LUNGU STOPPED BELIEVING IN PF AFTER MILES BETRAYED HIM – ZUMANI ZIMBAEDGAR Lungu lost faith in the PF after he was betrayed by Boba TV content creator Miles Sampa and other senior party leaders in 2023, his former political advisor Zumani Zimba has revealed. Sampa was declared president of the PF at a controversial extraordinary general conference in October 2023, after complaining that the convention to elect a new PF president had taken too long. According to Zimba, it was at that moment that, Lungu who led Zambia from 2015 to 202 felt betrayed, humiliated, and politically stranded.
He said many PF leaders currently claiming to be the party’s custodians mocked Lungu as a “former president without a party.”“From that point, he never truly believed in PF again,” he said. Zimba added that the betrayal and lack of loyalty drove Lungu to seek alternatives, including the United Kwacha Alliance (UKA), where he was later disrespected by ‘young and inexperienced politicians who started thinking he was their level.’ “ECL was forced to humble himself and make company with politicians he thought were different from PF traitors in view of what happened in 2023 with Miles Sampa and his team.” “Before long, UKA disrespected and failed him terribly, as young political players who had never been councillors, MPs, permanent secretaries, ministers, or SAPs started addressing him as ‘Comrade Lungu’ and treating him as their equal. Some of us did not accept these political insults for our father,” he explained.
Zimba stressed that the Tonse Alliance was created specifically for Lungu and his loyal followers, adding that the alliance was never about PF, as some narratives suggest. “For ECL, the PF top leaders were not his priority, but his PF loyalists and supporters countrywide, as well as other opposition leaders. This is where we engineered the #ECLMovement,” said Zimba.
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“The noise makers in PF we see today did nothing to remove the shame and embarrassment around ECL.”He said most of these PF leaders viewed Lungu as a dangerous political rival and competitor, as they also aspired to be PF president. “They indirectly endorsed Miles Sampa in trading PF to UPND, and ECL was fully aware of it,” claimed Zimba. Zimba stated that the only people who stood by Lungu during his difficult times, apart from himself, were Prof. Dan Pule, the late FDD leader Edith Nawakwi, former PF Secretary General Raphael Nakachinda and Sean Tembo.Kalemba
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