They want to win at any cost

All our thoughts are with Fred M'membe of The Post, his wife and editor. What this PF government is doing is disgraceful. More here.

TODAY'S EDITORIAL COMMENT: They want to win at any cost By Editor |
Updated: 27 Jun,2016
14:57:51

THE International Press Institute (IPI) has revealed that there is a strategic plan by the PF government to shut down The Post and other private media in order for the ruling party to rig the August 11 general elections.

In a statement, IPI director of advocacy and communications Steven Ellis revealed that PF’s strategy to rig election results and brutalise the opposition were clearly outlined in a leaked document.

“Among other efforts, the document indicated that ‘No form of media should be given to the UPND in the form of news or campaign advertisements’ and that a ‘massive media character assassination’ campaign should be launched against UPND presidential candidate Hakainde Hichilema,” read the IPI statement. “The document also said that ‘prime efforts’ would be made to eliminate coverage by The Post .”

With or without the IPI revelations, it has always been clear to many Zambians that Edgar Lungu and his crooked, corrupt friends in the Patriotic Front want to retain power and continue to enrich themselves at any cost.

This is not only the most corrupt government in the history of this country but also the most intolerant and unrestrained regime. Edgar is all the time reminding Zambians about how much power he sits on. He has openly threatened to crush his political opponents, real or perceived, like a tonne of bricks. Edgar has issued open threats to the editor of The Post , telling him “alefwaya ukwakufwila”. He has also openly told The Post editor that he is the Head of State and there is no way anyone can fight with him and win.

The agenda to manipulate the electoral process and keep themselves in power has been on the cards for a long time. And The Post has consistently been warning the Zambian people about the high possibility of this year’s elections being rigged. It was The Post that exposed Edgar’s dealings with Timor Consulting, an Israeli firm of election ‘experts’. They denied this. But why should one deny a firm they are dealing with? Clearly, there was something wrong, something unacceptable they had been doing with Timor Consulting.

Then came the issue of the Ugandans who managed Yoweri Museveni’s last rigged election. It is these same characters Edgar has brought in to assist him in ‘winning’ this year’s elections. It is these same characters that worked with the Dubai printing company, Al Ghurair, that the Electoral Commission of Zambia has been forced to contract against dissent from the opposition. There are problems in Uganda. And there will be similar problems here. In Uganda, Museveni has resorted to tyranny, repression to silence anyone questioning or challenging the election results.

Edgar is doing the same.

Last week, he was threatening to sort out Hakainde Hichilema if he refuses to accept the election results, telling him “akamona efyo nkamuchita”. It is clear that as things stand today, we are highly unlikely to have free and fair elections whose results will be accepted by all participants – the winners and the losers. Edgar knows that with The Post around, it will be difficult for him to crush or sort out those who will refuse to accept the rigged results. Hence, his haste to get The Post closed before the elections.

We have stated it several times that it is not tax collection they are after from The Post; it is The Post, as a publication, they do not want to appear on the streets and expose their corrupt and crooked schemes. This explains why Edgar last week was very annoyed with the intelligence for failing to find out where The Post was being printed and stop it from coming out. What they don’t want is The Post hitting the streets. It’s not about taxes.

What is happening here is exactly what happened and is happening in Uganda. In Uganda, foreign nationals were registered to vote and they voted. Here, we have citizens of our neighbouring countries having been registered to vote. Zambia Police Service officers have been sent to Malawi to find out about the registration of foreign voters. They found it to be true.

But there had been a foolish scheme of trying to admit that indeed foreigners have registered as voters, but this was the work of the opposition. How stupid can one be to take such a line! What would this mean? This would mean that Edgar and his friends have not been working. If they have been working, how can the opposition issue National Registration Cards to Malawians and other foreign nationals?

The truth of the matter is that this is part of their own rigging scheme in the Ugandan style and fashion. Edgar’s threats to sort out Hakainde are similar to those of Museveni. We all know what has happened or is happening to Ugandan opposition leader Dr Kigya Besigye. He has been beaten, humiliated and locked up on trumped up criminal charges. Edgar is preparing himself for that type of brutality, repression.

And the first enemy of tyrants is always the free press. Wherever there is tyranny, the first to be hit, harassed or even annihilated is the free press. They know that without a free press, the protests, demonstrations, statements of those affected by their tyranny will not be heard. Where there is tyranny, there is no free speech and press. What we have in Zambia today is a highly corrupt and intolerant regime that has no scruples or restraint. They do not in any way realise that the exercise of power must be a constant practice of self-limitation and modesty.

With politicians like Edgar and his friends in power, Zambians must brace themselves for the worst. The bells tolling on The Post today will tomorrow toll on many other Zambians, and eventually on the whole country. The signs, the warnings of this are there. What remains is whether or not we heed them.

Don’t be deceived by the pretence of Edgar being a man of prayer. Even Hitler and Mussolini went to church. Even that monster Idi Amin masqueraded as a devout Moslem. But do religious people do what Hitler, Mussolini, Idi Amin did? Mobutu Sese Seko presented himself as a devout Catholic and was dining and wining with Catholic priests and bishops while committing all sorts of crimes and corrupt deeds against his people and his country. Edgar can build the so-called National House of Prayer and present himself as a man who prays to God to help him solve national problems, but behind that façade, the man is something else – evil.

And you hear it every day in Edgar’s language. Edgar’s language is that of threats – crush this one or that one, sort out this one or that one, fix this one or that one. That’s Edgar’s language. Is that the language of a religious man? In fact, it is a tendency of criminals to present themselves as very humble and religious people. Do you remember how humble and religious that criminal, Uncle Barry, was? You would leave him with your one-day baby without any suspicions of him hurting her. But he was one of the worst and most dangerous criminals this country has ever known. How else can criminals catch their prey if not by pretending to be humble, God-loving and fearing?

Anyway, when a prolonged, stubborn and heated struggle is in progress, there usually begins to emerge after a time the central and fundamental points at issue, upon the decision of which the ultimate outcome depends, and in comparison with which all the minor and petty episodes of the struggle recede more and more into the background. That, too, is how matters stand today in Zambia. What is at stake is now clear for all to see. It is all about Edgar defending his hold on power and privileges. He is not ready to lose the August 11 elections at any cost, even if that means closing The Post and sending all its employees on the street, manipulating the electoral process to such a degree that its results will be rejected by the losers and plunge the country into post-election chaos.

Edgar is not even ready to listen to the voice of reason from the Church. He is only listening to his own inner demons.

But at the rate Edgar is going, he is likely to end up at The Hague.
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