The Editor Zambia
Muhabi Lungu’s appearance on Millennium TV with former diplomat and known Patriotic Front (PF) zealot Antony Mukwita was less an interview and more of a carefully choreographed endorsement of Tonse Alliance presidential candidate Brian Mundubile.
Rather than a rigorous exchange of ideas, viewers were treated to a series of unchallenged assertions, sweeping conclusions and political talking points presented as objective analysis. 
The first question Zambians must ask is simple: when did Muhabi Lungu become the champion of the poor?
For years, Muhabi Lungu enjoyed the privileges and opportunities that came with proximity to the PF, MMD and UNIP governments.
Muhabi Lungu’s father, Mkhondo Lungu was a top diplomat in the UNIP government in which he served as Chief of Protocol and diplomat.
Muhabi benefited from these political networks, appointments, and access that ordinary citizens could only dream of. Today, he seeks to present himself as an independent political analyst speaking truth to power.
Yet his analysis conveniently mirrors the campaign messaging of the very political formation he now openly supports.
His praise of Mundubile is particularly revealing.
According to Muhabi, Mundubile is humble, credible, experienced, and the answer to Zambia’s problems. Yet this is the same Brian Mundubile whose political record remains heavily contested.
As Chief Government Whip under the PF administration, Mundubile was hardly known for promoting consensus or constructive debate.
Parliament during that period increasingly became a theatre of confrontation, disruption, and partisan hostility.
More importantly, Mundubile has had to answer serious public questions regarding allegations from a PF insider, one accusing him of having links to road contracts and payments for projects that were allegedly never completed. These are matters of public record and public debate.
Instead of addressing these concerns, Muhabi simply asks Zambians to accept that Mundubile is the embodiment of humility and integrity.
Even more striking is the fact that prominent PF insider and former Cabinet Minister Chishimba Kambwili once described Mundubile as “crooked to the bone.”
This was not a statement made by a UPND official or government spokesperson. It came from one of the PF’s own senior figures.
If Muhabi wants the public to embrace Mundubile as a symbol of credibility, he must first explain why respected figures within his own political camp reached such damning conclusions.
The interview also exposed a worrying misunderstanding of economics.
Muhabi dismisses Zambia’s growing foreign reserves as meaningless because “people cannot eat reserves.”
This is a catchy political slogan but poor economics because every one knows that foreign reserves are not meant to be eaten.
They are meant to stabilise a country’s currency, strengthen investor confidence, cushion the economy against external shocks, and guarantee the country’s ability to pay for essential imports.
A country with weak reserves faces currency instability, inflation, and economic uncertainty. A country with strong reserves creates conditions for long-term growth and lower costs of living. That is Economics 101.
Equally puzzling are Muhabi’s repeated claims about hunger and economic collapse.
Which Zambia is he describing?
The current administration has recorded back-to-back bumper harvests, increasing maize production and improving food security.
While challenges remain, as they do in every developing nation, portraying Zambia as a country gripped by mass starvation is both misleading and irresponsible.
Indeed, many of the loudest voices predicting doom are individuals who have spent years moving from one opportunity to another while claiming expertise on every subject.
Zambians know that genuine poverty is not solved through television interviews or political slogans.
Muhabi also complains about high fuel prices while appearing oblivious to recent reductions that have benefited motorists and transport operators.
A credible analyst would acknowledge both achievements and shortcomings. Instead, viewers were treated to selective criticism designed to fit a predetermined political narrative.
Perhaps the greatest weakness of the interview was its complete absence of journalistic scrutiny.
Antony Mukwita never challenged Muhabi’s claims. He never asked difficult follow-up questions. He never demanded evidence for the sweeping assertions being made. The result was not journalism but political promotion.
This is understandable considering that Mukwita is a known PF lap dog who got an ambassadorial appointment after writing a wretched praise singing book on Edgar Lungu, he praises Lungu as an achiever.
This raises an important question: How can two individuals who benefitted from the PF and openly aligned to the same political cause interview each other and expect the public to view the exercise as objective analysis?
Zambians deserve better. They deserve debates grounded in facts rather than personality cults. They deserve discussions about policies rather than exaggerated claims of national collapse.
Zambians deserve journalists who challenge politicians’ analysis regardless of political affiliation.
As the August 13 elections approach, voters should carefully examine not only what political actors are saying but also who is saying it, why they are saying it, and whose interests they serve.
Muhabi Lungu is entitled to support Brian Mundubile. That is his democratic right. But presenting partisan campaigning as independent analysis insults the intelligence of the Zambian people.
The electorate will ultimately judge candidates based on facts, records, and performance—not on carefully staged interviews between political allies pretending to conduct objective analysis.
