PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu has no magical powers to determine who will govern Zambia after the 2021 general election because it remains the preserve of the collective will of citizens to change government, says UPND spokesperson Charles Kakoma.

On Wednesday, President Lungu predicted that the ruling Patriotic Front party would win next year’s general election, adding that only ignorant people were going to “a party that would never rule the country.”

But commenting on President Lungu’s remarks, Kakoma insisted that President Lungu was not God to determine Zambia’s fate after any general election because that power only remained with voters.

“The people that will make (elect) a (Republican) President in 2021 are the voters themselves, the Zambian citizens. It is not Edgar Lungu who will make a President for Zambia, he only has one vote. He can add his wife’s votes and his children’s votes; they will not make him win! He has no magical powers to determine who the President of Zambia will be. We have heard these predictions before where people pronounce that, ‘so and so will never be president of this county,’ including the late president Michael Sata; some people used to say, ‘he will never be president as long as they live!’ But even when they lived, they saw Sata becoming president. So, it is not correct to say, ‘HH will never be president of this country’; they are not God for them to decide,” Kakoma said in an interview.

He also lamented President Lungu’s remarks that voters in Mwansabombwe constituency risked not having development if they voted for another party, which amounted to lawlessness.

“For the Head of State to pronounce that, ‘if voters don’t vote for his party, then people will never see development…’ is lawlessness! It is an offence under the Constitution of Zambia to deny people development on the basis of how they voted and as President, he should be at the forefront of upholding the Constitution. So, he cannot break the Constitution, that is promoting lawlessness. The money that is used for development is not from the President’s pockets, it is taxpayers’ money! Taxes also come from people in the opposition. So, to deny the people who are contributing to the taxes because they didn’t vote for the candidate is not correct. Probably he is getting away with it because as a nation, we have not reached a level of consciousness because such remarks can lead to the impeachment of the President. In other countries, he can be impeached for issuing such remarks,” said Kakoma.