LUNGU IS NOT A LEADER WORTH HIS SALT, SAYS PANJI…he’s accumulated so much wealth for himself & nothing for the poor
By Patson Chilemba
Ruling PF member Colonel Panji Kaunda says if Edgar Lungu is a leader worth his salt he would have addressed the nation over the challenges the country is going through and the plans he has to address them.
And Col Panji has backed National Democratic Congress (NDC) leader Chishimba Kambwili’s disappointment with Zambians for failing to stand up for matters affecting the nation, and leaving those who speak for them to fend for themselves whenever they fall into trouble.
Speaking with Daily Revelation, Col Panji said the country was being battered right now on account of the unsustainable national debt accumulated under President Edgar Lungu’s leadership, but that the Plot 1 occupant did not care because he has accumulated so much wealth for himself and his family. He said it was saddening that President Lungu was more preoccupied with touring the country in the hopes of securing a third term, instead of addressing national matters he was elected to address.
“A leader worth his salt, who thinks for his people would have come and said people this is the situation, it’s a disaster, but we are doing this to alleviate the problem,” Col Panji said.
Col Panji said this is why issues of Zambians being docile were being raised, because President was an absentee President who was touring the country and being received by the suffering people – whose suffering he had caused because of poor leadership – yet the people were quiet.
He said President Lungu had become richer while the people he was governed to serve were becoming more poorer.
“If I’m never hungry, I don’t know what to be hungry is about. So in this country whether we have bad economic condition, it affects the people in Kalingalinga. Those are the ones who don’t understand what default is, which leads to currency depreciation,” Col Panji said. “The other day I was reading that the currency (Kwacha) is down 33 percent meaning everything you buy your currency is 33 percent weaker, and thus things are becoming more expensive.”
Col Panji said any new President that would come in should investigate President Lungu and his fellow leaders in government on how they had managed to increase their wealth portfolio during the same period millions were being thrown into poverty.
“We are going to go through that record that when you became a minister this is what you had, and now that you are retiring as President this is what you have acquired. Where did you get the money from, because State House is not an industry,” Col Panji said, adding that these were matters that required active participation from citizens.
Col Panji said this was not the time to sit on the fence when the nation was being destroyed, saying although every change had leaders in them, ultimately it was the masses who brought about real change.
He said silence had never brought about change anywhere, saying even those who genuinely agreed that things were nosediving but were still benefiting from government in one way or the other, should sacrifice their little pockets for the nation’s sake.
Col Panji said Kambwili’s views should therefore be looked at as a clarion call to the Zambian people to participate more actively in national matters.