Thursday, March 28, 2024

Why Edgar Lungu must be stripped of immunity; a case for ridding our civil service of rampant corruption

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Prince Bill M. Kaping’a Political/Social Analyst

Quiet lately, there’s been a crescendo of calls to have Edgar Lungu stripped of his immunity so that he can have his own day in court to account for some of his deeds or misdeeds whilst in office as Republican President.

There are still a myriad of questions that beg express answers – the gassing fiasco, burning down of markets, procurement of fire tenders and ambulances at inflated prices, contracting construction of roads at exaggerated prices, the mukula tree scandal, 48 miracle houses, theft of millions of dollars at KCM, ransacking of our GOLD at Kasenseli mine, failure to hand over power to the speaker, hounding out people from civil service in so called national interest…..of course the list goes on and on.

If the investigative wings were to start sniffing around today for any transgressions of those in the previous administration, we wouldn’t be shocked if the trail of investigations pointed to the previous occupant of Plot # 1 Independence Avenue since the buck stopped at him as former President and commander of armed forces! How is Lungu expected to be questioned when he’s still clothed in the bullet proof of immunity from public prosecution?

Lungu mustn’t be allowed to escape being probed for any atrocities he committed while in office to serve as a warning to the incumbent President and indeed those who are yet to come. In case we’ve forgotten, Lungu stepped up on a podium at Heroes Stadium and proceeded to raise the Bible aloft and solemnly swore to protect and defend the constitution of the Republic of Zambia. If overwhelming evidence exists that he somehow breached the constitution in any ways, he must be held accountable, pronto!

One of the pitfalls we keep on suffering as a nation, is our inherent inability to make our former leaders account for their misconduct whilst in office. The danger of such failure is that we seem to give tacit approval to politicians, be it Presidents and ministers alike, to dip their magnetic hands into our coffers knowing that their SINS would easily be forgiven once booted-out of office in the spirit of national reconciliation. What nonsense!

When MMD lost power to PF for instance, some of the ministers notorious for ‘nchekelemo’ in the previous regime crept into PF before the dragnet could set in. They were duly awarded with lofty positions as ministers! Those who had active cases before the courts like ‘balya bamayo’ even had their court cases expunged from the roll.

Since it is part of their DNA, we have no doubt these characters had little trouble continuing on the same trajectory of looting our treasury. What do you make of their magical accumulation of wealth when the economy was virtually in a coma – awe-inspiring double-storied mansions here and there, impressive fleets of vehicles in their backyards and putting their kids in business class to attend elite schools and universities abroad!

Some of them even had the audacity to mock the Kaunda children for remaining poor when actually their father was Republican President. They went on to brag that a couple of thousands of Kwachas was nothing to them, but pocket money which they easily gifted their children without any qualms about it.

Now that PF has lost power to UPND, we hear they are plotting to sneak into the ruling party when no one is looking……well, if they haven’t already done so! Here’s our warning to them: please, stay right where you are and wait for DEC, ACC or the police to come knocking on your doors!

As for ba Edgar Lungu, there are no two ways about it…….his immunity must be lifted with lightning speed so that he can account for his conduct in office or lack of it thereof. Chapwa!

41 COMMENTS

  1. Malabish! first write about why presidential immunity was created in the first place before you start ranting about useless things. Why do you people hate yourselves so much? you find all sorts of excuses for the real thieves robbing you daily with your eyes open wide. Go and find the real thieves stealing your copper, gold, emeralds, timber and land before asking to spend valuable tax payers money on petty issues. President Lungu may have his gremlins but the man has still left us with a country so with all due respect, leave the man alone. What did you gain with the removal of the other former presidents? why ukachepa so? let the authorities do their work. You just want to satisfy your fetish disorder by watching the harassment of a former head of state.

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  2. We told you back in 2015 you cannot let a tujirijiri stinking vendor go into plot 1 now look at the damage his caused ‘irreparable’,,,, and if you look at him now he looks pathetic what more will happen to his deteriorating looks if you lift his immunity… the best thing is to turn him into a state witness since he knows the criminals he was shielding…

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  3. Analyzing Prince Bill M. Kaping’a writing

    It doesn’t take long to see the exact moment Bill switches from natural gas to solar power. You’re so obsessed with Edgar as in orgies. You call yourself a Political Analyst suffice the opposite describes your situation. Your analysis is so toxic because it’s targeted at one individual. Redesign the scope of your work, come up with something touching on various political topics, not just one fixated at Edgar.

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  4. #2  FutureZed 
    September 19, 2021 At 8:37 am

    “President Lungu may have his gremlins but the man has still left us with a country so with all due respect, leave the man alone…….”

