Thursday, March 28, 2024

In M’membe Zambia will have a patriot, honest, resolute and most educated President – Musumali

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By Socialist Party reporter

THE Socialist Party says without overstating facts, its president and 2021 presidential candidate Fred M’membe is one of the few living legends in Zambia. Socialist Party general secretary and first vice-president Dr Cosmas Musumali addressed a media briefing at Dr M’membe’s Garden Compound office in Lusaka, to explain who the latter is and how he fits into the programme of the Socialist Party.

Dr Musumali, an internationally reputed economist, sat with party treasurer general and second vice-president Dr Chris Ngenda Mwikisa, and Rehoboth Kafwabulula, the member of the central committee, general secretary of the party’s youth league and party spokesperson. He described Dr M’membe as a firm and resolute socialist leader, with an aversion for lies and theft.

Dr Musumali said while one’s educational badges, in relationship to leadership, counted little in a socialist set-up, Dr M’membe was exceptional, in that area.“In the Socialist Party we don’t believe that education necessarily makes you a good leader. Some of these people you are calling corrupt today, thieves, are highly educated by all standards,” he said.
“[But] your education does not make you a good leader [but] it makes you to do certain things differently. Nevertheless, if you take out Robert Mugabe, may his soul rest in peace, then Fred M’membe will be the most highly educated African president.”

Dr M’membe, according to Dr Musumali, is an accountant, an economist, a lawyer and that he has done business management and accumulated relevant degrees. “He doesn’t have fake PhDs that are flying around. He is still studying….” Dr Musumali said.

He also talked about Dr M’membe’s honours and awards, especially in the areas of freedom of the press. Dr M’membe ran The Post newspaper from July 1991 until the company’s liquidation on November 2, 2016. He was the managing director and editor-in-chief. Dr Musumali indicated that Dr M’membe, years back, had been awarded for friendship with the Cuban Revolution by Cuba’s former president Raul Castro. “So, he is a decorated friend of the Cuban Revolution,” Dr Musumali noted.

“The Post, under Fred M’membe, was the only African media house that set up an office in Cuba. In the Socialist Party this is something we are very proud of.”

He continued: “without exaggerating, Fred M’membe is one of the few living legends in Zambia today.” “Zambian history is not going to be complete without mentioning the name Fred M’membe,” he said. He highlighted Dr M’membe’s contribution to Zambia’s democratic dispensation. “He is a legend who is a socialist at the same time. Being a socialist means you are against the system of capitalism that we live under today. He (Dr M’membe) has been a socialist ever since our campus days and he has not changed,” Dr Musumali explained.
“So, we have, for the first time in Zambian history, a true socialist personality that will come in and be the president of this country. Like most living legends, the story can be quite diverse…”

Dr Musumali, however, regretted that today Dr M’membe was being “hunted like a wild animal” by the current regime.“His house in Chinsali has been occupied [by police] for more than a year now. They see in him a danger!” Dr Musumali said.“But maybe what the Zambian people should be asking themselves is what is it that makes Fred M’membe that dangerous for the authorities in this country? [It’s] because he wants genuine change, transformation.”

He added that there were very few people in Zambia one could point at, who have fought consistently like Dr M’membe. Dr Musumali pointed out that most people become legends only when they got in power – when they are ministers, presidents.“That’s when we get to know about them! Very few people have been arrested, harassed, persecuted, insulted, abused, like Fred M’membe has been while outside government. Again, this is a living legend who we have convinced to become the president of this country,” he said.“We feel privileged to serve with this dear brother, dear comrade. So, come next year Fred M’membe is our president and you’ll have a president that is a true patriot. Fred M’membe loves Zambia!”

Dr Musumali noted that apart from being a Zambian patriot, there were other issues people were unclear about Dr M’membe. “Fred M’membe was known from The Post…. I have read on social media stories like ‘let him pay back Zambian taxes.’ All I can say is that the government propaganda has worked, “ he said, stressing that The Post was never closed because of taxation. “[But] it was closed because a handful of staff of The Post were convinced to go and claim their payments that were due because the organisation was not operating…”He added that the biggest lie he had ever heard in Zambia was linking the closure of The Post to a pretext of tax arrears.Dr Musumali also underscored that it was wrong to assert that socialism was equal to dictatorship or a one party state.

