. Chanda

By MILDRED KATONGO –
STATE House Special Assistant for Press and Public Relations Amos Chanda has placed his weight behind the book about President Edgar Lungu penned by senior diplomat and author Anthony Mukwita entitled Against all Odds.
Mr Chanda, described the book as “a positive step in the right direction as far as adding to the Zambian body of knowledge is concerned.”
“The book (Against all Odds-President Edgar Lungu’s rough journey to State House) compiles facts and details and presents them in a certain professional manner that the writer in this case Mr Anthony Mukwita recalls them,” he said.
He said Mr Mukwita, once having presented his facts and figures, as he recollected them succeeded as a documentalists and it was now up to others to come up with their own versions of the story if they had any and had the ability to document them.
He challenged those that had a diverse story to tell their own version of the truth because this would add to the literature table and pool in Zambia.
“If you do not agree with Mr Mukwita’s story about President Lungu which really is a narration of the Presidents life leading to the crucial 2015 polls and not a biography or autobiography, you can write a review in support or against yet again but based on facts.”
Mr Chanda, an award winning southern African writer and editor himself said such intellectual discourse and arguments around a scholastic publication must be allowed in order to build on what Mr Mukwita has written for the future generation to be enriched through literature.
He said authors such as Mr Mukwita and others should be encouraged to document the history of Zambia and its leaders for that matter so that Zambians can make decisions based on various pieces of information documented by various Zambians, critical or otherwise.
He was speaking at Manda Hill Book World in an impromptu media interview on the sidelines of Against all Odds signing event on Saturday.
Nkolomba Ward Councilor and daughter of President Lungu, Tasila was one of the many people that had copies of the latest book signed for them by Mr Mukwita ahead of others such as Kalusha Bwalya, the sports icon of Zambia.
Mr Mukwita’s political page turner had kept Zambian tongues wagging since the day it went live on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble on 5th January 2017.
It sold more than 100 copies in less than three hours on the first day it hit Zambian shelves with hard copies.
It is tipped to be an African best seller by the publishers Partridge due to the interesting character of President Lungu seen by many as a humble but tenacious man who rose to power against all odds.