President Edgar Lungu says he can not appoint a running mate who would want him to die fast in order to succeed him.
Addressing his party members in Kafue, Saturday, President Lungu ruled out picking an over ambitious running mate.
“Elo na filya fya running mate balandapo, takwaba ukuvotela running mate. Running mate, President eusala ati niwebo running mate. Guy Scott mwe baishiba ilyashi ali munabo waba Sata. Ali running mate waba Sata. Ba Sata ba musalile pantu baleumfwa bwino umusungu. Elo naine wine nga ndeumfwa bwino, naiwe wine kuti nakusala waba running mate chapwa (These talks about a running mate, you can’t vote for a running mate. A President is the one who chooses a running mate. Guy Scott, those of you who know the story, he was President Sata’s friend and running mate. President Sata chose him because he liked having a white man around. Even me, if I feel like it, I can choose you as a running mate and it’s final),” President Lungu said.
“Running mate, filya fine fyali Guy Scott ba boss nga bamwita kubutuka. Not ati ‘talelwala, talefwa’, awe! Especially nga uno muku, Constitution yatila ati President ngafwa umu pyana ni running mate or Vice-President. Nomba kuti wafwaya Vice-President uwakutila ale kutungilila pakuti ufwe bwangu pakuti apyane? (For a running mate, the way Guy Scott was, when the boss calls him, he goes running. Not busy asking ‘isn’t he sick, isn’t he dying’, no! Especially now, the Constitution states that when a President dies, the successor is the running mate or Vice-President. Now can you want a Vice-President who keeps praying for you to die fast to succeed you?”
He urged party officials to wait until they were chosen by the majority at the end of his tenure, saying he would not impose a candidate to take over.
He said people who were jostling for adoptions by using social media were wasting their time.
“Ubwafya tukwete, tatu fwaya ukusambilila. Because ilyo ba Sata batushile kwali abaletila ‘iyo ninebo ninebo’. Until abantu baisa sonta. Why can’t we wait nauno umuku abantu baka sonte? Ine palwandi, I cannot impose a candidate, I can’t. Even my successor cannot impose. ‘Iyo ba Lungu nabakwata Luapula 11’. Luapuala 11 pati? There is nothing like that. ‘No, pantu Kennedy Kamba waku Luapula, ba SG ba ku Luapula, kwati ebo balefwaya ukushiila’. Chikayeba fye ichine ukweba [ati] niuyu nomba ewala pyana Lungu (The problem we have is that we don’t want to learn. Because when President Sata left us, there were people who were saying ‘no its me, its me’. Until people chose. Why can’t we wait for people to choose even this time? People will choose. On my own, I cannot impose a candidate, I can’t. Even my successor cannot impose. ‘No, President Lungu has Luapula 11’. Which Luapula 11? There is nothing like that. ‘No, because Kennedy Kamba is from Luapula, even the SG is from Luapula, I think those are the ones they want as successors’. It will be decided on its own that ‘this is the one who is going to succeed Lungu’),” said President Lungu.
“Not filya fine waiposa pa social media, uleposa fye inshita. Waeba ama bloggers ‘iyo…’. Efyo bachita abantu, ngawamoneka ati wapalama ku State House ninshi bala ku konka. Ulya balemona ati alebomba sana na ba President uyo bale bonfya sana, ninshi wapya iwe wapya. Twalifishiba. Nomba ninshi mule onaula fye icipani. You are just finishing the party. Pantu ulya ewo mwasonta ulya, abantu bamu pata balamubepesha nokwiba, corruption. Pa last tuleonaulafye party. Me I don’t care who can be a minister, who can be MP as long as bonse tulebombela pamo. Tulebombela party (Not whereby you throw yourself on social media, you are just wasting your time. What people do, if they see that that you are closer to State House, they will start following you. The one they see working hard or maybe the President is using him or her a lot, then it’s a problem. We know that. Now, you are just destroying the party. You are just finishing the party. Because that one that you have choosen, people will hate him and accuse him of stealing or corruption. Me, I don’t care who can be a minister, who can be MP as long we are all working together. We are working for the party.”
3 Responses
I believe the words in Bemba are in verbatim. If they truly are then it shows were the rot is in the system. How can a president of the republic say, “…you are just finishing the party….Me, I don’t care who can be a minister, who can be MP as long we are all working together. We are working for the party…”
The party may have chosen him to be its leader, but to be republican president it’s the Zambians that did that.
Guy Scott was never Michael Sata’s running mate. Running mate clause was included in our constitution on 5th January 2016 long after Ba Sata’s death!
With such a short-sighted goons, the country can’t move forward. The running mate issue was never at play when guy scot was Vice President!…and why should we even be holding campaign meetings during the Covid pandemic while you stop others from holding meetings, what a selfish, thuggish, hypocrite shameless bunch!!