KELVIN Bwalya Fube says citizens believe President Edgar Lungu is not fully aware of the true state of the nation.

He says “we can harass or arrest all those with opposing views, but without addressing the real issues, we will only succeed at mobilising the Zambian people against President Lungu and the PF party”.

Fube also says it will be folly for Zambians to ignore the current social and economic distress sweeping across the nation.

“There is a strong perception that our President has been held hostage by a small group of self-serving individuals,” he stated. “Citizens believe the President is not fully aware of the true state of the nation. If as the ruling party, we don’t sober up and get to the bottom of these and many other issues of concern, shifting the blame will not make the situation any better. We can harass or arrest all those with opposing views, but without addressing the real issues, we will only succeed at mobilising the Zambian people against President Lungu and the PF party as a whole. I hereby call on the PF Party and government to make a clear distinction between politics of intimidation and good governance. We, as PF are the ruling party and are entirely responsible for the state and direction of this nation. All other politicians, disgruntled elements and opposition political parties can be excused for their rumbling and political gymnastics. For us on the other hand, our actions and decisions affect every citizen regardless of their political affiliations. When the economy is not doing well, it is our responsibility to rectify the situation.”

Fube, in the long piece dated November 11, 2018, hoped that the government was aware that the recent ZAFFICO riots were just a tip of the iceberg of the many bottled-up frustrations simmering in a growing majority of Zambians.

“Having observed an escalation in tensions building towards Wednesday 14th November 2018, I am persuaded to appeal to each one of us to introspect,” he stated.

“It will be folly for us as a people to ignore the current social and economic distress sweeping across the nation. We must realise that what affects one of us affects all of us without choosing one’s tribe, gender, vocation or political affiliation. There is no act more senseless than when brothers and sisters allow differences in opinion to divide them to the extent of willfully seeking to bring harm to one another. We must take a deliberate decision to liberate ourselves from all the prejudicial classifications of tribe, political party, social standing and gender to find our common thread of belonging to this one country to which we share and hold a common responsibility to foster peace, love and prosperity. We must realise that we fight only because we have been fooled into believing that we cannot co-exist.”

Fube stated that there was no special shop, no market, or hospital for PF cadres.

“Nor is there a special shop, special market or special hospital for UPND cadres,” he stated.

“There is no special place where the soldiers or the police or the nurses or the teachers or any other set of people will go to make their lives any different from the lives of all other people. This is because what affects any one of us affects every one of us. Whether you are a marketeer, bus driver, taxi driver, commuter, working professional, student or ordinary unclassified Zambian, the price of what you need in life will not be different from what any other fellow Zambian will pay.”

Fube stated that “we have let our poverty control us and blind us to the fact that if we stop fighting each other and unite to fight this scourge by embracing one another and leveraging that which is good and strong about each other, we will free ourselves from its shackles.”