CHIEF Government spokesperson Chushi Kasanda says President Hakainde Hichilema is a sober, intellectual and focused Head of State who will not entertain praise singers.

Speaking when he featured on ZNBC’s Sunday Interview, former Attorney General Musa Mwenye warned that praise singers had destroyed presidents.

“Our commitment as citizens should be to keep our government honest because you see, I have always been of the view that sycophancy destroys presidents. Praise singers are the worst people because a lot of presidents are destroyed by praise singers. Principled and informed critics are what builds presidents. If I flag off something early, you give the politicians time to self correct before it becomes a problem. So informed and respective criticism must be promoted and encouraged because it helps us as long as we hear the criticism and act upon it,” said Mwenye.

Commenting on this in an interview, Tuesday, Kasanda said President Hichilema was a rare breed and Zambians would soon realise that they made the right decision by voting for him.

“The President does not entertain praise singers, he is a very determined and very focused President. I have actually seen what Diggers has written in the paper, he is a very focused man and I’m sure the Zambians have seen it for themselves in the few months and weeks that we have been in power. I think we have seen the seriousness not just internally but externally as well. That is why he was able to go to the UN meeting and even in the UN meeting, he spoke a lot to the Zambian international community. I think we will see a lot that will be coming in from the international community as well as the support he is going to get locally because he is a very focused President. Apart from being focused, he is very sober and very intellectual. He is a rare breed for sure,” Kasanda said.

“I can assure you that in a few months, I think the Zambians will realize that their vote was worth going to their current President. The 2.8 million people that voted for him I’m sure in a few days or weeks, months and years to come, they will actually as he said in one of his pronouncements he said they will be laughing. I think the Zambians will be laughing and [will be] happy very soon to actually realize that they voted for the right man.”

Kasanda said the President was eager to fix the economy and did not want to see public money going to waste.

‘The President is eager to fix the economy. I will give you a good example, even in his pronouncements during the first session of Parliament he was very categorical, he said all procurement entities should apply the principles of meeting prices, it should be value for money, timely delivery of goods and services, and the works being done. He doesn’t want to see public money going to waste. He spoke at the OYDC just a few days ago, he actually said ‘I will not tolerate anybody who is going to be in dubious activities’ meaning that he wants zero tolerance for the country,” said Kasanda.

“He wants to make sure the youths are covered, and I’m sure I’m speaking to a youth right now. He wants to make sure that we have a better economy from what he found. On several of his pronouncements as well on several occasions, he has mentioned that there is no money in the coffers and he is working so that he improves the economy of the country.”