President Lungu Promises resolute fight against corruption in Independence day message

President Edgar Lungu says government will wage a resolute fight against corruption to sustain the country’s progress.

Speaking during his address to nation on the eve of Zambia’s 51st Independence anniversary, President Lungu said fight will be at both individual and institutional level.

President LUNGU called on Zambians to resist the urge to offer bribes in return for public services.

He said he expects public workers to do their work without soliciting for bribes.

President LUNGU said there is need to hold a high standard of integrity in public and private affairs.

The President has also called on Zambians to be dedicated to duty if the country is to transform its economy.

He however, expressed concerned that some workers have continued with the culture of absenteeism, late reporting for work and knocking off early thereby negatively affecting the country’s economy.

President Lungu who quoted 1 John 4 verse 20, also appealed to Zambians to continue making peace among them and in return, secure the compassion and love of God in whose image are created.

The President has further called for patriotism among the citizenry in order to attain prosperous future for the country.

He also called for national reconciliation Repentance and forgiveness among Zambians in line with the country’s status as a Christian nation.

The President further said the country will harness entrepreneurship and innovation as key to resolving some of pressing socio-economic issues.

He further called for maintaining of a clean, healthy, safe living and working environment.

The President says the country needs to address both short and long term challenges that the country is facing such as energy deficit and the fall of kwacha.

He also announced that government will continue investing in renewable sources of energy as the country’s economy demands more as it grows.

The President further promised that his government will continue to invest in infrastructure development of the country while promoting diversification to create increased job opportunities for all.

Zambia will on Saturday celebrates 51 years of Independence under the theme “Laying a Foundation For a Smart Zambia, finding forgiveness repentance, compassion and Love in God”.

Below is the Full Speech

Good evening countrymen and women,

At the stroke of midnight on 23rd october, 1964, our national flag was hoisted for the first time to signal to the world, the birth of our republic.

There was jubilation as our flag made its journey above, giving us hope and aspiration for a better future of freedom, justice and progress.

On the eve of commemorating that historic day, I take great pleasure and pride in addressing the nation to flag-off another year of reflection, celebration, thanks-giving, and praise to god for our independence.

Countrymen and women,

On this historic occasion of our independence, we will always pay special tributes to our founding fathers and mothers, the heroes and heroines of our independence struggle, some of whom have departed. Their memory powers us with greater resolve to consolidate the gains of our sovereignty.

Dr kenneth david kaunda, our founding father, is one of those who are still alive and deserve special recognition for the sacrifices he and his fellow freedom fighters made for our emancipation.

Countrymen and women,

This year, we begin a new chapter in our continuing journey of nation-building. We should, therefore, galvanise ourselves as a nation and align our individual and collective efforts towards a common future of a prosperous, stable, peaceful and united Zambia.

It is for this reason that the theme for this year’s independence anniversary is: “laying the foundation for a smart Zambia, finding forgiveness, repentance, compassion and love in god.”

This theme builds on my opening address to the fifth session of the eleventh national assembly delivered on 18th september, 2015 which is the blueprint for our national transformation in the next fifty years.

In order to implement our transformation agenda, each one of us should summon the spirit of patriotism and readiness to contribute to the attainment of a prosperous future for our country.

At this stage of our development, I call for national reconciliation, repentance and forgiveness among ourselves in line with our status as a christian nation. We must never forget that we are a blessed nation.

Country men and women,

In my opening address to the national assembly, I outlined the foundation upon which a smart Zambia will be anchored. I will briefly touch on some of them:

We must embrace innovation and entrepreneurship anchored on creativity. We are a country with a young population that has growing aspirations and expectations. Our young people need opportunities to fulfil their aspirations and expectations. Only innovation and entrepreneurship will deliver those opportunities that our youth so much desire.

In addition, our country has the historic mission to lift the majority of our people from poverty. This will enable us to build a compassionate and inclusive society. To achieve this aspiration we must all commit ourselves to a broad-based agenda that speaks to the divergent interests of every section of our society.

My administration is determined to meet these aspirations by expanding economic opportunities for all by investing in people, governing justly and providing necessary security and stability required for economic growth.

We will harness entrepreneurship and innovation as key levers of resolving our pressing socioeconomic issues.

Country men and women,

In order for us to achieve this ambitious goal, we need to promote and maintain a clean, healthy and safe living and working environment. The natural environment is key to our survival as a country. We must not spoil it through activities like reckless disposal of waste without due regard to environmental protection.

The common statement is that health is wealth. Zambia cannot be healthy and wealthy if our surroundings are forever dirty. This is the reason why I launched the keep Zambia clean campaign on 3rd october this year. This will be an on-going activity with appropriate sanctions for those failing to keep Zambia clean.

If we have to make any headway in transforming our nation, we must adopt a new paradigm of resolving our current and future challenges. We have to find a new way of doing things. We cannot keep applying the same old methods and hoping to achieve different results.

Country men and women,

We need to develop an open mind which can acknowledge what is wrong, adopt a new culture and accept change. This open-mindedness should be adopted both at individual and institutional levels.

We need to change the way we think, behave and do things. A smart Zambia can only be attained if we all embrace change.

I am gravely concerned with the declining spirit of patriotism among some of our citizens. To achieve our aspiration of creating a smart Zambia, we need to put the common good before personal interests.

