Governance activist Brebner Changala says Vernon Johnson Mwaanga cannot be compared to President Edgar Lungu.

The University of Zambia has decided to honor President Lungu by conferring him with an honorary doctorate, a decision which has sparked widespread criticism.

Recently, Copperbelt University Academics Union president Dr Derrick Ntalasha added his voice to the debate, describing UNZA’s decision as a joke saying the Head of State had not done anything extraordinary.

This rattled the ruling Patriotic Front, whose Lusaka Province Chair, Paul Moonga, charged that CBU had no right to condemn UNZA because they had honored veteran politician Vernon Johnson Mwaanga, “a self confessed drug dealer”.

But in an interview, Changala said VJ deserved a lot of respect for his service to the country.

“No! No! PF is in a desperate mode, and PF has become extremely dangerous by all means and any standard there is no way President Edgar Lungu can be equal to Vernon Johnson Mwaanga. VJ is a distinguished Pan African, he is a distinguished diplomat, he is a distinguished politician and he is a distinguished administrator! He carries a lot of accolades, he is a man who has lived his entire life in the public eye and he has executed himself in a manner unmatched by any standard,” Changala said.

“And for Paul Moonga to attack VJ, what Paul Moonga did was to attack the people of Zambia, attack the freedom fighters, attack the very core of our political decency. The best he could have done was to keep quiet. PF has become very dangerous that they will cling to power whilst they are drowning and that is the behavior they have exhibited!”

Changala said VJ was an honest man who admitted his failures.

“He is an honest citizen and he admits his failure. Whose achievements far outweigh his failures. His contribution to his motherland, his contribution to the political and democratic development of Zambia, so Paul Moonga must be told fairly and squarely to shut up! He has no moral right even to draw a comparison between President Edgar Chagwa Lungu and Vernon Johnson Mwaanga, they are too worlds apart by any major of comparison,” said Changala.