Sunday, November 10, 2024

Social media has facilitated firing President Lungu, can it facilitate his come back?

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By Venus N Msyani

President Edgar Chagwa Lungu decision to hand over power peacefully has raised likes on his Facebook posts.

It appeared would be a hard thing for president Lungu to hand over power peacefully to the opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema based on his about couple years ago prophecy.

“We will one day have a Tonga president but certainly not the current aspirant.” President Lungu prophesied back in 2019 while addressing journalist in Livingstone Southern Province.

He was referring to his main rival United Party for National Development (UPND) leader Hakainde Hichilema.

As the just ended August 12 election results were being announced by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) officials and Hichilema took a lead, president Lungu protested that the election was not free and fair.

He claimed that Patriotic Front (PF) votes were unprotected in three provinces, Southern, North Western, and Western Province because PF polling agents were brutalized and chased from polling stations in those provinces.

He incorporated the disturbing news to every Zambian into his claim: The brutal murder of his party North Western Province Chairman Jackson Kungo and one other person who were brutally killed after being suspected of trying to rig the election.

The claim brought worry to many people in the country as they thought president Lungu was trying to use the incidence to reject the will of the people and make sure that his prophecy come to pass.

It was not the case. President Lungu has decided to hand over power to president elect Hakainde Hichilema peacefully. In few days Hakainde will be sworn in as the seventh president of Zambia.

It is a smart decision for president Lungu and his Patriotic Front party as it appears to have won him trust among social media funs again.
Before election, president Lungu Facebook posts received an average of 2k likes per day. Now they receive an average of 100K likes per day. Where these likes are coming from is easy to guess.. From the very people who has just fired him.

For the first time in Zambia history, social media has facilitated firing a president, can it facilitate his come back?

Unfortunately, Zambia has no record of a come-back party. It will be a record breaking if it will start with the PF and good luck to president Edgar Lungu if looking for a come-back.

37 COMMENTS

  1. It was not the type of media that brought about Edgar China Lungu’s demise – it was the content. PF and his leader continuously were lying, fantasizing and hiding the truth – and clearly thought they were getting away with it; that the population would always believe what the government said. The outcome of the election has proven otherwise: Zambians clearly did not believe all the fairytales that ECL was talling them; that change was coming, that the economy was healthy, that the pandemic was a fluke, that the kwacha was strong and I can go on for another year. Social media was the transport – but the message was a lie. UPND spoke transpoarently, didn’t hide the truth even when it was bad but most of all wasn’t lying. As long as PF keeps on lying, and has leaders like ECL, GBM, CK,…

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  2. ……leaders like ECL, GBM, CK, DM, AM, EN, KZ etc. who don’t know what the truth looks like – they will only follow the MMD: race to the bottom. Good luck! NOT!

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  3. In Zambia most people make up their minds on who to vote for long before the campaigns begin. The youth whom Edgar ignored and are mostly on social media delivered the verdict on Lungu. The PF were counting on the rural vote, hence the early distribution of farming inputs and social cash transfer but those were just kicks of a dying horse. People were already decided

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  4. It was not social media alone but mainly the cost of living is too high. People resorted to patronizing social media platforms to give themselves hope and comfort of /for a better Zambia. Truth be told, Sata won elections because haters and lovers alike who did not want the Rupiah Banda Admin to continue put votes together to elect PF. Likewise, the tribal hate speech was a strong negative voice for which had the economy been better, President HH would have been in a tight race. But let us congratulate President Elect Mr Hakainde. Waba lighter mudala. We should never again have a leadership like PF in Zambia.

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  5. Well Done fellow citizens,the Zambia We Want remains a possibility,we can Hope and dream again.HOPE is back ,Hope is great thing,it keeps you going.
    We got rid of Edgar Chagwa Lungu and his PF CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE OF A GOVERNMENT.
    Let’s give HH and UPND the Time and Space to try and implement their promises.

