Former Minister of Works and Supply Felix Mutati says he gave his best shot when dispensing his duties but maybe it was not good enough for President Edgar Lungu.

Speaking to journalists after attending mass at Mtendere parish in Lusaka yesterday, Mutati, who was fired last week, said he stretched himself to the limit as minister.

“We say thank you for the opportunity that he (God) has given me in life, the opportunity to be member of parliament for Lunte, the opportunity to be Cabinet minister. I feel that these great opportunities is because of the mercy of God, I also want to thank President Lungu, the servant of God for the courage that he demonstrated for appointing me as a member of his Cabinet, for the kindness, and for the confidence that he placed in me and for me, it is a mark of trust. I did the best that I could as minister, I gave it my best, I gave it my strength, I stretched it, I never left anything in the tank but if by any means, there were shortcomings, limitations, those are only but the consequence of human limitations,” Mutate said.

“What I want to pray, going forward, is that God grants him strength, grants him wisdom to lead Zambia. I also want to thank him for appointing honorable [Mutotwe] Kafwaya, from Lunte, a constituency where I come from, that he too may be able to deliver to the people of Zambia.”

Mutati said the country could only move forward if Zambians stopped playing the blame game and worked together.

“As Zambia,. the key message is that we need each other, you need my ideas, you need these ideas and the ideas of Zambians. What we don’t need is to blame each other, what we don’t need is always complaining, what we need is humanity, what we need is ubuntu. If we put our collective efforts, our collective wisdom, there is nothing insurmountable that as a people, we can’t overcome. And on this journey, we should always remember to put the country first, the people of Zambia first, they are above the politics. There is no hardship, no condition that is permanent. If we believe in God, we can always overcome,” said Mutati.

Asked where his dismissal left the PF/MMD pact, Mutati dodged the question.”In moving forward, today is a day of prayer, and I think when we shall reflect on the politics, let’s put the people and the country first and I think that is what is important today,” said Mutati.