PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu says Zambians will only see and appreciate what he has done for the country after he has left office.

Speaking when he addressed chiefs in Chitambo District, Tuesday, President Lungu said that Zambians would only appreciate him after he left office as that had been the trend since the first Republican president Dr Kenneth Kaunda left office in 1991.

“Natutemwa sana ukutila muli abalefwaya ukubomba naifwe. Twalakwata ukukosa na amaka pantu natwishiba ukutila ati natukwata support. Umulimo ubukalamba sana lelo muchalo cha Zambia, kuyalembesha ubukasala. Pantu fyonse nangu tulande nga tatukwete ama cards yakuyasala, ninshi fyonse fyafye. So, namilomba ukutila uyu umulimo wena mwiuwangusha. Kabiyeni mulembeshe, ine nalilembesha mailo. Ndemikoselesha ukutila ati mufwile mwalanda pali efyo alebomba umwana wenu, pantu apali mwana wenu, mufwile mwalanda efyo alebomba mwamukoselesha… pantu ilingi abantu efyo tuchita tabafimona. Eulelanda ninebo President Lungu; ifyo tabafimona ilingi nga tuli munchito lulya tulebomba. Ngawafumapo, elo bakesalanda ati kanshi alebomba, kanshi nga tabamufumishepo (We are happy that you want to work with us. We are strengthened with your support. The biggest job that we have here in Zambia today is the registration of voters. Please, do not trivialise this because everything will be futile if we don’t register as voters. Don’t take this for granted, go and register, I have already registered. I am encouraging you to speak freely about how your child [Chitambo MP] is working here, encourage him, because a lot of times, people do not see what we do. I am saying this myself as Edgar Lungu…When I leave office, that is when they will appreciate what I have done for you and say ‘so he was working, we shouldn’t have removed him’),” President Lungu said.

“Echo ndelandila ifi, nali belenga nalimona nokumona pantu eko nali elyo ba Kaunda baleteka. Fyakutasha, fimbi bilesoswa nokusoswa, umusebo uyu tulepitamo nanomba, fingi kwena bachitile. Tefyonse, balitushilako, that’s why ba Chiluba nabena balichitako bashako. Elyo ba Kaunda balefuma baleti naleya, naleya. Kanshita kanono bapilibuka ati walibomba (I am saying this because I have read and seen, I was there when Dr Kaunda was in office. There is a lot we can thank Kaunda for today, including this road we are using in Chitambo today. But at the time Kaunda was voted out of office, they said let him go. After a short while, they starting saying he delivered. Even Chiluba, when he was working, others said he was not working; it was the same even for Levy Mwanawasa).”

He predicted that citizens would only realise that he governed well after leaving office, similar to how Zambians only appreciated some of his predecessors.

“Ba Chiluba nabene elyo balebomba, bambi ati awe talebomba, bambi ati balebomba Elyo baile… Elyo Chiluba aile, elyo batile Chiluba alibombele. Ba Mwanawasa nabo cimo cine. Elya ba Mwanawasa batusha, abantu batile Mwanawasa alibomba. So, ifwe nomba natukwata ishuko yakutila ati elyo tulebomba, mufwile mwatweba ati apa tamulebomba. Apa naubomba bwino, apa naulufyanya pantu ifwe tuli bana benu and in a democracy, twasumina mukulanda icishinka. Tekweba ati ngamwalanda ati apa tamubombele ninshi namumpata iyo. Pantu ngamwatulekelesha twafumapo, elo bakesalanda Lungu ali bwino (President Chiluba did the same. The same thing happened to Mwanawasa. When he died, that is when they said he did a good job. So we are lucky today because we can ask you and you can tell us whether we are doing a good job or not. It doesn’t mean you hate us when you tell us the truth. You have to tell us here whether we are doing well or not because in a democracy, we believe in saying the truth. If you don’t tell us, the day we will move out of office, that is when they will say Lungu was just okay),” said President Lungu.

“Ayo mashiwi mwasosa ayakweba ati bamupubelwa…twalabasulakofye pantu bena kulandafye, malandakanwa. Pantu abo tababapo bu Mayor, nangu councillor, nangu MP, balefwayafye pamulu palyapene. Limbi nomunandi kuti aisaba president pantu ni MP. Nomba mwaisafumafye uko ati ndefwaya ukuba president, awe tefyochaba iyo… (I have heard the message from you concerning a talkative individual. What I can say is, forget about him because that one has never been a mayor, or an MP or even a councillor. He just wants the top-most job, but that’s not how things work).”