    TIYENDE PAMODZI

    ONE ZAMBIA ONE NATION

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  6. A peaceful handover of power is a normal and ordinary thing to do, so someone should not get rewards for dong what they are supposed to do. It is a duty and responsibility to handover, it is not a gift to the people, it is an obligation

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  7. I have told you that upnd are a 1 term party if not less. They are clueless and their president lacks experience of any public office. Even tasila has more public office experience than the unkempt hair boy hh. Zambian are fascinated with change but this time they will realise it was biggest mistake they made. Why do you think I am not worried.

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  8. @Advocate…. true people shouldn’t expect awards for doing what they are obliged to do. They are actually being paid for the job so why thank them. Typical of us.

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  9. You don’t need social media to tell you that food is expensive, jobs are non-existent, do you? What about those without access to social media how did they decide to vote out the PF? Find something else to write about or don’t.

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  10. Mostly corrupt people and PF cader thugs liked lungu.

    No sane person would support that corrupt thieving moron lawyer.

    Good riddance.

    But I can guarantee you , if HH dangles the deal PLM gave to FJT to bring back 75 % of stolen money , he will be free ,

    lungu will take the deal…….lungu is a smart , clever theif.

    But zambia must demand he pays for his crimes.

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  11. Lazy Lungu is just that LAZY…not forgetting corrupt, inept an incompetent…he can never challenge for the position of PF President at a PF convention now he would be eaten alive even by the dull Bowman…Just look at how he shrunk in the presence of HH at RB’s house they had to tell him to come to front. He should never have been a President I said it 7 years ago that the man had zero leadership qualities. In 7 years he was in State House he never hosted a proper Q&A session like the one Hakainde had on Monday or a speech close to that…the bar has already be raised Lazy can £%$^ off back to Chawama

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  12. The Truth is Edgar Changwa Lungu and his Once Mighty PF lost the election the moment the infamous Bill No. 10 was defeated in Parliament and from that moment they tried to reinvent their strategies which kept on falling apart before implementation. This made them embark of wild geese chase or trying to grow hair on an egg. Their Media Team with the likes of Antonio Mwanza propaganda even caused more damage. Tribal talk by the Hired mercenaries in the names of GBM, Chishimba Kambwili, Kebby Mbewe an the dull SG Davies Mwila complicated matters for ECL. The insulting of the common men that “UTUPUBA”, telling off the voters that if the price of bread was high they should resort to eating Kandolo. The Forced 3rd Term for Lungu to contest was final insult to Zambians and their only hope was…

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  13. Let us not cheapen the smooth handing over of as “Normal” We are alive to the fact that in Africa sitting presidents do not do the normal thing – smooth handing over of power. We have seen coups and bloodshed elsewhere. Kudos to ECL for doing the normal things. Even doing the normal thing must be applauded. Winning soccer tournament is normal, so should we not celebrate ‘normal’.

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  14. You can bet your bottom dollar that Edgar China Lungu and all his PF government cronies are absolutely scrambling to loot all the money and resources that they not already stole in the last six years. And they have another seven days to do it! Look out for loaded vans leaving the ministries, the BoZ building, state house, parastatal offices etc.

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  15. It wasn’t social media who fired lungu. Zambians came to realize that he was a Headman for just a whole bunch of heartless pf thugs, murderers, tribalists & looters, despite his pretending to read the Bible

    He can never come back, pf is gone, Zambians are not *****s, they can never bring back criminals to rule them again

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  16. LUNGU HAD NO CHOICE BUT HAND OVER POWER
    SO PRAISING HIM FOR WHAT ??
    DOING WHAT IS NORMAL ??
    PF WILL GET A NEW LEARDER THAT IS A CERT

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  17. This was a normal protest vote by voters in the mainly urban constituencies. Southern,Western and North-Western provinces may in future vote differently as well.
    Welcome ba saa.

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  18. Coming back? Are there no other potential leaders in PF? This is an insult to Zambians. You cannot lose with such big margins and think about coming back. PF is not short of young leaders despite that it will be uphill battle as the brand PF is dented, It needs total rebranding but unfortunately there are characters in PF who will want to go back to the old way of doing things in their actions.

