President Edgar Lungu has fired warning shots against those that are in the habit of taking stories to him against others hoping that he will fire them stating that it was the ones spoiling for the dismissal of others that he would instead dismiss.
The President stated that those that were calling for the dismissal of certain Ministers needed to know that fitting into a work pattern and producing results was not immediate nor easy but that, like in a game of football whose duration was 90 Minutes, the Ministers too needed enough time to perform.
Addressing a congregation in Chinsali, the head of State said that that the decision to fire should be left to him as he had sufficient intel on all his appointees and knew who was performing and who was lagging behind.
“Because I am being told all the time that if only you can fire so and so, then things will move. But Remember, I promised you when I was forming Cabinet that I am the coach. Am the owner of the team . And I am the one who knows how the match is being played. So those that are not performing, I will remove one by one and replace them with others because the fact is we are not few. We are plenty and we are all intelligent, ” he ssaid
“What am saying is that leave me alone to work with my team and I’ll decide who to substitute and at what point in time. Our 90 minutes run from 2011 to 2015, it ended. 2016 we started a new one and we are running 90 Minutes from 2016 to 2021. And I’ll know who to substitute and when. Napapata, leave my Ministers to work and if they are not working well, go and talk to them ‘ati eshako ifi ne fi ne fi’.” He added .
He stated that those that were going to him seeking dismissal of their collegues were wasting their time .
“The Ministers are living on this earth. In this Zambia. In this Country. If they don’t do something right, just go and whisper to them. Don’t come to me and say fire so and so. Be your brothers keeper. Go to your fellow Minister and advise him, how about working like this? ” he said.
He stated that if their way of doing things was going to be to go to him and ask him to dismiss a fellow Minister, it would be them that he would fire.
“There are People who think they are better than others. But as Father said, they too will get an opportunity to lead. As for now, its our time to lead and I ask them to step aside and allow us to work. Thank you very much.” The President said in conclusion.
Whenever he talks about key issues affecting governance, he talks casually like any ordinary person from the street.
Despite having sufficient Intel, you are tolerating corruption among ministers and government officials. Why??
Treating the Church as if it’s a political gathering. No church etiquette.
….sad to have a president talk like this. Who can advise Kapata,Dora, Lou about anything. Just like Koswe himself can’t get any advice from his ministers or from anybody, no minister can heed any advice from nobody. No wonder we are in such a mess. Lungu says he is a coach. Does he know that coaches are the most fired when they are taking the team down the drain and they can not heed advise from the supporters.
Wimpy manager.
He is comparing himself to a game of soccer, at Zesco United you be fired for keeping Kaiser as technical adviser.
This street language from someone who is supposed to be our President is worrying to say the least. Like him or not HH presents himself millions better than this Lungu. HH also gives me much more hope on matters of governance and the economy than this Lungu. What a loss for Zambia
When we tell you this Bum can not lead you think its a joke!!
What a mediocre president! This president is a bad reflection of the people of Zambia. Is this chap the best they could come up with for president? This is below average! If he was employed in a factory he is the type that needs very close, round the clock supervision for him to perform satisfactorily.
The HUMAN Voters are the Human Resource Managers including the ones that never voted for you. Remember this Lungu, we all got INTEL on you.
@Ichalo Lifupa. Either his advisers are sleeping on the job or they are busy stealing. I think it’s more of the later. But then again his advisers are just bootlickers and in any case he his talking about firing and they do not want to be anywhere near him so no one will tell him about what is right to say in church and what not to say.
Ba Humbly Dumbly kuwaya wayafye…sometimes you can run out of comments with this man
“…..those that are in the habit of taking stories to him against others hoping that he will fire them …”, but this doesn’t make sense, honestly.
So ECL firstly is entertaining and allowing “those that are in the habit of taking stories” to come and meet him at State House or wherever, he listens to them, and then he goes to the Church to start Warning them????
Why is the President taking PF internal issues to the Church and the Public? Why should we be made to know instead of him acting? The campaign is over, Get to work, but please do not misuse the Church to advance PF agenda, or to fix internal PF gossipping.
What a waste of space.
Very true just to report hot air!
