President Lungu Grooming One Of His Friends To Succeed Him

PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu on Wednesday told Zambians resident in Zimbabwe that he is already grooming the person, among his friends, who will succeed him when he leaves office.
And President Lungu triggered laughter among dignitaries and exhibitors at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair in Bulawayo when he revealed that he used to make “nocturnal visits” to that country before his election.
Meanwhile, the Head of State says he feels marginalised since assuming office. Addressing the Zambians, President Lungu said he wanted to change the tradition of talking down to people whenever a Head of State visited a foreign mission. “I want to break away from that tradition of doing things, I want to be talked to instead. We have to change the way of doing things and we have to change things during my presidency,” he said. “I know that I am putting on the shoes of my late boss, Mr Michael Sata.
I hope in 2016 I will buy my own shoes. It is very important, it’s not a joke and that is why my vision has to fit with the vision that you entrusted our president with in 2011. Me also, I am already grooming my friend to take over when the time comes.” President Lungu further said there were strong views surrounding the dual citizenship proposal. He was responding to a question raised by one of the Zambians resident in Zimbabwe. “We are not in a hurry to change this law because there are very strong views on this issue,” President Lungu said. “But nga mulefwaya ukushitisha calo, kushitisha, nga mulefwaya ukugoleka, kugoleka (if you want to sell this country, sell it).” The President further asked those who were calling for dual citizenship to carefully study what was contained in the final draft constitution. “I haven’t come here to campaign.
Time will come when I will come to campaign because even in foreign missions, I will be campaigning,” he said. Earlier, President Lungu said he had been feeling excluded since he was elected. When he was called to the podium to address the gathering, President Lungu asked why he could not speak from where he was seated. “I want to speak from here, why [not]? Good evening my fellow Zambians. Please be seated, but why can’t I speak from there?” he asked. “Since I got into this office, I feel slowly marginalised, excluded and so forth.
I am one of you; I want to feel like I am one of you.” Meanwhile, first lady Esther Lungu said she finds it easy to refer to President Lungu as honourable. “The President of the Republic of Zambia His Excellency, normally I want to say honourable, I am so used to honourable,” Esther said as she gave a speech, to which President Lungu retorted: “Uchinje boyi [change my friend].”
And officiating at the trade fair in Bulawayo in the company of Esther, Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe and first lady Grace Mugabe, President Lungu said Zimbabwe was close to Zambia, hence it being the first foreign country he visited after being elected. “It is on this realisation, Your Excellency, that Zimbabwe occupies a special place in our hearts of hearts and was the first country I indeed visited after assuming office in January this year. I will not talk about the nocturnal visits I was making before being elected,” he said, sending the VIP section at the trade fair into laughter. “The people of Zambia and Zimbabwe have always lived and worked together for the common good. We are indeed Siamese twins, joined by the Zambezi River and the mighty Victoria Falls, a natural monument and one of the Seven Wonders of the World, that symbolises both our identities as Zambia and Zimbabwe and indeed our culture.” President Lungu said he was honoured to officiate at the trade fair. “It is my honour and privilege to be here in Bulawayo today to participate at the 56th Zimbabwe International Trade Fair being organised under the theme: ‘Stimulating Trade; Seizing Opportunities to Accelerate Growth’.
From the outset, allow me to pay tribute to Your Excellency Comrade Robert Gabriel Mugabe, the government and indeed the people of this great nation for inviting us to come here to see for ourselves the great strides which Zimbabwe has made not only in the economic field but also in other areas of human endeavour,” he said. President Lungu directed commerce, trade and industry minister Margaret Mwanakatwe to see to it that trade between the two nations is enhanced and to ensure that Zambia continues participating at the Bulawayo Trade Fair.
After the presentation of awards, in which Zambia’s Food Reserve Agency (FRA) emerged as the least best foreign exhibitor after the first prize was bagged by South Africa’s Directorate of Trade and Commerce, President Lungu was presented with two cushy chairs. When he was requested to sit on one of them, President Lungu started springing on it whilst seated, causing more laughter as the master of ceremonies remarked: “His Excellency is having a feel of his chair.” Earlier, ZITF chairperson Bhekitemba Nkombo said in his opening remarks that despite the difficult business environment in Zimbabwe, this year’s fair had seen an increase in the number of exhibitors and quality of products. President Lungu returned to Zambia immediately after opening the fair. And speaking to journalists on his arrival at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport, President Lungu described his trip as a success. “You mean you never got the reports? We had a full team of the media [and] they gave you on-the-spot reports of what happened, but I can tell you that we want to industrialise,” the Head of State said jubilantly.
Asked whether SADC leaders discussed the recent xenophobic attacks in South Africa, President Lungu said there was an assurance from that country’s government to address the situation. “Well, the issue of South Africa was addressed yes; we had a closed [door] meeting and South Africa assured us that they will take care and they are taking care,” he revealed. “It’s about the economy [because] when you are very poor in a rich man’s house, everything which goes missing, they blame you [and] so if our economy in the southern part of Africa could be improved, very few people would migrate to go and look for jobs without qualifications.
So it’s clear that we have to up our act in terms of building the economy and we are going to do this by value addition and that is a very serious approach we are talking about.” When a journalist asked him for a May Day comment, the President said he was a labourer. “Oh, Labour Day is tomorrow (yesterday)! I will be there. You are also a labourer [and] I’m a labourer, so we’ll meet tomorrow. Thank you,” said President Lungu before walking away.