Governance activist Brebner Changala believes it is an awful risk and a huge mistake for the PF to pick on Edgar Lungu as party candidate for the August 2021 elections.

In an interview, Changala said the PF would pay on August 12th, arguing that President Lungu does not qualify to contest the coming elections.

“Well, it’s very risky. It is extremely risky. The PF have been warned over and over again about the man they have placed their trust in. Just look at what he has done over the years after being elected as President of the country. Everything has changed completely. He has no regard for the rule of law. And the real issue is that this man is really ineligible to stand as President of the country. The PF are well aware about all this, yet they have decided to trust him and elect him as party president. That for me is a mistake. A huge mistake. This is a man who does not care what the constitution says. He broke the very constitution that he swore to uphold. This is the same route again that he has taken over the third term. He is trying to mislead the nation whilst playing a smart game that he is a senior lawyer at the bar when he could have been a malingerer of a lawyer. A lawyer who is not serious with the law and statutes. A lawyer who has never won a serious matter and case, a lawyer who is not honest and faithful to the constitution. I want to tell the PF surrogates and minions that President Lungu is not a good lawyer,” he said.

“So, the third term he has embarked on, he is misleading the mantra that the constitutional court ruled in his favour, when he was not a litigant. He is misguided. He has misguided the country just like he misguided his ministers. And now he is misguiding his own party that he is eligible to contest the elections this year, but we all know he is not. He is deceiving, and the PF have believed in him and elected him as party President. PF surrogates and minions should know that they risk going into 2021 elections without a candidate. This is a very serious matter. There is no way a reasonable party, a ruling party can stick like a tick to one presidential candidate just because he is the guy whose hands have the keys to the treasury. Because that is the only guy who can get money from the treasury.”

He said the PF is better off without President Lungu than having him around as a member of the party.

“So, this will put the PF in a very precarious and awkward situation where this party, without the treasury, will disintegrate. And by the time we realise there will be no PF at all. You cannot put all your eggs in one candidate. Out of 17 million people, everything in the PF starts and ends with President Lungu. It revolves around President Lungu. Making him a god, in PF at least they are worshiping him. They have exalted him. Those of us who are outsiders are blasphemers, anarchists. We don’t look for anything other than his exit. He is misleading himself, misleading the party and misleading everybody. Everybody must do away with this man. He must not be anywhere near the party. I have been following this very keenly.”