Influence peddling ,political payback and self preservation is what is wrong with this concentration of power in the Zambian presidency. Taxpayers interests & Zambia’s best interests are way down the criteria of Lungu’s appointees.
Thats what u get from a Leader without a Vision. He cannot give a performance criteria to his Ministers and neither can he lead by example. This Chipante pante way of doing things will not produce the desired results.
A good leader respect his people and listen to reason. Lungu is our servant and shouldn’t forget that he was put on that seat by the people of Zambia that today he doesn’t want to listen to their cries.
Lungu is wrong no human being is all knowing .This is why we should adopt a constitution where appointees are NOT the president’s sole prerogative but a panel of experts with different interests.Presidents tend to only have their political interests in mind.
@mzambia You are correct, key positions such as ministers in Zambia’s context should be appointed by a panel because the level of incompetence and corruption is just too high in Zambia compared to developed countries like Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
The President must know that there is no Zambian minister that will agree to be corrected by another govt officer by word of mouth. It can’t happen, its either they should be told off by the President himself as Sata used to do or they should be fired!
Yes ,even CEOs of major corporations are accountable to a board of directors (a panel)
Mr President include even those who want others to be kicked out of PF. They should be the first ones to be shown the door.
Who is the president of Switzerland? That country doesn’t have one cuz its led by a panel of 7 co-equal leaders that’s why the country is so good unlike Zambia where power hungry leaders & influence buying leads our politicians to make the worst decisions.
@ Mzambia wa Zamani
After the death of Marshal Tito, leadership of former Yugoslavia was assumed by “collective leadership”. Couple years later there was partition and most brutal civil war. To day instead of one Nation there are SEVEN different countries!!
Are you sure that Zambian “politicians” are capable to handle issues?
@8.1 Yugoslavia collapsed due to ethnic nationalism -Serbs,Croats ,Slovenes ,Bosniaks ,Montenegrins,Kosovar Albanians ,Macedonians = Yugoslavia.
@8.1 You are mixing oranges and apples. The religious divisions were there even before Marshal Tito died. And you simply cannot compare. Despite the civil war that raged, they still live better than the Zambians who have never gone through any political strife. God forbid that it ever happens! But you cannot fool all of the people all of the time…..
Its not the system its the country/people that implement the system.
Bosnia has a similar system and it doesn’t work. They are constantly blocking each other, slow decisions are made and politicians trade with their requests. Stop dreaming about another system it wont change anything.
Are you by any chance holding that Intel as a bribe incase one of your ministers decided to tell the Zambian people how corrupt and mismanaged your administration is? Actions speak louder than words Mr “President”. It’s never too late to do the right thing and 3 years is enough for your admin to start building a beautiful, clean and prosperous Zambia. Spread the wealth and let our every Zambias to start enjoying life again and not stress about their next meal etc
You don’t need ‘intel’ on your own ministers… you should be aware and know who is performing and who is not. Don’t you have meetings and performance appraisal meetings with them and receive performance reports from them? You should be running your ministers like a CEO of a company and demand to see real performance. The problem is you are too busy globetrotting and you are too lazy yourself.
And you don’t have the moral authority to fire anyone because you are not a performer yourself and you are the number 1 corrupt individual. With all the poor performance happening in Zambia right now, from Cholera to incomplete infrastructure to inflated procured goods and services, we should have seen many ministers fired for non performance… problem is the bar is set very low by the guy…
… problem is the bar is set very low by the guy waiting for ‘intel’ before he could act.
What a waste of space this guys is!
If you want to survive in Lungu’s government do the following:
1. Be corrupt
2. Be lazy
3. Praise Lunch
4. Protect the corrupt
5. Give Lungu a cut of your corrupt deals
But if try to work hard and be honest, you are in deep trouble
Good one Mr. President. Thats how leadership is, other people want to influence your decisions based on their short sight, but with your Intel you decide better.
Bravo ECL.
Better short sightedness, but Lungu has not sight whatsoever.
I agree with the President on this one. Appointments and dismissals are at his discretion but such things should not be said in Church, only at political gatherings. When in church preach the word of God
Kuwayawaya fye. ifya kumwena kubukulu
Lazy Lulu. You get worse by the day. This issue should be brought up in Cabinet. It is irrelevant to us.
