People’s party leader Mike Mulogoti says Zambians are always praying for God’s intervention to have President Edgar Lungu leave office soon, adding that the Head of State’s days in office are numbered.

And Mulongoti says President Lungu still does not understand how government operates despite having been a minster and member of parliament before.

Mulongoti who is former information minister and also served as Works and Supply minister, said the Head of State had caused so much pain and misery for the people and citizens were eager to see him go.

“Mr Lungu’s days are numbered. No matter what he does, his days are numbered. We saw a very strong President called Kenneth Kaunda, his time to go came. We saw a strong President who bought so much material that even trees had Chitenge, Rupiah Banda just walked away. This one (Lungu) even worse. He has plundered the economy, he has plundered government resources to the point that to retain him, the level of anger he has caused in the hearts of citizens would cause violence for all of us,” Mulongoti said.

“So his going away is the only option we have, we don’t have any other option. If he thinks there is room for him then he’s cheating himself. Let him privately go to the citizens and talk to them so that he hears what exactly they are saying. They want him out. Others are praying for God to intervene in removing him. God can remove you in many ways. But because he’s always drunk, there is nothing he can understand,” said Mulongoti.

And commenting on President Lungu’s concerns when he visited Solwezi last week, where he told Chief Chibwika of North Western Province that it was difficult for him to take development to opposition strongholds because he had no “special purpose vehicles” to do so, Mulongoti said President Lungu was looking for excuses to deny people development.

“Mr Lungu does not seem to understand that government is an all purpose vehicle which is supposed to cover the whole country. In government there should be no tribe, there should be no special people, there must be equity. So you can tell that he’s such an ignorant person that he thinks government is for PF. Government administration is for the whole republic and when you are taking development, it must be taken on the basis equity, not on the basis of tribal or party affiliations. He amazes me with his level of thinking that a President who has got an administration which is supposed to cover the whole country has begun to complain that he doesn’t have a special vehicle. I don’t know if he understands what a special purpose vehicle is,” Mulongoti said.

“If government is not a special purpose vehicle, what then is a special vehicle in this country? It’s becoming very evident that Mr Lungu needs a lot of help. It is no wonder he is discriminating some citizens, no wonder he’s been very aggressive of citizens because he doesn’t understand what he’s doing. The constituencies in this country are not demarcated as per political party, they are constituencies demarcated for the Republic of Zambia. So whether the MP who comes from there is for the opposition, it is by choice of the people. There is no such a thing that this constituency is created for UPND, this one is for PF. So there is no reason at all why any normal thinking President must begin to say he can’t take development somewhere.”

Mulongoti wondered why it would be hard for him to take development to opposition strongholds when the national budget had already allocated funds to those constituencies.

“The sharing of resources is done in Parliament, and in Parliament you don’t say ‘because you are from Siavonga, in the budget you are not represented because you are from the opposition’, there is no such thing. When planning of the budget is done, it covers the whole country and that is what is expected. Because the minute they don’t do that, they are creating contention. This is the complaint we’ve seen that some Provinces have got two universities while others have nothing. Some people have got huge hospitals and others have got nothing, that is what is bringing contention, and when you’ve got a President who thinks like that, he thinks he is handicapped by people who are supposed to work with him. The responsibility of President is not for a member of parliament,” Mulomgti said.

He also wondered what President Lungu learnt in his many years of being a member of parliament.

“A member of parliament is a voice carrier on behalf of the people. Development is the responsibility of government through the civil service. But this man doesn’t understand that, he wants to find excuses to deny people development. He was a member of parliament before but I don’t know what he learnt from there. He was minister but I don’t know what he learnt from there. There is a book called ‘cabinet handbook’ which describes the responsibilities of a minister per portfolio. He is the minister of the Republic. A minister’s obligation is not to the party, they are ministers of government. They are PF in the party and they are ministers of the Republic,” said Mulongoti.