ELECTED as the sixth custodian of the instruments of power, Edgar Chagwa Lungu has again been trusted by his party as the chief paddler of the new era Patriotic Front (PF) boat to sail through 2016 General Elections.
It is no secret that recently the Central Committee of the ruling PF resolved to give Mr Lungu an overwhelming endorsement.
However, President Lungu’s current fixation that seems to have eclipsed his endorsement as the PF helmsman and Presidential hopeful for the second time is not witch-hunting but rather devising methods of spurring economic development across the nation.
His leadership traits have been tried and tested successfully as he on January 20, 2015 rowed through the stormy waters to the victorious shores of plot one.
What other name could the PF Central Committee, chaired by party Secretary General Davis Chama settle for when all indicators towards success in 2016 point towards one name “Edgar Chagwa Lungu?”
It’s obvious that this is a name not just salable but loved and trusted by the Zambian people making the ruling party save time on deliberating on who to field as the 2016 presidential candidate.
In cementing the decision, Mr Chama says not only is President Lungu salable but that he was also elected PF’s leader at the last general conference to serve for five years.
“The Central Committee has affirmed the decision interpreting our party constitution that we have the presidential candidate for the 2016 tripartite elections in the name of Edgar Chagwa Lungu,” he says.
In this case, Mr Chama makes it clear that President Lungu’s mandate as party leader can only be challenged in 2019.
According to political analysts this decision will help cast aside what happened at the Mulungushi Rock of Authority and unite the ruling party making it a huge and leading force to reckon with.
Now, why Lungu?
Clearly, President Lungu possesses a rich unmatched political profile currently standing out as a huge challenge for his opponents in the highly anticipated 2016 elections.
Delving a little deeper in his political profile, before his demise, President Michel Sata made this man act as President of the republic of Zambia, PF Party President while serving as PF-Secretary-General, Defence and Justice Minister!
These are some clear attributes by which his party saw him as the torch-bearer of the PF to illuminate a way through the Presidential election beside his already rich academic profile?
Just in the few months he has been in office, President Lungu has cleared the face of Zambia building bilateral relations with many states thereby enhancing economic growth.
It is during this same short period that the youth policy was recently launched in order to improve the welfare of the young people in the country.
At the moment, there are no other presidential hopefuls to think of ,making President Lungu the man who will certainly again be given the mandate as president come 2016.
President Lungu believes that Zambians have for the past four years seen what the PF Government has done and still doing (ambitious developmental projects set on course by the late President Sata).
After being elected, President Lungu made it clear that it would be inappropriate to stop the highly ambitious projects the PF had started under Mr Sata since there was no time’ before the 2016 elections.
Unlike those who are naturally filled with hasty ambitions of making their presence felt, President Lungu has a well calculated political path that automatically gives a glimmer of what kind of leader he is likely to be beyond 2016.
Born on 11th November 1956, Edgar Lungu’s journey to the political front is a tale of humble beginning that became visible when he served as an attorney for the late President Michel Sata.
As a defence lawyer, he stood to protect the vision and political interest of Mr Sata through thick and thin till the day PF managed to dislodge the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD.
Recognising his leadership qualities, Mr Lungu was given a junior portfolio under the office of the Vice President  before being entrusted to head the Ministry of Home Affairs.
It was during the same period that Mr Lungu had for the first time a feel of the topmost seat of the Republican Presidency in an acting capacity.
Building up on that, less than a year later, after the resignation of Mr Geoffrey Mwamba (GBM) from his position as Defence Minister, President Sata could not hesitate in elevating Mr. Lungu once more to the plum position of Minister in charge of the armed forces.
Mr Sata seemed to have the name ‘Lungu’ so close to his trust such that again the first name that came to his mind after reliving Mr Kabimba of his ministerial position in charge of justice was that of Edgar Lungu. What a trust!
Today the PF central committee has once more put President Lungu in the race for the highly contested fight to plot one.
It is evident that the man has a huge advantage of having shown Zambia what a real leader should be.