THE Propaganda that FDD leader Edith Nawakwi has embarked on against her UPND counterpart may look new to some people, but we have seen this before. In 2011, a gentleman called Chanda Chimba III was recruited in the MMD’s propaganda machinery tasked to scandalize late Michael Sata ahead of the election. Apart from Sata, the Rupiah Banda-sponsored propaganda also targeted specific media houses, like The Post newspaper, that were giving Mr Sata coverage and they extended the mudslinging to every lawyer who was helpful to Sata’s legal battles.

Chimba called his scandalization campaign “Stand up for Zambia” and he categorized the targeted individuals in his agenda as “members of the cartel”. The gentleman came up with all sorts of allegations against Sata and his friends, ranging from criminal to satanic. Some of his allegations were as stupid as suggesting that The Post was publishing satanic symbols, in reference to space-fillers in newspaper designing.

The Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) Zambia Daily Mail, Times of Zambia and other state controlled private media houses gave this Chanda Chimba III campaign maximum publicity. He was a regular feature on ZNBC prime time and he occupied front page in public media. The accused persons were not given an opportunity by those media houses to defend themselves. Interestingly, Zambians were not swayed by the infamous documentaries that Chanda Chimba produced. They decisively voted out Rupiah Banda’s MMD and gave Mr Sata the mandate to rule this country. Nothing was able to stand in the way of the people’s will, not even the billions that were spent in the MMD campaign that year.

Now, when the election dust settled, it was time for Chanda Chimba and his cronies to face the music in court. They were sued in their individual capacities. An inquiry was made on how and where the propagandist got the money for his activities. It’s needless to say that the hero of Stand up for Zambia was standing alone in court and the people he thought he was fighting for, never showed up to give him solidarity. What happened after that is public knowledge.

Sadly, Chanda Chimba is no longer with us on this earth, may his soul rest in peace. But those who used him are still alive. Some have even vampired themselves back into public service under Mr Lungu’s PF, while others have been offered lucrative positions on the boards of government parastatals. This is what politicians do, they use and toss you aside when they no longer need you.

This is what we see in the privatisation propaganda that the FDD leader has embarked on. The only difference from Nawakwi is that Chanda Chimba III was not a politically established individual. With all due respect to our late brother, we can say that he was basically a job-seeking youth, paid to do mercenary work. He did not have any political integrity to protect.

In the case of Nawakwi, like we stated at the beginning of her campaign agenda against Mr Hichilema, this woman has done a lot for Zmabia. She played a critical role against Chiluba’s third term bid, she is supposed to be a reasonable and experienced senior politician who knows the sad ending of what she is now trying to do.

We have never seen this kind of desperation from one opposition leader against another. It doesn’t make any sense. The only thing that would make sense is if someone told us that madam Nawakwi has been promised money or the position of presidential running mate in 2021. If that is not the case, then something could be wrong with our mother’s reasoning; which makes sad reading considering she is the only known female opposition leader at the moment.

We have nothing against the our first ever female minister of finance, but we are at loss to appreciate her style of campaign – if that is what she is calling it. We say this because even a fool without any level of education can see that if there is anyone who should be arrested for whatever went wrong during privatisation, it should be Madam Nawakwi herself and her cronies who sold the said government assets. How can the former minister confess that “I sold government assets so cheaply” and then demand that the person to be arrested for the purported crime should be a 29-year-old who was the advisor from the private sector? Just how?

We would like to appeal to those who are colluding to divert people’s attention from the criminal activities going on in this government. Please stop wasting precious time. We have many problems in this country, both political and economic. People should not be distracted by bamushanina bwali who only appear when elections draw closer.