. Lungu

By CHUSA SICHONE –
PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu has cautioned Zambians against voting for leaders who have no experience in running the country.
Mr Lungu also said he wanted to be remembered as a leader who had left a human face to the Presidency.
Mr Lungu said this at State House during a live broadcast interview conducted by Zachariah Chavula and Hope Chishala on Hot FM yesterday to commemorate the radio station’s 10th anniversary.
“Zambians should vote for somebody they tried and tested. I have been tested in the nine months and I think I have passed the test. Others have to be tested again if they come and I think we should avoid experimenting from one experiment to another.
“When you have something which is working, don’t mend it. If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it, they say,” he said.
Mr Lungu said he was a level-headed leader who was national in character, running an administration which had set high standards, walked the talk, was determined to develop Zambia and that the country was not going down as the Government was on top of things with its national development vision, which should be allowed to continue.
“If I was not national in character, for example, I would have shelved some of the projects in my quest to revenge on some people I think don’t want me or didn’t want me.
“Look, I have been very level-headed. Projects are going on across the board, throughout the country in all regions, including in areas where I got zero votes. This shows the kind of person that I am and I think I am the right person,” he said.
Mr Lungu said he had also demonstrated to be a listening leader by, among things, calling for reforms to the Public Order Act and responding to concerns on the Constitution-making process.
And Mr Lungu said he would like to leave a legacy where the Presidency was reduced to a human being occupying a leadership role on behalf of the people who had entrusted the President to run the country on their behalf.
“So I want to be remembered as an ordinary person who became President and who brought ordinary human characteristics to the Presidency, not where the President can’t go wrong, where the President is all-powerful, where the President cannot fall ill.
“For example, they don’t expect me to fall ill, they don’t expect me to just enjoy a game of soccer with friends to cheer and clap, they just don’t expect me to be a human being anymore because I am President. No, I think I want people to begin seeing the President as one of them who is privileged to be at the helm,” President Lungu said.
“I want to be remembered as a President who remained a human being, an ordinary mortal who could make mistakes, who could listen to a voice out there,” the Head of State said.
Mr Lungu admitted that there were some protocols and traditional practices in place which came with the Presidency, thereby making it easy for one at the helm of power to slide into a ‘super human being’, among others.