It is an obligation for all of us to be patriotic to our country by demonstrating unflinching loyalty, support and love for our motherland.

Country men and women,

All of us have to demonstrate love for our country in all aspects of our lives. This is what patriotism is all about. In the public service, I expect public workers to do their work without soliciting for bribes.

Equally, citizens must resist the urge to offer bribes in return for public services. After all it takes two to tangle.

In a similar vein, all of us have a duty to protect public property from vandalism. In both private and public duties, every citizen has a duty to ensure that they do not undertake activities that rob the country of its resources.

Countrymen and women,

To sustain our progress, we shall wage a resolute fight against corruption, at the individual and institutional level.

We are all expected to uphold the highest standard of integrity in public and private affairs. In this respect, every one of us will be held accountable for our actions. There will be no sacred cows in the fight against corruption and there will be no sacrificial lamb!

In this connection, I call upon all zambians to place the country at the centre of all our individual and institutional undertakings. This is the essence of patriotism.

We cannot love our country and at the same time weaken it by engaging in corruption.

Country men and women,

Transforming our economy calls for increased devotion and dedication to duty. What we find in our country today is a culture of absenteeism, late reporting for work and knocking off early. This means we are putting in too little time in our work thereby negatively affecting our economy.

It is, therefore, imperative that as we begin the journey towards a smart Zambia, every zambian should develop a culture of punctuality to work, and efficiency, in order to enhance productivity and prosperity.

To achieve a smart Zambia in the next fifty years, we need higher aspirations. To realise these aspirations, we need to collectively and individually start thinking creatively. Creativity requires us to challenge the status quo!

Some of the institutional challenges that I have mentioned will be resolved through long-term planning under the mandate of the newly created ministry of development planning. Some of them can be changed now! All it requires is agreeing to change our mindset.

Country men and women,

Another key element of our transformation agenda is finding forgiveness, repentance, compassion and love for one another in god. We need to open our hearts, confess and repent our sins to the almighty god. We must also seek his forgiveness and divine intervention.

The lord’s prayer clearly states that we should forgive those who trespass against us so that our heavenly father can also forgive us.

This should start by us making peace with ourselves and each other. In return, we will secure the compassion and love of god our creator in whose image we are created.

According to 1 john chapter 4 verse 20, and I quote: “whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love a brother and sister whom they have seen cannot love god whom they have not seen” end of quote.

For us to find love in god, we need to start by loving fellow human beings. I, therefore, call on all of us to heed this counsel.

Country men and women,

To provide an enabling environment for national reconciliation, I proclaimed 18th October this year, a day of repentance, fasting and prayer. I am glad that zambians from all walks of life responded positively to the proclamation. They congregated at their respective churches and other places of worship to ask for the benevolence of the almighty god in our national affairs.

As a nation, it is possible for us to collectively and individually repent and forgive one another as it is written in the holy bible in second chronicles chapter 7 verse 14 and I quote: “if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face, and turn away from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins and heal their land”end of quote.

Country men and women,

The journey towards a smart Zambia, like the struggle for our independence, will be long and challenging. Nothing that is of value in life is ever easy. It is in this context that we must view the current weakening of our currency, and energy crisis, and indeed all consequences of global climate change.

However, I want to state that we are capable of solving the energy and exchange rate problems. We shall, in fact solve them as a matter of urgency. I am confident that Zambia will rise above the current challenges and continue the agenda of creating a smart Zambia because our economic fundamentals are still strong.

To create the Zambia that we want, we must all be committed to taking measures that will enable us achieve the results that we want. If we want prosperity, let us all take concrete measures to achieve that. Our prosperity will not come by itself.  We have to use our god given talents and capabilities to come up with concrete steps to attain our aspirations.

Let us bear in mind that we are all contributors to creating a smart Zambia and no one should be a by-stander or cynic. Progress will only come when we all work in concert to develop our country.

Working at cross-purposes will only serve to slow our progress. All of us will suffer the consequences as the rest of the world will leave us behind. Zambia is as strong as its weakest link. Indeed, you cannot develop if you leave your friends behind. Alone, you can run fastest, but together we can run far.

Countrymen and women,

As a matter of urgency, we need to address both short and long-term challenges that our country is facing.  As emphasised in my address to the national assembly, we shall embark on an aggressive export diversification programme encompassing tourism, agriculture and manufacturing so that 50% of our exports will come from non-traditional sources by 2030.

With enhanced export diversification we will also create increased employment opportunities for our young people.

In preparing our young people for the future, we shall continue promoting universal and high quality education that meets the needs of all the sectors of our economy.

Additionally, our investments in health will continue being upscaled to promote the well-being and productivity of the young.

As our economy grows, so will the demand for energy.  To this end, we will continue investing in renewable sources of energy while promoting energy efficiency to ensure access to energy by all our people.

Countrymen and women,

Let me conclude by stating that through our transformational agenda, we have began our journey of creating a smart Zambia driven by our high aspirations and resolute determination.

This is a national task. Let us, therefore, work in unity.

Nation-building involves each and every one of us. This is the only way we shall be able to consolidate our independence.

Let us, in this spirit, maintain our unity as One Zambia, One Nation.

I wish you all, a joyous celebration tomorrow.
May god bless our great country Zambia!

Good Night.