ECL Claims Vindication as Kenyan Scholar Lumumba Labels HH a “Dictator”
ECL Claims Vindication as Kenyan Scholar Lumumba Labels HH a “Dictator”
Former President Edgar Chagwa Lungu has claimed vindication after renowned Kenyan constitutional lawyer and Pan Africanist, Professor Patrick Loche Lumumba, described the current President, Hakainde Hichilema, as a “dictator.”
Speaking on a Kenyan radio show, Professor Lumumba, who was previously critical of Lungu’s administration but praised Hichilema while in opposition, now appears to have reversed his stance. According to Lungu’s statement, Lumumba said, “everyone can now see that former Zambian President Edgar Chagwa Lungu was a democrat and that Hichilema is a dictator.”
Lungu, who served as Zambia’s Sixth President from 2015 to 2021, has long maintained that he was a champion of democracy, despite facing criticism from various stakeholders, including Lumumba, during his tenure. Now, the former president claims that Lumumba’s latest remarks vindicate his efforts to promote and safeguard democracy in the country.
“When foreign scholars who at some point criticized you begin to appreciate your efforts on democracy promotion against the person they once deemed better, then it means that their feedback is morally noble and politically sincere,” Lungu stated in his statement.
The former president also urged President Hichilema to listen to “his former allies” who have now labeled him as a “dictator” and a “threat to national peace,” including figures such as Dr. Sishuwa Sishuwa, Bflow, Laura Miti, Brebner Changala, and Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu.