The Editor Zambia
When Brian Mundubile declares that he wishes to govern Zambia in the same manner that former sixth President Edgar Chagwa Lungu did, the country is entitled to ask a simple but fundamental question: what precisely does he mean?
Does he mean returning Zambia to the state of the economy that existed at the end of the Patriotic Front (PF) administration?
Was he satisfied with the trajectory on which the country had been placed? And does he genuinely believe that Zambians have forgotten the circumstances under which power changed hands in 2021? 
President Hakainde Hichilema inherited an economy that was already severely wounded. He did not create the prevailing ailments confronting the nation. Rather, he assumed office at a time when the patient was already critically ill.
In many respects, President Hichilema has been like a doctor prescribing treatment to a patient whose illness he neither caused nor ignored.
The difficult and sometimes painful measures being undertaken are directed at stabilising an economy that had been allowed to deteriorate over many years.
During President Lungu’s administration, praise often flowed freely from political supporters, even as the economy continued to bleed. Public debt escalated, investor confidence weakened, and Zambia eventually became Africa’s first sovereign default victim during the Covid-19 era. By the time power changed hands, the nation’s finances were in a precarious state.
Had the previous administration continued on the same path, it is entirely conceivable that the economy would today be in intensive care.
One of the most damaging features of the PF era was the politicisation of markets and bus stations. Revenue streams that rightfully belonged to local authorities were effectively captured by politically connected cadres. The consequences were severe. Councils were deprived of much-needed income, service delivery deteriorated, and council workers in several parts of the country went for months without receiving salaries.
The ordinary citizen bore the cost of this haemorrhaging of public resources.
Is this the model that Mr Mundubile wishes to revive?
Is he advocating a return to the days when lawlessness in markets and stations flourished, when local authorities struggled financially, and when essential public services suffered because revenue collection had become the preserve of partisan interests?
Political nostalgia should not substitute for honest reflection. Leadership requires more than romanticising the past. It requires acknowledging mistakes and presenting credible alternatives for the future.
If Mundubile wishes to campaign on the legacy of Edgar Lungu, then he must also be prepared to defend the economic realities that characterised that period. He cannot selectively celebrate the applause while ignoring the damage that necessitated painful reforms.
Zambians deserve clarity. They deserve to know whether the promise being offered is one of progress or merely an invitation to return to the very conditions from which the country sought to escape in 2021.
For if governing like Edgar Lungu means resurrecting the policies and practices that weakened public finances, encouraged cadreism and undermined local authorities, then the nation must ask itself whether going backwards is truly the destination it desires.