On Dr M’membe’s generosity or lack of it, Dr Musumali indicated that there were many acts of his generosity. “But it’s not a secret that over 30 people have been assisted by him to get university, college education. Not [assisted by] The Post but by Fred M’membe as a private person! I have travelled with him extensively in the rural areas…” Dr Musumali said.
He also talked about Dr M’membe’s nationality. “If you go to Chitimukulu today and ask ‘who is Fred M’membe,’ he will tell you how Fred M’membe is part of the royal establishment of the Bembas. You can’t be more Bemba than Fred M’membe! His grandmother is Bisa….” He explained. “On the mother’s side, he is quite spread. We know about Fred M’membe. We have gone from village to village (his maternal villages). You can’t be more Zambian than that. He is from Northern, Muchinga, Southern and Western Provinces.”

Meanwhile, Dr Musumali noted that to be a national leader, “you have to be firm and resolute.” “If you are looking for somebody who is firm and resolute, Fred M’membe is the person. Fred M’membe will accept what you tell him, straightaway. [But] the moment he knows you are lying, the moment he knows you have stolen, then you’ll hate him,” said Dr Musumali.

“This is a quality that we need in Zambia today. The society is rotten bottom up! Without firmness, being resolute, you’ll always have a State that is spineless. We are convinced that with Fred being there, we’ll have a person that gives us hope that we can build that socialist society that we dream of.”

15 COMMENTS

  1. I read it all yet again, I rarely finish Zambian articles. I think Mmembe edits all Socialist Party articles, they are so well written.
    I agree Mmembe is a legend.

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  2. The educated have messed up Zambia… The more we have educated people in the offices the poorer we become. I think we need not so much educated people

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  3. Champagne socialists, we know them. They preach about the evils of personal wealth while they themselves eat calamari and drink expensive wine. They even drive hummers. I am just concerned about the number of young girls in this party. Hope this is not a scandal waiting to happen

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  4. But yo party guys wont go anywhere bcoz socialism only brings shared poverty and not shared wealth. Nuber 2. Yo leader mmembe lacks integrity in the eyes of zambians. That’s a fact. He misled us into supporting pf and sata.uet he had his own agenda..his party is one of those that will die out slowly..

  5. But iwe ka Kainyokolola Zulu, your mind is indeed the Devil’s workshop! We all know how yours idol Chagwa had the father of all erections in Swaziland upon seeing young eSwatini girls with solid breasts as opposed to his wife’s pancakes! So don’t judge M’Membe, keep you Nkandu Luonyokolola to yourself!

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  6. Enough of these stomach politics. We have too many dreamers and too few doers in our country. We need to foster a “let’s do it” culture and not a “let’s imagine it”. If you have to borrow ideas, then choose those that have enabled other nations to achieve great success – so far socialism is not one of them. We must start to employ workable methods that are solution-oriented. It is time we stopped regarding a specific ideology as an infallible scientific theorem and answer to all our problems. The basic rules that other nations used to build their economies and grant their people a decent standard of living are very simple and more or less the same world wide.

  7. Gayward Mmembe he used to ran a business without paying taxes also wants to be a President. God help this country. Has he made peace with ZRA and Kabimba?

  8. Fred is a criminal. He duped Zambian for over 15 years that he was a noble man yet he was an evil manipulator who used his newspaper to get at his political opponents. He manipulated presidents and intimidated judges while he eyed the top job for himself, refused to pay taxes and amassed millions for himself. Edgar put him in his place where Levy, RB and Sata failed. Zambian needs better Calibre candidates for leadership, not these hyenas in goatskin.

  9. From the paid PF cadres’comments, it is very clear, PF is damn frightened.
    Fear is good.
    When a lion enters the battle field, jackals of Kaisar Zolu type panic.
    One correction Comrade Musumali. Zambia is rotten not from bottom up but from top down.
    Promise me Comrades, every ngwee that PF politicians have stolen will be brought back. ECL, Chilufya and all overnight rich ministers and un principled MPs will be made to account for their crimes against suffering masses.

    My vote is for SP. Just choose MPs wisely.

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  10. Comrade Fred, I have been going around my compound in Lusaka urging Young women to diarise August 12, 2021.
    It is our date with future of Zambia.
    The foundation of new Zambia will be laid on that day by voting for Comrade Fred M’membe to Statehouse with majority in parliament.

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