Edgar Lungus inaugural speech (extract): As I stand before you today, as the 6th president of the great republic of Zambia, I am overwhelmed with gratitude, and I feel greatly humbled that you have decided to make me your servant. You are my employers, I am the employee. My primary and inescapable duty is to express our unqualified and very profound gratitude to God almighty for preserving and guiding us in the trying three months since the tragic, untimely death of our beloved president, his Excellency Mr Michael Chilufya Sata, MHSRIP. The process leading to the election especially for us in the ruling Patriotic Front was fraught with difficulties. There is no room, let alone time for rancour or settling of scores of any kind. What is important is that, at the end of the day, we dusted ourselves up and emerged united. We came out a much stronger party than we started off. We won because we focused more on that which unites us rather than that which divides us. The just ended election clearly shows that there is still work to be done on the nation-building front. Some campaigners stooped so low as to appeal to tribalism and regionalism, name-calling and violence. We must never forget that the freedom we enjoy in Zambia was achieved at a great sacrifice. We now want to move forward as a united and healed party, a united nation, a united people! To this effect, I take this opportunity to congratulate the main opposition leader, Mr Hakainde Hichilema for putting up a formidable campaign. I also wish to thank the nine other candidates. This kind of competition matures our democracy. I wish to recognise the valuable endorsement from President Rupiah Bwezani Banda, the MMD members of parliament, the MMD members across the country and all the voters from other political parties and none-members of political parties who made a last minute decision to support me. To the Zambians, I express my gratitude with due humility for the trust reposed in. You have placed on my shoulders an onerous burden to be ever mindful that I have no leeway for lapses, which may induce Zambians to think that they misplaced their confidence and trust in me. We were 11 candidates for the presidency, and each and every one of us had profound messages to the voters and the country as a whole. The bottom line is that we all want our country to go forward. There are no victors or vanquished in this process. We are all winners and have an equal duty to foster harmony and togetherness as the only way to accelerate the development of Zambia. I promise to work towards making political processes in our country free and open. Fabulous wealth living side by side with abject poverty is a moral outrage. It is unacceptable, and we must all join the crusade against poverty, not through dazzling rhetoric, but by working hard. We must balance our privileges and rights with duty, responsibility and obligation to our country. I am fully aware of the depths of poverty that continue to afflict the great majority of our people. It unsettles me to see families go hungry when ours is a wealthy nation. I am aware of the many mothers that walk long distances in order to give birth. I am aware of young people who still cannot access a decent education because their parents are poor. I am aware of farmers that have had delayed payments. I am aware of a few people who are getting stupendously rich illegally, while the majority teeter on the brink of poverty and this saddens me. I am stepping in the shoes of a giant of a man, who was our touch bearer and symbol of our party’s vision of a robust transformative development agenda, which in the last three years has transformed our country and created a momentum which we must accelerate. President Sata’s legacy will forever be our beacon of inspiration. I become president at a time when the outlook for the global economy is not exceedingly cheerful. We are all aware of the significant decline in commodity prices including our major export commodity, copper. There will be need not only for belt tightening but for radical rethinking of the way we do things. It cannot be business as usual. We shall continue building all the socio-economic infrastructure projects planned under the leadership of the late president. All the projects and programmes shall be executed as planned, and where possible even accelerated. We also expect our socio-economic policies to accelerate Zambia’s march to a middle income country on a sustainable basis by 2030. We will be a listening government. Our doors will always remain wide open to workers, farmers, all entrepreneurs, micro, small, medium and large businesses who keep our economy running. This includes the man on the street who completes the value as the consumer. To you we will also listen. Our country will continue to maintain and even improve on a conducive environment for investors both local and external. Our policies will be underpinned by consistence and predictability. Recently we have restructured the revenue system for the mining industry to a mineral royalty one, which is simple and a final tax. The truth of the matter is that the incentives provided under the Mines and Minerals Act still remain, as does relief for companies which prove to the satisfaction of the Zambia Revenue Authority that relief is warrantable. What government will not do is to politically leverage things for tax payers, and no attempts willingly or inadvertently will be made to pre-empty the initiatives and discretion of the commissioner-general of ZRA. This is an imperative of good tenets of governance. As your president, I want to focus on doubling the number of defence personnel houses and other essential workers. I want to complete the massive road expansion programme. I want to complete the construction of the 650 health posts. I want to hand you a new constitution. This is a momentous day. You have re-energised me and re-affirmed the PF spirit that has in the past overcome hunger and despair; the spirit that has lifted Zambia from the brink of political instability. My administration shall continue with the transformation of our country. To realise this dream, we must remain a beacon of peace and hope. We ought to stick to the rule of law and good governance. We will definitely deliver a people-driven constitution. I would like to thank one person, a reliable ally and partner, my wife Esther for the unflinching support and counsel. If time was not jealous of us, I would have read the entire list of the members and ordinary people that helped us get where we are, but I can’t. You know yourselves. I render my profuse thanks to my wider family in the PF and indeed my many friends, every Zambian who have supported and encourage me ungrudgingly. I want to thank my grandson Lishomwa and sons and daughters and all my in-laws. My great team, the central committee, members of parliament, volunteers, and the media campaign team, ministers and of course Dr Guy Scott, the acting president. Your support has been invaluable from the start, and I will need you even more in 2016. To local and foreign business and foreign business, let me assure you that your investment shall remain safe on my watch, and we shall try as much as possible to balance your interests against our people’s interest. Copper is important to us, as the main foreign currency earner, but I want to step up the rate of economic diversification and explore ways of earning more money from agriculture. We seek nothing but a win-win situation from our partners. I would like to stop here and get back to work as your new commander-in-chief and sixth president, because there is no honey moon. This is just a curtain raiser. I have work to do. I want you to remember that today you voted for a jubilee president; a person who will target the reduction of your poverty and not my poverty. A person who will grow jobs and give you hope. A person who shares the same background as you. God has been gracious to Zambia, and we pledge to honour him by adhering to Christian virtues. Zambia shall remain a Christian nation tolerant of other religions. Let us always hold each other’s hand and reach out and let love be at the core of all our activities. God bless you all! God bless Zambia!
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 08:54:18 +0000
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