We have heard that one before from him. This President by accident cannot fire a minister. He is the last person who should talk about hard work. He is not a hard worker himself. He is lazy and a coward at the same time. Citizens, what do you expect from a convicted thief.
Lungu is nothing but a corrupt theif…..he can not fire anyone for fear of being exposed of his corruption…..he only fires people who he thinks have presidential ambitions or are against corruption….
People now can not go to attend his rally after chasing them from their trading places in the name of cholera, so the only place he can find a good number of people to speak to is the church.
The bar has been set so low for the zambian presidency, such that mbwili and tayali think they can jump over it too.
Inferiority complex abundantly displayed here! Ati there ar pipo who think they ar better than others….kkkkkkkk.u mean u can’t compare their achievements and your achievements on yo own. That’s why there’s benchmarking. They ar pipo gd at stealing govt money and others gd at making their own money using their business.
Indeed the saying that “the wise are few” is really true and can clearly be seen in President Lungu. President Lungu is a wise and intelligent leader ever known in our Zambian history. Most of the bloggers especially from UPND will certainly dismiss this fact with impunity but its understood, they are average thinkers if not below par.
Look in leadership, you need consistency and certainly be above board. You cant just act on rumors or what anyone tells you to do. If yo are such, just know that you yourself is either jealous or incompetent. Dont waste your precious time on boot licking and knowing what others are doing. They say “what goes round come back around”.
Of course if a person isnt performing why cant approach them and advise them? If they fail, then prove it to the…
The only consistency shown by lungu is his apitite to condone corruption and medicracy …….ati wise and intelligent while millions of people have no clean drinking water or sanitation despite spending billions…
Ati I am a coach and we have ninety minutes to play while people dying of cholera and corruption flourishing.
@ Spaka like lilo
Brother or is it sister, please leave hate and bitterness to HH, otherwise it may affect you without knowing. You guys are the same guys opposing the removal of street vendors from the streets and yet you are condeming the efforts by Government to completely eradicate this rather embarrassing outbreak.
For instance, why are motorists still buying things from some vendors who want to continue selling on the streets? Dont think the same motorists are the ones encouraging the poor practice of trading? Do you how those food stuffs are handled by those guys?
Lets be proud of our country! At least for me after the clean up of Lusaka by the stakeholders, I can proudly say that Lusaka can now be called a town and NOT city because for now it fall short of be called a Capital…
Malinso….
we are of the view that street vending is not the problem….the problem is not cleaning or maintaining trading places and not enough markets……..I have said this before Asian countries have street vending but have a strict cleaning and maintenance regime even incorporating tourism in their street vending..
contd
Of course if a person isnt performing why cant approach them and advise them? If they fail, then prove it to the appointing authority with compelling evidence that this and so is not a performer based on facts otherwise, you are indeed just like an insecure person.
A good example of how people need to report on others is like this “President Lungu, how possible is it that an approved road construction of only 15km stretch can take 3-4 years to complete?” Then name that road, and based on that the President would certainly take keen interest instead of reporting on others simply because you have someone in mind you would like to be appointed, leadership doesnt work on chasing own’s shadows, no. Give people a chance to work and when they fail you cant miss it.
How many people…
Ati “……Of course if a person isnt performing why cant approach them and advise them?…”
But people are dying of cholera while $17 billion had been spent…..can you advise the relatives of those dead of cholera ??
contd
How many people has Trump dismissed and has it helped or worsened his Presidency? Lets have facts when we are against others otherwise the appointing authority may actually instead lose trust in you reporting others without facts.
Trump Presidency hasn’t worsened, its s..thole CNN full of s..thole fake analysts that make you believe it has.
The Zambian people need to fire you (ecl) for non performance , gross arrogance,corruption and recklessness.
Ati “……Of course if a person isnt performing why cant approach them and advise them?…”
But people are dying of cholera while $17 billion had been spent…..can you advise the relatives of those dead of cholera ??
There you are. 30 minutes down the line, your team has lost 4-0. Is it not right for the supporters or the bench to advise the coach to make a few changes so that we win the game?
