By Brian Okoth
The Zambian government has withdrawn the retirement benefits of former President Edgar Lungu.
Citing Zambia's Benefits of Former Presidents Act, Information and Media Minister Cornelius Mweetwa said on Thursday that the decision was made after Lungu "returned to active politics."
Mweetwa, who addressed journalists in Kitwe City, the northern part of Zambia, said the government invoked Section 5 of the Benefits of Former Presidents Act, which outlines the circumstances under which a former president's benefits and privileges can be discontinued.
The minister said that Lungu's "return to politics" does not "threaten" the ruling party, the United Party for National Development, which is headed by President Hakainde Hichilema.
'Political neutrality'
Mweetwa said that former presidents only qualify for retirement benefits if they uphold "political neutrality."
As a former president, Lungu was entitled to three security officers, a diplomatic passport, three state cars, a furnished house, medical insurance, and funeral expenses upon his death. He also enjoyed immunity from prosecution.
Lungu did not immediately react to the government's decision on his retirement benefits.
Lungu, who served as Zambia's sixth president between 2015 and 2021, lost the August 12, 2021 presidential election to Hichilema.
'No longer interested in politics'
Hichilema, 61, got more than 2.8 million votes (59.4%) against Lungu's 1.8 million votes (38.3%) to be declared the winner.
Sixty-six-year-old Lungu, who ran on the Patriotic Front party ticket, conceded defeat to Hichilema, and promised a peaceful transfer of power.
In August 2022, Lungu said he was "no longer interested in politics."
"I have decided to be low key deliberately so that people would accept that I have moved on; I am done with politics, and would now want to be a servant of the people," he said on August 23, 2022, indicating that he would concentrate his efforts on charity.
'Unlawful' assembly
In October 2023 – more than a year later – Lungu suggested that he was considering a political return.
"You want me back in politics, you want me back? I will think about it," Lungu told reporters on October 4, when he was asked about his political status at a magistrate court in the nation's capital Lusaka, where he accompanied his wife Esther, who was facing theft charges.
The government had earlier warned him against political activities, accusing him of turning his morning jogging sessions into political rallies.
"We have noted with concern the unlawful assembly and political activism that was conducted by the Patriotic Front (PF) cadres when the former president Edgar Lungu was conducting his morning jogging routine," police spokesperson Rae Hamoonga said on September 25.
Zambia's next election
"Public gatherings should be notified to the police," he said. Lungu's lawyer Makebi Zulu, however, said that the former president did not require a police permit to hold his jogging sessions.
Zambia will hold its next presidential election in 2026.
