University of Zambia (UNZA) political science lecturer Dr Alex Ng’oma says Zambians must learn from the Zimbabwean situation that change of government leadership does not always yield positive results.

And Dr Ng’oma says he cannot see regime change coming to Zambia in 2021 as there is nothing wrong with the current regime.

In an interview with News Diggers! Dr Ng’oma said people should only change government when they are sure that the change would make them better than they were in the previous government.

“People must understand the fact that, change can also be change for the worst! People always assume that change always happens for the better, but it doesn’t always happen that way. Zimbabweans are finding it difficult now to get the essential commodities that they so much need and, therefore, it is important that people are very careful even as they call for regime change anywhere, they should not call for change for the sake of change. When calling for change, people must have an understanding of the kind of change that they want and how they are going to affect that change. Zimbabweans wanted change, they got it, now see where they are, they are worse off! So, it is important to know what kind of change you want as a people in order to avoid having the kind of change that later causes you more pain than good, as the case is in Zimbabwe right now,” Dr Ng’oma advised.

“If people are not careful, political change can impact negatively on the economy and other sectors of the economy, we have to be very careful. Change must be well-calculated. Effective change would be when people change the regime and they end up better than they were before, that would be positive change. So, people must change only when they are very sure that they will end up better than they are because what happened in Zimbabwe is that things are getting worse.”

And Dr Ng’oma said he could not see regime change in Zambia in 2021, arguing that there is nothing wrong with the current government.

“I am actually reluctant to say change would happen in Zambia. People are calling for change and they have the right to call for change, the opposition has the right to call for change because minus that, the opposition will become irrelevant. But it’s important that people look at what they have and what they are likely to get in future. The danger is that you may end up being worse off than you are, it’s dangerous and meaningless. I do not see anything bad in the current regime and so I wouldn’t see anything better later. You see, there are people who are heroes when they are in the opposition but when they go into government, they are stranded, that’s what Emerson Munangagwa did; he said all sorts of things about Mugabe, he is put into government, he fails to function! So, people must be very careful!” Dr Ng’oma cautioned.

He advised Zambians to treasure the peacef in order to maintain a stable economy.

“The mistake the Zimbabweans are making is that of failing to appreciate the fact that the damage that had been done to the country under Mugabe, cannot be sorted out under one year; it will take a lot of time to put everything back on track and so the people of Zimbabwe must be patient. The people of Zambia should learn from the Zimbabwean situation that it is very important to guard jealously that which we have, because once it is lost, it is very difficult to restore. Remember, Zambians used to trek to Zimbabwe to buy things to come and resell in Zambia, now it’s the Zimbabweans who are trooping to Zambia to come and order things to go and sell in their country. And so, it is important for us to treasure what we have because once the economy is destroyed, once the foundation is destroyed, it takes a lot of time to reconstruct it, that’s what Zambians must learn from the Zimbabwean situation,” advised Dr Ng’oma.