By MARTIN NYIRENDA –
SCORES of Zambians resolved to change old lumps for new ones when the Patriotic Front (PF) formed Government in 2011.
This was endorsed by the fact that majority of Zambians no longer love to swallow possibilities of national failure whose root cause are multiple-faceted.
You may wish to argue that it is not visible to ignite the fires of national economic prosperity at the heels of abject poverty crippling the spine of society but know that likely impossibility is ways preferable to an unconvincing possibility.
Aristotle, the Greek philosopher and scientist would most probably have said that pleasure in politics puts perfection in the work for the benefit of the poor.
President Edgar Lungu says in a democracy the poor will have more power than the rich, because there are more of them, and teh will of the majority is supreme. after being sworn in as President last month, Mr Lungu assured Zambians that he was a mere servants and that the people who entrusted authority in him by electing him Presidents are the masters!
So, this explains why one of the country’s foremost action-oriented late President Michael Chilufya Sata was so careful in the choices of his lieutenants — he knew that one leader would tell one this, and also tell another anything to gain political mileage.
The late President once intoned that his ministers and PF members of Parliament should emulate him by adopting his action-oriented spirit.
Mr Sata strongly believed only too well that a faithful political structure is nothing less than medicine for socio-economic, cultural and political prosperity.
With over 20 years of serving the country as a versatile member of Parliament, Mr Sata proved that he always wanted to work with serious people who desired to serve the people instead of their personal gain anchored on political aggrandisement.
From his recent pronouncements, it is evident that President Edgar Lungu is more than aware why late President Sata trusted him to the bone!
President Lungu has also acknowledged: “I am stepping in the shoes of a giant of a man, a man who was our torch-bearer and a symbol of our party’s vision of a robust transformative agenda, which in the last three years has moved our country forward and created a momentum which we must accelerate.”
It is for this reason that some commentators contend that Zambia needs a thorough political leadership that can steer the country to prosperity.
It is a leadership devoid of corrupt vices which had been swept under the carpet for a long time during some previous yet unpopular regimes.

. Sata

“We should emulate the late President Michael Sata who successfully stood against any form of corruption. He did not hesitate to fire a minister found wanting. He made sure he was surrounded by leaders with clean track record,” Mufumbi Makumba, a Ndola based political commentator, shares his views.
Abraham Kalumba, a street vendor along Chisokone road in Ndola, says: “The level of corruption came to be exposed after Mr Sata was voted to power.
We saw some ministers and officials holding high positions in previous governments appearing before the courts of law to answer corruption charges”.
On the contrary, this rather sad epitaph was not common in the UNIP era under the leadership of Zambia’s founding father Dr Kenneth Kaunda who equally was allegic to any form of corruption.
Metaphorically put, Dr Kaunda would even shed tears of angusih each moment he encountered perpetrators of the vice of national stagnation in its own ugly corrupt face before punishing the culprits.
“That is why when Dr Kaunda was removed from power by MMD led by late President Frederick Chiluba, we did not see any of his ministers in court answering corruption charges,” quips Joshua Chimiku, an accountant at a Lusaka based auditing firm.
On the opposite, as Mr Chimiku put it, a number of leaders most of them in the opposition political wilderness made screaming headlines from court sessions.
Nathan Mambwe, a Kitwe based lawyer, says it is cardinal that our present day leadership should strive to emulate late President Sata if the country was to develop.
More so, Mr Mambwe quips, the country needs very gallant political giants with the ability to interpret national governance overshadowing the country’s political landscape with all its socio-economic dynamics put together.
Emulating Mr Sata is like our mainstream political leadership serving the noble interest of the electorates, that is, serving society like the hunter who kills the prey in high style.
“Imagine if Mr Sata had ruled Zambia for 10 years, how much work would he have done to improve the lives of Zambians? He did alot in less than three years as State President which others failed to do for decades. We need leaders who share the interest of all Zambians. Otherwise, it is not easy to develop as a nation,” says Keith Chabala of Luanshya.
Society would be defeating the vision of dedicated leaders who have managed to serve the country and have also put their lives on the line in their profound quest to put interests of the people before individual and misplaced ego.
On the whole, this argumnent and counter contentions gloomily qualifies the significance of profound calls for national leaders and other public office bearers to emulate our late President Sata who opposed all forms of corruption against great toil in his political life.
And emulating him fit in strides to practice excellence which is no lesson in vain since Zambians have resolved to change old lumps for new ones in national interest.