    Ati he left us with a country……..?

    For crying out loud , that was his job……

    At a farm where farm produce goes missing , that’s like saying leave the farm manger alone because he looks after the farm !!

    Lungu must be stripped of his imunity ……

    if he is not a proven theif , he will be left alone……

    Just his $2.3 million in office after 18 months is enough to kick start investigations…….

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  5. Ba kaping’a, what kind of political analyst are you? Just full of hatred for ECL. Anyway, going by your previous useless articles, we cannot expect any better from you. ECL has announced his retirement, why don’t you leave him alone? Don’t forget that soon, people will start reacting to your treatment of the former president. You don’t hold absolute power to do as you wish, remember that.
    What specific charges have been brought against ECL by investigative wings that warrant removal of immunity?
    Kaping’a, you are a miserable and hateful person masquerading as a scholer and researcher.

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  6. Yeah strip him and imprison him and see where that takes you so called prince. Whatever royal family you come from should be ashamed of you for your hatred for this man. He may have stolen and as usual time will catch up with him. But at the moment what we need is the full fillment of your party’s promises.

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  7. Great article! Yes,Lungu should have his immunity removed so that he can be investigated.

    Those against removal of his immunity either were directly involved in the looting or have criminal relatives who stole massively. They have no shame,these evil & heartless criminals!

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  8. The down side of freedom of speech is articles like this. You think being a political analyst is taking stories from the streets and sharing them online. The same way the 48 houses have now being established to belong to the nephew of our current finance minister is what will happen even with all those issues you mentioned. The first minister HH appointed was the man incharge of the treasury when RB and his sons were doing the same things you are claiming ECL did. Your current health minister was the minister incharge of the procuring of the manda mandas at the inflated price. Mr Mutati was finance minister in PF you are saying were stealing. I used to think UPND supporters are intelligent. Right before you within less than a month, Bally has fixed you. Kikiki. Ati fighting corruption…

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  9. Its shocking that Mr Mutati, Ms Masebo, Mr Situmbeko can get ministerial positions ahead of Cornelius. Someone who was fighting these same guys when they were in the MMD and PF government. Mwiitwa will be begging these ministers to help him in southern province regarding issues related to their respective ministries. This world. Its shocking that UPND supporters have supported this including someone who was a finance minister in the previous government you are claiming they were just stealing money. Awe bane tontonkanyeni bwino. Kwambafye nama bundu.

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  10. Where suspicion exists, investigations can begin even against Edgar Lungu. There should be no excitement or rush to lift immunity because the situation requires solid evidence. There are many things about which Edgar Lungu can be asked to explain and these range from harmless things such as how certain things should be handled to avoid harm to Zambia. It’s not just those that can take him to court to answer charges.

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  11. If you are going to strip him off his immunity you will have to find his fingerprints at the crime scene meaning you will need a water tight case with concrete evidence and witnesses. You can not talk about stripping a President’s immunity based on rumour mongery …I dont have faith in our investigative wings to undertake such a case just look at how they messed up FTJ case, they need assistance and training. We have not arrested any of his ministers they are still walking freely and you are talking about capturing the King on the chessboard.

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  12. @SPAKA, you are one hell of a deranged person and quite frankly I have no time to engage in any discussion with you until you drop your fetish with hate. I’m sure you get a kick from it possibly through surfing certain adult websites. Your accusations are based on your personal opinions and assumptions, no facts at all. ZP all the way. Zabwino Palibe!

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  13. Stripping immunity of ECL is a big step and should be given considered review. Chiluba was found guilty but the issue of registering the case in Zambian Courts was bungled by RB – the start of grand scale corruption in Zambia. Chiluba frustrated the court process with perennial visits to a clinic in South Africa every time case came up. His condition, however, got better immediately RB became President.

    ECL should be in the fire front to want his immunity removed and be investigated. We can have that silly arrangement they made with RB restoring his immunity. The craziness of these people! In any case we need immunity of the office not person. Once a President is out of office should be be liable for civil and criminal activities. But we have no belief in our Courts hence immunity…

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  14. Presidential immunity is for the LEGAL exercise of a Presidents duties and Constitutional responsibilities while in office!

    No way does it cover Criminal acts committed by the abuse of those powers.

    That would simply be giving a free licence to thieves and murderers, knowing they can do as they want and never face Justice!

    If there are allegations, they must be investigated. If Criminality is found, they must be arrested and put on trial. Zambia cannot afford, and does not need, a lawless situation where crimes against the People of Zambia are left unpunished. That is a recipe for complete DISASTER!