@ Spaka like lilo
Brother or is it sister, please leave hate and bitterness to HH, otherwise it may affect you without knowing. You guys are the same guys opposing the removal of street vendors from the streets and yet you are condeming the efforts by Government to completely eradicate this rather embarrassing outbreak.
For instance, why are motorists still buying things from some vendors who want to continue selling on the streets? Dont think the same motorists are the ones encouraging the poor practice of trading? Do you how those food stuffs are handled by those guys?
Lets be proud of our country! At least for me after the clean up of Lusaka by the stakeholders, I can proudly say that Lusaka can now be called a town and NOT city because for now it fall short of be called a Capital…
Malinso….
we are of the view that street vending is not the problem….the problem is not cleaning or maintaining trading places and not enough markets……..I have said this before Asian countries have street vending but have a strict cleaning and maintenance regime even incorporating tourism in their street vending….
and also have you provided jobs for those displaced street venders ?
The Coach and team need go, need to be replaced and be taught that this ain’t no child play. They need firing, useless!
he goes to church and this is what he says?
I cannot understand why ECL should tolerate those who go to him with “fake” stories about others. Surely he can tell them off in the face that according to his intel what they are telling him is not true.It is that simple. Why complain in Chinsali?
…..And in the Church for that matter !!!
REMEMBER THIS PERIOD, “ZAMBIA WITHOUT A PRESIDENT”
REALIZATION COMING SOON
“I promised you when I was forming Cabinet that I am the coach. Am the owner of the team. And I am the one who knows how the match is being played.”
I have come to respect the men and the women in the uniform, no matter how much the President mocks the citizen, they still take orders from him and give him full protection.
For any government to mock men’s hopes with mere words and promises and gestures -D.D.Eisenhower
The longest period in which a country has been without an elected government was at 589 days. The country in question is Belgium and everything functioned. True, this is a developed country. I realize that this is a far fetched dream. But at least I can dream. …No one can take that away from me…
A coach is not sacrosanct and absolute. This is a democracy; you occupy that office in trust on behalf of the Zambian people. When a coach fails to produce anticipated results and leads a loosing team, management summarily fire that coach for incompetency and to hire a pro – active coach who will put together a winning team. A corrupt and thieving coach is not what the Zambian people bargained for when you wangled your way into State House. Stop functioning like a Construction Site Superintendent and begin to lead like a president Koswe Mumpoto!! This coach and his entire hopeless team ought to be fired for stealing from the Zambian people.
Where is my fly swatter?
Lungu has demonstrated total absence of leadership! Its a mistake that he should hold the highest office in the land. Zambians ought to learn never again to get an obstinate thief like this one with a bloated ego close to the reins of power. This coach earned a red card in his first year of presidency!
Please, where is my fly swatter?
MULUSA SHOULD have been shown the boot earlier for neglect of duty – “failure to monitor and supervise projects to implementation”.
Mulusa was since appointed Minister of National Planning and another officer in the office of the President performs that function.
BA kateka wa Zambia.
What good is intelligence if you cannot use it? Why give you the intelligence then? Defeats the purpose.
Lungu’s comments confirm Leadership failure. ECL has no competence to lead and govern Zambia. No wonder his corrupt govt has no direction. Lungu’s govt has no Policy on Corruption. No wonder his govt is in disarray. To make matters worse Lungu is a wrong model on Corruption matters at a personal level.
Talk but no action.
Zambia’s wasted years are upon us.
Lungu is a weak president. End of story!
Did he have to travel to Chinsali to talk about firing ministers?
…..Awe these loans you are getting and sharing the money is not good at all. You are leading in chinese loans to start with. China will start controlling zambia and they will demand something which will directly badly affect the citizens. Mr E.C.Lungu and the team, the consequences of the loans you are getting will land this country in trouble in future. Learn to be self sufficient. To prove that you are a capable leader, emulate Tanzania’s president plans not just getting loans from china and stealing. Ask those countries around the indian and pacific oceans which got loans from china and failed to pay, are now being controlled by china. Very soon you will land this country in problems. Why did you stand as president of zambia if you knew that you lack vision?????KOSWE PAMBALE…
I can see this space is a queue of potential suicide candidates when Lungu is re-elected in 2021.