FATHER Richard Luonde says the country does not need a humble leader anymore but a sincere one.
In an interview, Fr Luonde, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) national chairperson said President Edgar Lungu had fooled people by pretending that he was humble.
“Zambia is what it is today because we made a mistake when that truthful, sincere, courageous person, [late president] Michael Sata died. What came after his death was pretence. Right now we have a dictator in State House who pretended to be a humble man, just because he wanted to succeed president Sata. So, Zambia today does not need humble leaders but sincere leaders who can be challenged by the people, they see the wrongs and appreciate them,” he said. “The ‘humble’ President whom we gave ourselves has run down the country. He has taken it to the worst levels ever. So, in 2021 we should not make a mistake of looking for a ‘humble’ person by voting for PF. If we had elected a sincere leader like Sata, Zambia would have been better today.”
Fr Luonde said the country was full of leaders whose aim was just to make money from the poor.
“We have a lot of pretenders in both the ruling party and the opposition who are making money from the poor. An outspoken person like my president, Dr Chishimba Kambwili will not be liked in Zambia because we like pretenders. The man is like Michael Sata and he calls a spade a spade,” said Fr Luonde. “This country has a lot of pretenders who are in fact dictators in reality. That’s why they surround themselves with puppets that they can control. People are suffering today because of such leaders who are worse than the devil. They are showing holiness on radio and TV, and yet they are wolves. If I belong to a party, I must open up fully to that political party; I should not be intimidated by the leader. To be sincere is to lead by the truth, not pretence.”