Those eyeing the presidency should not be excited by President Michael Sata’s absence, says Father Richard Luonde.
The Anglican priest said some people were “positioning themselves” in the President’s absence.
President Sata left the country on Sunday evening for medical treatment in London.
“Some people who are eyeing the presidency have already started positioning themselves for that position in their own world. These people should know that we, as Zambians, do not consider them to be presidential material,” Fr Luonde said in an interview yesterday.
“All the presidents that we have had so far were appointed by God to serve the people of Zambia and they did not appoint themselves as presidents. It took President Sata 10 years for him to become president. They should not build castles in the air and they should not throw stones when they know that they live in glass houses.”
Fr Luonde said those positioning themselves for the presidency should forget because Zambia already had a president.
“Zambians know all the politicians and they also know who can lead this country when President Sata retires. The Patriotic Front was started by an individual and that individual is Michael Chilufya Sata. The people that joined him went there genuinely to help him realise that mission,” he said. “Why should people celebrate and begin to set themselves as people who can take over from President Sata just because he has gone for medical check-ups? Every human being is in the hands of God.”
Fr Luonde said there was need for Zambians to pray for President Sata so that whatever he wanted to achieve is realised while he is still president.
“Most of the members of parliament have even abandoned their constituencies and are concentrated in Lusaka so that they can have access to the media, especially electronic, instead of being in their constituencies,” he said.
Fr Luonde said President Sata already knew who would succeed him when he retires because he knew the people he was working with and what they were capable of doing.