Zambia?
Come to think of it Scott was right about Lazy Lungu as there is absolutely nothing the bum has done since he came into power corruption has increased.
Simply look at that drunkard in that photo!!
How am I to respect an article which has the word ‘thing’ in its very first sentence. Sunday Chanda….please!
No one will read the book after Lungu finishes his term. If Lungu does not control his cadres and his PF police force he will go in the history of zambia as a terrible president. Already he has taken Zambia back to KK days where people were afraid to speak up for fear of shushushi. What he needs is fire Kaizer and this boy Kamba should be locked up for threatening violence.
I agree with mushota 100%. Guy scott is twice the man that Lungu and the author actually is.
If Sata was to wake up from his grave he would be very sadenned to see Guy scott out of PF. Without Guy scott and Sata there would be no PF today
PF was made popular by Michael Sata. Guy Scott was made popular by Michael Sata, without Sata, Scott failed to inspire the PF following and that is why they abandoned him!! Did it occur to you that when president, Michael Sata NEVER left Scott as acting president even though he was republican vice president?? But towards his death he trusted one Edgar Chagwa Lungu with that responsibility on more than one occasions?? Sata fired Winter Kabimba and bestowed extra responsibiltiy on ECL not Scott. Zambians at large ACCEPETD ECL on a very short period of time-so Guy Scott is a lost cause while ECL is Zambia’s modern day success story who was chosen by Sata himself!! History will teach our children of the triumphs of ECL not the failures of Scott!!
I wish you knew the low opininon some of us had of your so called Sata.He is the worst disaster ever to afflict your nation and you and your children,and your children’s children will pay dearly for putting an illiterate in State House.
@mailon: your opinion is insignificant because the majority of Zambians voted for Michael Sata and the PF and continuously REJECTED the tribalist hh!!Illiterate or not, Michael Chilufya Sata is a son of the soil who moved political mountains and swept into state house-a privilege the super-educated and rich hh will NEVER have!! GOD BLESS MOTHER ZAMBIA.
Zambian Citizen
You honestly think Scott political career started in PF…really laughable!!
@mailon, I wholeheartedly share your sentiments
The UPND rally must go ahead in Kanyama. We are in a democracy, everybody has a right to choose which ever medium they want to address their supporters. Zambia is not in a state of Emergency and therefore the Police have got ABSOLUTELY NO powers to stop a rally. The President must be the first to scream at the Police for this nonsense. I have no faith in both the PF and UPND, but the police must be CIVILISED and stop this stone age tactics for a party that wants to advance its party programmes.
Kiki asigai mow you trying to make it look like you are not the same person by posting pro upnd comments under that chi ugly flag kiki you must be deprived of attention
Walasa mune ninshibatinina?UPND is a party of ALL Zambians as well as PF.We don’t want baka………. to be one sided pliz.
Guy Scott stood for the truth and wanted the law followed to the last letter. But the lazy ray and his minions wanted short cut to state house. Rules are there to be followed but this chawama drunkard sees rules as irrelevant. That is why he is controlling every aspect of government. He will die soon
You and HH believe someone should die.
This book by Anthony Mukwita is good but the timing is wrong. I say the timing is wrong because none of us know how the ending of Edgar Lungu will be.It should have been written after Edgar leaves office. What if he(Edgar)ends up in jail(but I don’t wish that to happen)?Then what? Is Anthony going to write another book about Edgar? If he had written a book about Rupiah Banda or even the late Michael Sata, it could have made a lot of sense.
Why should Lungu end up in jail. This tendency of harrassment of former leaders is just a way of hiding failure to full fill campaign promises. Get on with life and don’t feed on dead animals, kill your own fresh animal to feed on.
That’s politics my friend. Who murdered Julius Caesar? Brutus his friend. Who torpedoed Trump ‘s replacement of Obamacare? Of course his own GOP. A weakling cannot make it politically particularly here in untamed Africa. You’ve to be ruthless.
Lootless with who, are you normal?
You’re not making sense. Rewrite the posting.
Politics is not owned by any single person….its open to everyone …but the set rules must followed to have descence ……during that period they ignored the set rules…….
A wise man will not always response to accusations,but simply smile and move on to issues that matter
Dr. Scott,
Understands tabloids.
Guy Scott followed the law to the letter he didn’t want to leave a legacy where PF would go to the pits. 1. The constitution at the time was clear on who would lead once the President passed on. 2. The PF constitution albeit hastily written by Bob Symb ECL friend also spoke about a convention for a party president to be picked, but it was confusing also because it spoke about the party chair assuming office which would mean Wina….3. He refused to allow ECL to use state resources to campaign as this is against the law. In the end two camps emerged they bickered and at that time this party was beatable. As usual we took wrong turns, picking fights with the wrong people, make shallow and hollow statements…the list goes on! 2021 ZambFo
“….3. He refused to allow ECL to use state resources to campaign as this is against the law…” but Edgar Lungu still beat HH to become Zambia’s sixth republican president. Isn’t it ironic??
I was Mukwita’s classmate between grades 4 and seven. his father was a resident lecturer in Mansa at the time. The ***** has not changed a bit. Opportunistic as usual and bent on peddling lies and half truths founded on his small brain and ego. While Scott was also foolish, he deserves some hearing. Mukwita elected never to interview Scott.