  15. Deja Vu – The habit of corruption is retrogressive …the likes of Lazy Lungu tolerated it because previous presidents got away with it. Only someone with a corrupt mind can come up with such statements and for you to quote says a lot about you.

  16. WE are hearing of papers and data being erased in Ministry of Lands …these are serious crimes why are they not calling the former minster and the PS for questioning?

  17. Nemwine – Yes he was guilty but someone used that to blackmail him on condition he retires indefinitely from politics!!

  18. Those calling for immunity removal of the former president, why do you want this done before gathering your facts for the crimes committed? So far the issues brought up are petty and possibly incriminating to some of the members of the ruling party. We warned UPND for setting a very bad precedence during their time as opposition and it looks like that behaviour has been amplified even more as the rulling party. The former president should be innocent until proven guilty, isn’t that what you called a free and fair system?

  19. Let me make myself clear, investigations against Edgar Lungu can begin immediately if there’s suspicion, and of course there is. He can even be questioned but wht cannot be done is to drag him to court. And if he’s questioned, he choose to refuse to answer or he can choose to answer and explain. He was after all an executive president and not a ceremonial one. That means that he was making decisions.

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  20. The writer of this article is either inclined to Southern , North Western And Western province.I have noticed that these ethics groups are very bitter and they will never change. Upnd won elections but surprisingly they still behaving like they are in opposition. This politics of tribal bitterness is very bad especially to our next generations.

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  21. #16  FutureZed 
    September 19, 2021 At 11:21 am

    “@SPAKA, you are one hell of a deranged person and quite frankly I have no time to engage in any discussion with you until you drop your fetish with hate. I’m sure you get a kick from it possibly through surfing certain adult websites. Your accusations are based on your personal opinions and assumptions, no facts at all. ZP all the way. Zabwino Palibe!….”

    Your father must have been a pervert to make you from your Chinama mother…

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  22. @Mr.P What has Edgar Lungu’s stripping of immunity got to do with ethnic groups? Stop inciting tribalism! Since when did these regions ever been PF strongholds? In fact the PF owes the people of these regions an apology for their reckless behaviour. You shouldn’t accuse people of tribalism if you fail to convince them to vote for you. Stop the nonsense and I hope LT will delete that post.

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  23. I want his marital immunity stripped. I’ve heard too much of the suffering of mama Esther. She needs to purge her heart of pain.

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  24. He ruled and still rules in some people’s mind.
    I remember the hate that was directed towards FTJ. It didn’t help.
    But like Tarino has pointed out, on flimzy grounds and a weak prosecution team you will touch the ground. Kabinga kapi’nga is like a flea on underlying belly of a wild dog.

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  25. #21 Tarino that as it may be, the point is that it’s become theme to plan an arrest of sitting president. I said if he stole let him face the music. What is wrong is to spend time to find cases so that you can realize your wishes to “revenge” . Today people including known thieves are busy posting unsubstantiated reports on social media just to drive a point…..

  26. Get back kasaka ka ndalama n put it where it belongs…$ US 24 million can go a long way….it’s more than enough for the whole country of 18 million to be millionaires.

  27. It has become a fashion in Zambia to arrest or impeach former presidents. It happened to KK, Chiluba and RB and now some bloggers want to add ECL to the list. When will this nonsense ever end? Where did the arrest or impeachment of the three former Heads of State take us to? How did the nation benefit from such measures ultimately? For goodness sake, if you have concrete evidence that can stand in court that ECL was involved in grand corruption, why not submit such evidence to the police or other law-enforcement agencies for action instead of just yapping? The hatred that some of the bloggers here have for ECL is extremely shocking. You don’t hate a fellow human being like that, especially when you profess to be a Christian.

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  28. Prince Bill Kapinga’s comments belong to a barbaric political dustbin. Take this advice. Historians will record Zambia for having demonstrated high levels of civilized democracy. KK, RB and ECL peacefully handed over power to Chiluba, Sata and HH respectively. This is a scenario that surpasses Donald Trump’s behaviour which prompted President Biden to describe the US election event as EMBARRASSING. Kaping’a must learnt to be humble and reflect on how best the new Government settles down to tackle national matters. Zambians are not halfwits.

  29. The hate being meted out to Lungu is nothing compared to what HH went through…. the only problem is that HH was being persecuted for doing good .

  30. Has anybody noticed the slow but quick retraction of Kaizer Zulu from social platforms since the ACC money raids began? There my friends lies a potential candidate for Chimbokaile. Bakaili have been thirsty for KZ.

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