By Staff Reporter
Former president Edgar Lungu has sincerely apologised for the mistakes made by himself and the PF during the time they served in government.
Speaking during the memorial service of late president Michael Sata at Embassy Park, president Lungu acknowledged the mistakes, saying during their line of duty they may have come short and broken the trust that was given to them by the people.
“And for that we can only render our sincere apologies,” president Lungu said, adding that they have done self introspection and reformed their minds, and shall emerge stronger and better.
He said politics must not be used to divide “ourselves on tribe”, and that one valuable lesson the late president Sata taught them was that they were not the masters as that privilege was for the people.
President Lungu said PF must never be allowed to die, but must live and arise, and that it was not for sell to the highest bidder. He said there was no time for “petty squabbles and blame game” in PF, noting that there were more lessons in defeat than victory.
President Lungu insisted that he had served his time, and now was the time to give way to a new generation of leaders who would be able to take back the party to power, and hoped he would handover the presidency soon.
He said the person that must be elected should be one who would take the legacy of Sata, his own legacy and that of the PF into the future, and not one that would “drive us into a ditch.”
President Lungu hailed some of the developmental projects that were ushered in during the PF administration, including the construction of roads, schools, universities, bridges, and that today farmers were able to purchase farming inputs through the touch of their phone screens.
Late president Sata’s son, Mulenga, who delivered the speech on behalf of former first lady Dr Christine Kaseba, as she was not feeling well and was a bit under the weather, said the PF must recommit to the attributes of humility and selfishness which were a hallmark of his late father.
He said they were a ruling party not too long ago but were now in the opposition, and this should give them pause for reflection and address the wrongs.
Mulenga further said the Sata family was against changing the PF name that has been suggested by some in rebranding as it would be a disservice to the late president.
PF vice-president Given Lubinda said the memorial service was today being celebrated by president Sata’s nucleus family and his PF family, but very soon it will be celebrated by all Zambians.
