Zambia Digest reports that government has described former president Edgar Lungu’s utterances about an unconstitutional change of government as not only defamatory, careless, and irresponsible but also deliberately provocative.
Chief government spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa said Lungu’s remarks had the potential to cause anarchy and are capable of inciting citizens into civil disobedience and lawlessness and could cause insecurity in the country.
Further, Mweetwa says that the government will support actions that may be taken by the relevant state agencies should it be established that the former president broke the law by allegedly inciting citizens to rise against President Hakainde Hichilema’s democratically elected government.
During a purported church service-turned-political gathering of the opposition United Kwacha Alliance (UKA) at Dumanis Miracle Church in Lusaka yesterday, Lungu used a pregnancy innuendo that it was possible to “get a full-term birth before 9 months” and that while other people were talking about 2026, the year of the next general elections, the baby could be delivered sooner than that.
The church where the political gathering took place under the guise of a prayer service is overseen by fellow UKA alliance member, politician and Pastor Danny Pule.
The former president further told a cheering crowd that the “hour of change” had come and that nobody could do anything about it.
In response, Mweetwa says the government is seriously studying the former president’s careless utterances.
“Government is studying the legal and security implications of the utterances by Edgar Lungu and we call for calm in the nation. No one should be lied to that there will be a change of government,” Mweetwa told the media this morning.
Meanwhile, Mweetwa has advised the former president, whom he described as the “godfather of political violence”, not to take President Hichilema for granted.
He reminded Lungu that the freedom he is enjoying currently is a result of Mr. Hichilema’s adherence to good governance and the rule of law, which were absent in his (Lungu’s) administration during his tenure as president.
Mweetwa further advised Lungu to avoid shadow-boxing the incumbent but should instead try to be a statesman for once.
He stated that the government would not fall prey to any attempts to divert national attention from economic recovery and the fight against corruption but would continue to pursue a robust economic agenda and stability of the country’s economy.
