UPND secretary general Stephen Katuka says President Edgar Lungu has no aorta of humility in him and he should not even use it as a qualification to re-contest the 2021 elections because Zambia needs someone who can give hope to citizens.

Commenting on President Edgar Lungu’s remarks that he would retain the Presidency in 2021 because he is humble, Katuka told News Diggers in an interview that he had never seen a person who was as arrogant as the current Head of State.

“If there is an arrogant person I have ever come across in my life, [it] is Edgar Lungu. He is stubborn, he’s arrogant, he’s childish and he is irresponsible to the needs of the people. But if humbleness to him means folding your hands when you walk, then you are humble, then he’s humble. But if it is the definition that I know about humbleness, he hasn’t got even an aorta of that in him. It is not humbleness that makes you a good leader, leaders are just born and there are virtues in them that show that they are leaders; how you react to situations that affect other people, how you respond and talk to people can sow who a good leader is, but none of these are in the man called Edgar Lungu. The man is arrogant, the man has no respect for others, the man is selfish, I don’t know what humbleness is there in him that he’s talking about and if that’s the kind of leader he’s expecting the Chairman there worthy talking there worthy talking about,” Katuka said.

Katuka argued that humility was not a qualification for one to be a leader.

“For me, I think someone can be humble but still make a bad leader. So it is not humbleness par se that makes you a good leader, there are people who are humble but they are not good leaders because what is leadership? A leader is one who takes into account other people’s problems, how we react to situations that are affecting other people and your ability to listen to divergent views of even people that you don’t like, you listen to them. But for him when you ask, is Guy Scott your friend? He says ‘I don’t drink with him’. So for Lungu, whoever you don’t drink with is not your friend, that is his description of a friend. So really, my point is that for me, humbleness has nothing to do with good leadership,” he said.

“Leaders are just born and as they grow up, I will tell you something that every family if you are five of you born from the same parents, as you grow up, they identify who a leader in that family is even at a tender age. They will assess how to talk to other people, how you respond to issues of the family and so on. You don’t necessarily need to be the first born, you could be the last born but in our traditional setup, this is how we even identify people to be successors of the Chief. They even go out of the family to look at the extended family until they find one who has the qualities of a leader, you don’t just pick anything that because he’s humble then he will make a good leader, no!”

Meanwhile, Katuka said there would be no reason to re-elect President Lungu in 2021 because he had failed.

“He has been tested and he has failed. So it is not for him to tell people how he’s going to win, it’s the people that will decide whether to choose him or not. Whatever message he gives in his campaign, the people have to choose by assessing to say ‘this is a person we’ve had for more than three years, has he fulfilled his promises?’ the man is a pathological liar! He went to Kabwe when he was campaigning and promised to open Mulungushi textiles in two weeks, has opened it? Up to now there is nothing. He had told us he would create 500,000 jobs, has he created 100,000? the answer is no. So it is a fallacy, nothing is real about what he says. The man is a liar, he wants to say things to please people at a particular time even when he knows he will not do it,” said Katuka.

“So I don’t think really we should look to humbleness as a measure of a good leader and his promises cannot be taken anymore because he has promised us so many times before that there won’t be load shedding anymore but now there is serious load shedding. So we can’t trust the man anymore and for me I think it’s the Zambian people now who should assess Lungu, but I think they should look for somebody who can give them hope as a country. The country has collapsed completely under his leadership.”