Ex-president Lungu admits making mistakes, insists no basis to compare his tenure with Hichilema’s

Ex-president Edgar Lungu has admitted to having made governance mistakes during his reign as Republican President from 2015 to 2021.

Lungu said while he did not dispute the existence of “Lawfare” in many jurisdictions, it was not suitable and correct comparison to mirror his political leadership as President then to the current full scale authoritarian regime.

The former president was responding to an academic, Dr. Sishuwa’s write up titled: “How President Hakainde Hichilema is using Lawfare to subvert democracy in Zambia,” further citing Lungu’s era on his facebook page on Saturday.

Sishuwa said Zambia experienced democratic backslide between 2011 and 2021 under the PF with the deliberate use of legal mechanisms to weaken opposition parties.

In his article, Sishuwa concludes that “Hichilema has orchestrated an assault on human rights and democracy to the extent that he must be treated like an “Edgar Lungu with a better Public Relations”.

“Honestly, I find this observation and conclusion both unfair and quite inaccurate as he (the author) seeks to compare our moderate rule then to HH’s “unapologetic lawfare” regime of today,” Lungu disputed.

He expressed shocked that Sishuwa likens him to the current President, stating that he takes great exception to this.

Lungu advised Sishuwa to resist the temptation of having to compare apples with oranges, as the two cannot be the same.

“Yes, I admit I had faults, but certainly not of this magnitude,” he stated.

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