Copperbelt Minister Bowman Lusambo says “President Edgar Chagwa Lungu is a great leader of this great country because of the many great things he has done for Zambia”.

And Lusambo says just because former information minister Chishimba Kambwili has got a big neck, he should not think he can withstand President Lungu politically.

Responding to numerous Muvi TV viewers who phoned in and sent text messages during The Assignment programme telling him that it was embarrassing for him to be punctuating his sentences with “President Edgar Chagwa Lungu the great leader of this great country”, Lusambo explained his infamous slogan.

“I want to define the reason why we call His Excellency Edgar Chagwa Lungu the great leader. First and foremost, this nation is a great nation so with a great nation, we have a great leader Edgar Chagwa Lungu [and] he has earned this name as great leader because of the many things he has done to this country,” Lusambo said.

“I want just to give you one example, we had one state secret if I may call it, the Constitution, many presidents have come and gone, governments have come and gone and they treated this Constitution as state secret and they had to lock it in our drawers in our offices of government. When His Excellency Edgar Chagwa Lungu was appointed Minister of Justice by then, he gave the Draft Constitution to the public and the people started debating on that Constitution, that first step he took for us as the people of Zambia he was a man of his words, he wanted the people to own what they had been looking for and his greatness in that.”

And Lusambo said Kambwili could never be compared to President Lungu.

“I am very disappointed with my elder brother honourable Chishimba Kambwili when he came out and said he wants to do a punch for punch with His Excellency Edgar Chagwa Lungu the great leader of this great nation, it’s more like asking Mayweather to fight McGregor. It doesn’t mean that if you are big, you have a big body with a big neck you can withstand politically with the President, you can’t. As a people who have declared in the past to do that type of politics punch for punch, you and me I think you have known how they have ended, I can assure you that people with a stance of Shrek can never be compared to His Excellency Edgar Chagwa Lungu,” he said.

“I can assure you that Chishimba Kambwili is not going anywhere with this kind of politics, we have been seeing people with this type of politics and they have ended up in a very bad situation you know politically Chishimba Kambwili is a light weight. He is a light weight he can’t be compared to His Excellency Edgar Changwa Lungu.”

Meanwhile, Lusambo claimed President Lungu did not tolerate corrupt ministers.

“Chishimba Kambwili has accused people left right and centre and for him, he is an angel. He has told the people of Zambia that he is as clean as Dr [Kenneth] Kaunda’s handkerchief but me I know me I know Chishimba Kambwili very well in and out and my question to Chishimba Kambwili is, let him tell the people of Zambia where the railway line between Ndola and Luanshya where it has gone…His Excellency Edgar Changwa Lungu does not tolerate corruption,” he said.

Lusambo, who was an MMD Die Hard cadre, insisted that his blood was now 100 per cent PF.

Meanwhile Lusambo said President Lungu was keen on bringing development to Copperbelt and the nation at large.

“His Excellency Edgar Chagwa Lungu has embarked on putting up infrastructure in the country and the Copperbelt is not an exception he has been bringing development on the Copperbelt Province as you might be aware that we have a multi-billion dollar project,” Lusambo said.

Lusambo further disputed claims that the government has taken five years to build the Ndola-Kitwe dual carriage.

“We haven’t failed to complete the road, for us what we are doing we want to give a good service to our people we don’t want to rush. The road was a two year project and it has been done we are just doing the final touch to the road and I can assure you that at the end of the day we want to give a good service to the people of Zambia,” he said.

He added that the PF would fulfil the President’s promise to create 500,000 jobs for the people of Zambia.

“When the President declared that they are going to create five hundred thousand plus jobs we knew which sectors where the jobs are going to come okay and one of the sectors for us is agriculture and I can assure you that through agriculture we are going to employ part of that 500,000 people,” said Lusambo