Governance activist Brebner Changala says there is urgent need to call for early elections in the country.

And Changala says it is regrettable that President Edgar Lungu has continued to preside over a government that has no regard for people from certain regions of the country on grounds that they did not vote for him.

In an interview, Changala said Zambia needed to start afresh through the holding of a general election as soon as possible before the scheduled polls in 2021.

“PF has lost its legitimacy, it has lost the mandate, it has no right to govern as it were. So what we need is for all the people of Zambia to come together, reorganize ourselves and see where we went wrong and usher in a new breed and set of leaders who are highly energised and will look at national unity. This is because if there is unity, we will have an economic boom when we pull together as a nation. We should not sideline certain people in our society. We are being governed in a manner…not even dogs can be kept the way we are being kept. The economy is gone, national unity is gone, we are a nation being governed by all sorts of bandits,” Changala said. “…Mr Lungu must be told now that he’s not governing this country properly, he must be told. If necessary, let him call for an election if he’s tired so that we the people can re-energize ourselves and start afresh in the midst of chaos that PF has brought on us.”

And commenting on the recent reshuffles and new appointments of permanent secretaries by the Head of State, Changala said the government under PF had lost direction and insists that the country cannot proceed in the manner it is being governed.

“President Edgar Lungu has divided this country on tribal lines. If you look at the permanent secretaries that he has reshuffled and indeed those that he has appointed, they are all from either Northern or Eastern provinces. It is in exclusion of other regions. This tells you that this President is not sensitive to tribal balancing, in which you make other people feel comfortable and well-represented. This government will not function well because if you look at Southern Province, it is excluded from this government, Western Province is excluded from this government and don’t tell me that President Lungu is not aware, he is aware but he does it deliberately out of probably hatred for these other tribal colleagues of ours,” Changala said.

“But I want to warn President Lungu that he has sown a terrible seed that is going to haunt this country many years to come. We have never been so much divided. When I see the reshuffles in the permanent secretaries, it’s all but Northerners and Easterners. When I see the Cabinet of Edgar Chagwa Lungu, it’s all but Northerners and Easterners and that’s a shame. But I must also put it on record that it’s also shameful for the Vice-President to hang around in that seat while her own people are being cannibalized, ignored and forsaken. They have been removed in the governance equation and she knows very well. If she has nothing else to contribute, the best she can do is to resign. Get out and allow the young generation to fill up her seat.

He said the President’s new appointments and reshuffles of permanent secretaries was meant to realign and re-energise the tribal empire that he had created and proclaimed himself king.

“These are pertinent issues and we should not ignore them. Are you telling me that there are no technocrats in Southern Province? Are you telling me there are no technocrats in Western Province? Do you understand why all previous governments kept Daniel Munkombwe in their Cabinet? All governments, without exceptions, kept Vernon Mwaanga and Daniel Munkombwe to show connectivity with the people of Southern Province. But what is so special about the administration of Edgar Chagwa Lungu that because they didn’t vote for him, then he would rather visit Copperbelt 40 times in a month, he would rather visit Northern Province 60 times in two months and he would have no business in Western Province, he has no business in Southern Province and he tells them to obey his laws?” wondered Changala.

“The President is being cheeky, he’s being unpatriotic but most importantly he’s being abusive. You cannot tell people who you don’t care for to believe in you, you are being unfair and cruel. The Cabinet of President Edgar Lungu is nothing but a sham and tribal…”