BREBNER Changala and Elias Chipimo have roundly condemned President Edgar Lungu for his ‘concern’ about political happenings in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

On Sunday, President Lungu’s press aide Amos Chanda issued a press statement indicating that SADC had encouraged all stakeholders in the DRC elections to pursue a negotiated political settlement for a government of national unity.

Chanda stated that President Lungu, who is chairperson of the SADC organ on politics, defence and security, was calling for an all-inclusive government in the Democratic Republic of Congo given “the strong objections” to the provisional presidential result of the December 30 poll.

Last week on Wednesday, the DRC’s Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) declared opposition figure, Felix Tshisekedi, winner of the presidential race.

He beat outgoing President Joseph Kabila’s hand-picked candidate Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary and Martin Fayulu of the opposition.

Fayulu has since indicated that he would appeal the result in the central African country’s Constitutional Court.

In an interview yesterday, Changala, a governance activist, noted that it would not do for Congolese to listen and implement President Lungu’s proposal because he was “a man who is highly injurious to democracy in Africa.”

He argued that President Lungu must be the last person to give counsel to the people of Congo DR because “he, at home, has been in the forefront in the destruction of our democratic institutions and democracy itself as enshrined in the Constitution.”

“I must say this; what goes round comes round. What President Edgar Lungu wants to happen in Congo DR, having a government of national unity, is a concept that he himself does not believe in. The situation which is in Congo now prevailed here in Zambia after the 2016 general elections and he was very hostile to share power with anybody else,” Changala recalled.
“He was very hostile to foreign governments that advised him to go that route. So, it is highly hypocritical on his side to try to force the Congolese people to take the very medicine and measurements that he doesn’t have faith in. So, it will not do for the people of Congo DR to listen to a man who is highly injurious to democracy in Africa. Hypocrisy must have a limit!”

Changala advised President Lungu to “remove the log in his eye before he goes to remove a speck in the neighbour’s eye.”

He noted that Zambia, under Lungu’s presidency, had more and serious problems in terms of the rule of law.

“How can he (President Lungu) start talking about a government of national unity in Congo DR, something which he rejected outright here at home? It does not hold water!” Changala said.
“What is happening in Congo DR could have been mitigated if SADC was truly an organisation for the people of this region. But SADC is an organisation for Heads of State to prolong their dictatorial tendencies and they allowed [Joseph] Kabila to stay in power for two years when his term of office had expired.”

He charged that SADC was slowly becoming moribund and irrelevant.

“Congo DR is a member of the SADC region…. SADC heads have formed a club which does things against the will of the very people that they claim to govern. SADC, in its entirety, must be condemned that it will allow a situation to get out of hand and that’s when it starts talking,” said Changala.

In a separate interview, National Restoration Party (NAREP) president Chipimo noted that it was ironic that Zambia was advocating something in the DRC that it (Zambia) was not ready to implement.

“Our own elections [in 2016] were heavily disputed [but] there has never been any attempt by the PF to look at building unity and the only thing they are focused on is how they can perpetuate power for themselves,” Chipimo said.
“So, this advice that is being given to the DRC is probably something that the President should be thinking about for his own country and not advising third parties.”

Chipimo added that now that Zambia had embarked on having national dialogue, President Lungu should have “a similar outlook” and not shun the dialogue meeting this week on Friday.

“He should be open to sharing the opportunity for building national consensus because right now, the PF happen to have the reins of power and all the laws are being applied to favour their stay in power. He has already indicated that he will be available for the dialogue and we expect that he should be there,” said Chipimo.