Partly Fred is to blame for his misfortunes. He rose to the throne using the pen and not the gun. He had absolute power which later destroyed him.
The man’s pen was able to humble government. He is credited to have played a role in the death of UNIP. Twenty years later he helped the PF remove the MMD. He rebranded Sata. His paper played a pivotal role in explaing Michael Sata ‘s 90 days slogan. We all thought he was doing it for free.
But after Sata became President, his intentions became clear. He literally captured the state making Sata look like a puppet. It is Fred who supplied Sata with a press aid so as to monitor his daily activities. Amos Malupenga and several other The Post workers were given government jobs or sent out as Diplomats.
All of a sudden, The Post started having government contracts. Government adverts appeared in his Newspaper. If our memory serves us right, even names for teacher recruitment appeared in The Post, something which was the preserve of Times of Zambia or Zambia Daily Mail.
The Post also branched off into tranportation. Its trucks started transporting Copper from Solwezi. This access to lucrative contracts was facilitated by Government.
Then News started emerging that President Sata was ill. Fred Mmembe begun positioning himself to take over. A cartel was formed to make this possible. In his sick state, Sata perceived there were so many factions vying to take over from him. And that displeased him.
As a result he brought close Edgar Lungu, a man who appeared not to belong to any group. He was not meant to be his successor. He was just somebody Sata used as a temporal measure as he looked for a way to introduce his preferred candidate.
As Sata’s health worsened, the other factions threw their support on Edgar as a way to neutralise Mmembe and Guy Scott ‘s influence. When Sata eventually died, Mmembe became just a peripheral figure whose fate got sealed when ECL became President.
Realising that Mmembe remained a significant threat, Edgar Lungu was determined to cut his tail. Unfortunately when Fred got so powerful, he had stopped paying tax. It was this door that was used to bring him down to where he is now.
Had Fred maintained his lane, his The Post would have been alive. Sadly his poor judgement and pride got in the way.
-The Zambian Times