PRESIDENT LUNGU’S “MEET THE PRESIDENT FUNDRAISING DINNER” SPEECH

ADDRESS BY

HIS EXCELLENCY MR EDGAR CHAGWA LUNGU,
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ZAMBIA
AND OF THE PATRIOTIC FRONT (PF),

AT THE PF-USA

“MEET THE PRESIDENT FUNDRAISING DINNER”
NEW YORK, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

FRIDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2015

Madam First Lady, Mrs. Lungu,
Director of Ceremonies,
PF Deputy Secretary General Mrs. Mumbi Phiri,
Cabinet Ministers Present,
Your Excellencies, Ambassadors and High Commissioners present,
Members of the PF-USA Branch,
Organisers of this Event,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and gentlemen:

I thank you most sincerely for inviting me to be a part of what different groups within the patriotic front (pf), at home and abroad, are doing to raise money necessary to run the party away from state resources as our proud record has shown.

Let me thank you most sincerely and assure you that every donation you make to the pf goes a long way to improve on our mobilization and programming as zambia’s party of choice.

Fellow citizens, i bear warm and fraternal greetings from the pf leadership and members, and your brothers and sisters at home, the people of zambia, who are equally seized with the same favour about the future of our party and country.

as president of our great party, the pf, i am therefore honoured to be part of this critically important event where we do not only make contributions to the patriotic front for its operations, but to renew our commitment to the organization founded on a strong conviction for a better zambia. We are a proud social democratic movement seeking to bring about the greatest good for the greatest majority. Our manifesto is very clear about how we will do this now and in the future— that is to create mass employment through industrialization and rural development. One of the direct ways to speed up this agenda is through the reliance of the

Cooperatives movement as i announced in my speech to parliament last week.

The leadership of the pf in zambia and pf members at large are indeed very pleased that together with our colleagues in the diaspora, we have taken yet another step towards building a system of cooperation among ourselves as members of the same party that will increase our capacity to win the 2016 presidential, parliamentary and local government elections. This we must do and we will do in order to continue delivering on the promise we made to the zambian people when we formed government.

Let me also tell you of my happiness at the ruling party’s growing popularity in north western province, western province and other new areas. I want to commend the commitment, hard work and team spirit that the pf displayed during campaigns for the ruling party’s candidate george mwamba who

Was elected lubansenshi member of parliament.
Mr. Mubanga received about 4, 879 votes while his closest competitor got almost half of the votes of the ruling party candidate.
I congratulate the opposition united party for national development for winning the solwezi west parliamentary by-election. On the overall the pf has emerged more stronger. The lubansenshi seat is a new gain as it it was held by the opposition and is now in our hands. The solwezi west is a seat that the upnd has taken from the mmd.
Out of the nine local government elections that took place, we won 6, three of them in western province, reflecting a new area of influence.
The president condemned any forms of violence and tribalism in the electoral

Campaigns and urged all well-meaning zambians to denounce and reject these vices.
The president said electoral violence retards the growth of democracy and national development, hence it should not be condoned in society.

The head of state reassured that he will continue to unite zambians to ensure that they live in harmony and peace.
The president urged zambians to rally behind his government and the pf to develop

Let me repeat a story you know very well.

In 2001 our founding president mr. Michael chilufya sata (mhsrip) formed the pf and was joined by many of us who believed that zambians deserved better. We joined him because his vision to dismantle the burden of

Poverty and unemployment, uplift the cause for women and youth was genuine and urgent.

Our departed leader mr. Sata led all of us for ten (10) years in the opposition until the zambian people gave us the mandate to run the affairs of state on23rd september 2011. President sata was dedicated to duty and ensured zambia came first in all he did.

Sadly, we lost him on 28th october 2014. Yet the pf had made a strong resolve that despite losing our patriarch, the vision on which the pf was founded must never and will never die with him.

We all agreed that the best way to mourn and honour our departed leader was by keeping the ideals and vision of the pf alive.

Relevant to this gathering is pf’s policy on engagement with the diaspora and my government’s emphasis that zambia is ready to

Pave way for dual citizenship in order for our citizens abroad to become a part of the benefits which accrue to other citizens, locally.

Further, i think while we have pressing challenges as a nation, it would be proper for us to look into ways and means of extending our developmental programmes and projects to the zambians in the diaspora. Through these programmes and projects, zambia should to attract back the much-needed scarce and critical skills that have emigrated to the developed north.

We must do more and with speed to identify areas of collaboration between the private sectors in zambia and the diaspora to increase access to capital, to business expertise and markets to accelerate development in the nation. In this regard, you, our brothers and sisters in the diaspora are very critical.

Again, in the context of this policy on the diaspora, it is important that the issues of women, youth, children and vulnerable groups should not be left at the periphery but should be central to all the work we would do.

The progress we make against poverty, underdevelopment and marginalisation can only be properly measured by the steps we take to ensure advancement and prosperity of women, youth, children and vulnerable groups.

Fellow zambians, on the 18th september 2015, i addressed the nation through parliament and spoke to the real challenges we face as a nation, which included diversifying our sources of energy, diversification of the economy to move away from our dependence on copper which we have embraced for fifty (50) years as a nation.

Other challenges include the urgent need for aggressive and long-term measures that will register an indelible mark on unemployment and poverty as it affects our people, especially the youth and women.

We must we act together and pull in the same direction as one people, and nothing will stop our nation from becoming the economic powerhouse of the region.

Fellow citizens, we must remain inspired by countries that made a difference because they acted strong, such as the united states of america on whose soil we stand tonight. This is a land of the brave who were ready to sacrifice for the greater good of their country. As you live in this country, i ask you to think of the great words by us former president john f. Kennedy who said: “ask not you’re your country will do for you. Ask what you can do for your country”.

With the same conviction i ask you tonight, “ask not what zambia will do for you. Ask what you can do for zambia”. If countries such as singapore transformed under very difficult circumstances, then nothing can stop us from becoming that land of work and joy in unity, all one, strong and free! These countries made choices not because they were easy but because they were necessary.

My government and the pf are ready to make difficult choices that will forever change the course of our country and for the greater good.

Together, we must work hard to implement the recommendations you make to the ministry of foreign affairs when they undertook consultative meetings which i know most of you participated in. We must continue to work towards gigantic steps that would ensure that zambians, wherever they are, enjoy prosperity and are able to walk tall among all

The peoples of the world. Lastly, i ask you to join the rest of the zambians at home and abroad to pray and fast for the country on 18th october 2015. God will answer us!

I wish this important fundraising dinner success and thank you for your attention.

Chibaula D., Silwamba (Mr.)
First Secretary for Press and Public Relations,
Permanent Mission of the Republic of Zambia to the United Nations,