FORMER MDC secretary general Lucky Mulusa says he is considering starting his own political party because he would rather do that than be led by people “who will come to shock you” after ascending to the presidency.

In an interview, Mulusa said he would rather lead a political party and offer proper solutions.

“Those of us that are in politics, do we really know what we are doing, why are we in politics? Are we there to create opportunities for ourselves, families and networks? Or are we there to help the people? I would rather lead a political party and offer proper solutions than being led by people who will come to shock you when they ascend to the presidency. So, for me when you ask where next, I would honestly rather be in charge of directing policies that can help people,” Mulusa said.

Asked if he was considering starting his own party, Mulusa responded in the affirmative.

“Well, it could be one of the options. One of the options honestly would be to create my own vehicle. I haven’t decided yet, I am on sabbatical leave, I want to do a bit of reflection, draft down policies that can work for Zambians and may [be] appeal to them to give me an opportunity. They know the way I work. They know that wherever I am, there are productive outcomes and when I leave a position, it is usually very difficult for others to do any better than I achieved. I think you can remember when I was at State House. I would hope that people would use that background to sort of give me an opportunity to serve them. And I can assure you, I would serve them,” he said.

And Mulusa, who is also former special assistant for project monitoring and implementation, said government officials should wake up from their slumber and rethink their strategies.

“If you see this current government that we have, one would have thought that when they designed the government, the way they have created some new ministries, one would have expected them to come up with pronouncements that will tell you ‘wow’ but nothing, there is just dead silent. It looks like what they are doing is wear nice black suits, with white shirts and red ties, and look handsome. For me, honestly it is very worrisome. Because the global world is moving on, at least if we were moving on, but we are not even stagnant, we are moving backwards. It is important that everybody who is involved in government, ministers, permanent secretaries shake themselves out of slumber and do something for the people,” she said.

“Let them revisit the promises and let them rethink the strategies. Because soon, they will start blaming the Russia and Ukraine war. Otherwise, things are not okay, I am yet to meet an ordinary person who is happy. People’s expectations are so high, it is important that UPND seats back, reflect and get to understand what they found themselves into. Ministers and permanent secretaries and everybody must wake up, at least engage the people. Re-ignite the hope the people had in the change. For now, it is very worrisome as to where we are going.”

He questioned what President Hakainde Hichilema’s programme for the country was.

“When you come in as a government, I will give you an example, when Sata came in as president, he identified himself with one political direction and that was to open up Zambia. He came up with the link Zambia 8000. Now we have the most educated president Zambia has ever had, the question is, what is his programme?” asked Mulusa.