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  19. Don’t cheat yourselves that it was a normal handing over, the corrupt moron theif was not going to hand over power had HH won by 300,000 votes.

    He was going to try everything to overturn the people’s will , but close to a million people was too much for lungu…..

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  20. We need very few parties in the country. Three are enough. As we shall see, there will be very few new faces because we always recycle same people. If we have three parties we forbid crossing over so that we remain with originality . UPND has already lots of cross overs from other parties who want only employment and nothing else. Having 16 presidents stand is sheer waste of time and resources. Having parties like tuntemba is not healthy for the country. We need some stability and continuity. Social media played and will always play a very big role and it will become tough for everybody rulling and opposition parties too.

  21. LUNGU HAS GONE AND MUST STAY GONE.

    They will be NO COMEBACK we shall never go back to the PF era of CORRUPTION,ECONOMIC VANDALISM AND HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS.
    If Edgar Chagwa Lungu loves Zambia,he must help in returning the millions they Stole .

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  22. @Mutambo, winning a soccer tournament is not ordinary, it is extra-ordinary, that is why not everyone wins it. it needs extra ordinary effort. I also note that you are using a wrong yardstick or standard to measure Zambia. How do you start comparing Zambia to other African countries that have blood shed. The standard or yardstick you should use is that of developed countries and not developing countries. If you want to develop, then compare yourself to developed countries. If you want to perform well in class, use the best performing student (not the worst) as your standard for comparisons

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  23. Ruling parties in Zambia once they’re defeated never come back .There’s no comeback for Lungu or PF as political history is against them

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  24. It’s a new Zambia. It feels so good waking up in the morning knowing it’s no longer Lungu who is running the country for much long.

    That was a nightmare ride as a country we put ourselves in and may we never be conned, ever again.

  25. Kaizer Zulu is very visible on social media and right on this platform. It is time we start talking about his crimes and time for accountability. The UPND promises law and order. So let’s talk about assault witnessesed by this thug Kaizer Zulu. Here is one article *** google kaizer-zulu-beats-up-another-person***
    Just because President HH talked about forgiving others, I don’t think he meant people who committed crimes by beating up others shouldn’t face prosecution. The charges leveled against Kaizer for assault of another human being should not be tolerated. He needs to be investigated and arrrested. If he is not guilty if this crime then we leave him alone but thug behaviors cannot be tolerated and he has already come on this platform trying to start noise. We…

  26. PF were the ones claiming HH is only popular on social media and not on the ground. I wonder what they have to say now.

  27. I am surprised people are praising Lungu for agreeing to hand over power smoothly. I mean the punk has no choice but to hand over the instruments of power! He has been kicked out of office. Kudos to the patient and long suffering people of Zambia who ensured the thieving PF and its clueless alcoholic thug president is no longer farting around state house. These are the heroes! The thug wasn’t prepared to handover peacefully, but the overwhelming defeat plus the many voices that shouted at him to concede did the job! So don’t treat him as if he did us a favor!

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  28. PF is the worst party to have ruled Zambia. UPND are yet to prove their worth. PF is dead and buried without any hope of resurrection. The best thing that has ever happened to Zambia is getting rid of this disastrous party. Even the MMD was better

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  29. Njala has nothing to do with social media. What about the suffering masses in the rural areas of Zambia was that social media – no. These guys created hungry people so that they can praise them when they take a kaunga that they had stolen from the very people through stealing from the government. They made people hungry so that when they give a kaunga people should think these are good guys when in fact not.
    These PF thugs are gone for good – never to come back – never. There is no party that has ruled Zambia that has managed to come back never. I would be sad if the PF thugs can manage to come back. People like Nawakwi, GBM, Kaiser Zulu, Anthony Mwanza, Lusambo, Chishimba Kambwili, Kebby Mbewe and the dull SG Davies Mwila, Nkhandwe Luo (list is endless) complicated matters for Lungu…

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