So what if Fred M’membe had God on remote control joyfully pulling the strings as he watches his enemies fall and his chosen ones rise. He could by the drop of a hat banish former Republican President Rupiah Banda to a thousand years in jail, see to it that a Chief Justice of his choice preferably his daughter who holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from an obscure university in the United Kingdom, ban any other media except his now highly compromised Post Newspaper, take over any imaginable business that is lucrative from mining, beef, internet and courier business.
He could be happy to see all the Zambian people clamouring for The Post Newspaper on the street – something Zambians no longer do and be worshipped as the Oracle of all wisdom.
In truth this is the world M’membe envisages one where his powers are the only thing that everybody has to talk about. After a humble career at the foot of the financial market early on at Zambia State Insurance Corporation (ZSIC) M’membe envied the limelight that politics brought on those that stood on the podium and he moved to try a hand at politics and before long he found the space was too crowded and the limelight belonged to other more distinguished personalities who weighed too heavily compared to him.
And he jumped off to attempt a hand at journalism prospective platform to massage his ego. For the first time in his life, he got the limelight, he basked in the eulogies and when the Frederick Chiluba regime descended on his paper his reputation shot up even though mostly the hard work was done by the very highly talented bunch of journalists that had among them Jowie Mwiinga (eventually left after M’membe began to show his dictatorship skills), the late Bright Mwape, Masautso Phiri among others.
And for a moment it seemed M’membe was satisfied carrying the banner of journalism in its purest form and along came recognition from the Committee to Protect Journalists among other international organizations who today have been watching see him undo everything that he has built over the years.
Fast forward to 2006 when people supported Michael Sata seemed to be headed for victory, M’membe used the power of the one arsenal he had – The Post and for nearly one one month ran anti-PF sentiments in his editorial comments.
He called Sata everything he was; a dictator, demagogue, tribalist, opportunist-words that still ring true to date. But the real reason for M’membe’s act was that he was in bed with the then ruling elite where he was given concessions to operate his badly managed airline Zambian Airways that was plunging in debt.
Mind you running an airline was another of the M’membe ego trips. For him it was fancy to run an airline, it was the new thing for millionnaires in the world! He went into the airline business with his partner Mutembo Nchito and the results are there for all to see.
Just in case you have forgotten there was an attempt to enter the internet business where he built a tower – an Ivory Tower by any standards – with the grand dream of running the bigest internet business in the country.
That too is a summation of the whirlwind approach to business. Before you forget it was also cool to acquire a law degree, after all lawyers were becoming the hottest things in the market. Had he not seen from a distance how those that had at one point or another represented The Post and himself looked so cool and stole the headlines – it was time for him to get a slice of that action.
He registered for evening classes until he graduated but his attempts at the Zambia Intsitute of Advanced Legal Education (ZIALE) is a story him and those in his intake can tell.
It had to take more than one attempt to make it and for that he declared a personal Jihad aagainst ZIALE not surprsingly this is an issue he is quietly pushing under the guise of law reforms.
His daughter, after having been taken to some mediocre London back stage school, had to do her bar examinations outside the country for fear of failure. She is back calling the shots in the newsroom where M’membe too has planted his sister as the number two in the structure.
Once he learnt of the power of controlling a president under Levy Mwanawasa who later died, they picked on Sata as next on the puppet list. Once their script had gone right on September 20, 2013, M’membe now took his stage as a puppeteer directing appointments and contracts.
But with the PF coming short on many fronts, M’membe found the levels of dissent were coming up. And with that he drew a list of who should be sorted and how?
Siliya ranks high but Rupiah ranks higher on that list and add to that his desire to take over businesses that are lucrative – courier, beef and now quiet attempts to run a parallel judiciary structure.
So brethren no need stressing over who is on M’membe’s hit list and for sure there is going to be no end to this circus EXCEPT M’membe is not God! Amen.
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