I’m keen on reading the book but it doesn’t have an ending yet … Lungu might end up the villain, who knows? Or is there a twist with Bowman Lusambo staging a political masterstroke?
that’s what happens when someone is paid to write a book to push someone’s agenda
Mukwita is a civil servant who is expected to be neutral. Writing a political book is against the civil servant code of conduct. Imagine I write a book on Muliokela claiming Muliokela should have been President had it not been the Presidential nomination fees. What could have happened to me?
Imagine if you write a book about GBM whilst working for GRZ…this is totally wrong
Who takes Mukwita seriously? This guy used to drink from the FROG and us who know him well , he is just working for his belly. Ba Chanda is also just working for his belly , he used to be a MONK at campus and had no courage to even speak to a beautiful October UNZA girl. Dr Scott needs respect and he is paramount. Believe it or not , his association with Michael and PF made it possible for PF to form govt. Behind the sceans, the british through Dr Scott, helped PF unsurp power from the once MIGHTY MMD. Hands off Dr Scott you guys who just want to be in good books with Ba Edgar LUNGU for the sake of of your bellies.!!!!!
…hmmm, I wonder why Scotty boy never did the same for UPND and hh if you say his association with Sata made it possible for PF to form govt?? then if Anthony Mukwita used to drink at the frog, who cares? that’s his private life and Sunday Chanda not speaking to a girl: honestly a grown man like you speaking about teenage rubbish?? C’mon man!!
Guy Scott was never a pillar in PF as people want to lie. In 2001 when Sata formed PF, Scott was in Lima Party, the party he started with Ben Kapita. Scott only joined PF many years later when it was already made popular by the Cobra and the likes of Kambwili. If was sometime in 2006 when Scott joined PF.
@ Ichi nyamu nyamu; Scott was the one used by the late Micheal Sata to go around to kneel before chiefs etc to beg for votes; so saying Scott did play a very important role in the Sata administrations;
That is rubbish @ Ichi Nyamu Nyamu, Scott was campaigning hard for PF even in 2004 while Lungu was lying drunk in a bar in Kalingalinga – Lungu was never seen campaigning for PF probably due to being too damn lazy and too damn drunk. Check your facts or ZNBC footage from 2004. And not to mention Guy Scott campaigning with Michael Sata in 1991 – where was Edgar at that time?
I look forward to getting a copy of this book, but there are still so many untold stories. May be Sunday hasn’t just addressed them. I am particularly interested in knowing the role militias played. Who killed who, and why they haven’t been prosecuted, people died even when MCS was still alive. On whose side was the Sata family? Miles Sampa? Christine Kaseba? Mulenga Sata? There’s no doubt that Guy Scott ruled Zambia for the period of the transition, thanks to the CARTEL. Scott didn’t qualify to be president, not even in an acting capacity. We should have listened to George Kunda
Forget about this SH.IT of an insincere and immature book by a desperate PF cadre called Anthony Mukwita.
Mukwita deliberately decided NOT to say anything about how a Commander of the Armed Forces intimidated Guy Scott which in itself was not only unfair to Guy but to the country at large. How about the raising of Pangas at Mulungushi?
I personally await a book yet to be written by Mmembe on the Emergency of Rupiah Banda; How Lungu made US$35 million for himself in 18 months in a poor country like Zambia; How the rule of law quickly degenerated in Lungu with Deaths of Mapenzi and the ZAF Officer being never properly investigated – actually Lungu should go to ICC for the death of Mapenzi; Also bout the TRUTH about 2016 Election petition that Lungu refused to be heard; etc a list of…
….contd
etc a list of EVILS and Atrocities committed by the DRUNKARD are yet to be told by another story teller.
So mother fcking Ar.se licking imbe.ciles like Sunday Chanda and Anthony Mukwita should NOT yet celebrate as the worst of Lungu is still coming!!
Mr Chanda should not lie. The late Sata never transferred instruments of power to anyone acting in his absence. He delegated some powers. Even when another person was acting Dr Scott chaired Cabinet meetings in the absence of President Sata. Dr Scott became acting President by operation of the Law. If Mukwita read widely he could have come across opinions that were given to President Sata on the eligibility of Dr Scott to Act as President. Even when Mwanawasa died it was George Mpombo who had been left as acting President but by operation of Law Rupiah became acting President.
The truth of the PF power struggle will one day come out!
sunday whoo
Sunday Chanda sounds like a sychophant.
I cant waste my money buying such a nonsensical book. There are so many better novels that one can buy; The Testament, Associate and many more. Guy Scot is a great man. Lungu is an opportunist who cares only for himself and uses people like Sunday Chande who are milking from his Presidency. Edgar Lungu will cry when power runs away from him because all those pretenders will run away from him
…and these are people we can trust with power ladies and gentlemen. As long as issues suit their narrow view of things it is alright. NO WONDER THE MAJORITY 7 PROVINCES SAID NO TO THEM!!!
My money buys better things including good books.
This is useless article and useless book
I couldn’t read beyond the first paragraph… Disgusting…
At the end of the match, history is history – Chanda and Mukwita are non entities like their self-serving opportunist leaders ECL and RB. That’s history, not an opinion
@Nosedimus, you sound like a UPND loser!
Ok we’re buying the book. Sounds like a good read, with a dastardly central character given his comeuppance!
i agree with Mailon. the worst regret i have is having voted for SATA and PF. the so called development has put us in heavy debt. Trust me time will come wen Zambians will turn against the PF. Look at Zuma! The chap is in trouble due to humble education. same applies to SATA(mhsrip).