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Against All Odds
Humility
Edgar Lungu has been known for many things but humility for a man of influence in a country where people often get over-consumed by their own self-importance sets him several paces apart from other politicians or national leaders. Observers have sometimes described his humility as his most admirable quality and, to many people - especially the common folk who make up the largest part of Zambia’s population - his most endearing attribute. Tenacity
If there was one word to describe Edgar Lungu as a late-blooming politician facing a vicious power struggle to replace Zambia’s fifth President Michael Sata, tenacious would be that word. He needed bags of it, first, to survive the bitterly fought internal war to win the Patriotic Front’s nomination to stand as its candidate in the 2015 Presidential election occasioned by Sata’s death and, later, to fend off arch-rival Hakainde Hichilema of the opposition UPND in another closely contested Presidential poll. Politician
Politicians make their names for any number of reasons or actions. Some for their ruthlessness, others for their brashness, cunning or indeed kindness. Edgar Lungu seems to have crafted a name for himself simply by cleverly playing the role of the political tyro who knew little about the game...the ‘green horn’ the opposition made the fatal mistake of underrating. Peace-loving
It is hard to imagine any other Zambian politician would so willingly have yielded to another the instruments of power left with them in accordance with the law by a sitting president, as Michael Sata did when he left Edgar Lungu to serve in his place the night he left for the UK to seek medical help in 2014. When Sata died in hospital, there were many 'expert' voices advising Lungu to keep hold onto the instruments of power, rather than decline to the incumbent Vice-President Guy Scott. Lungu happily handed over the instruments to a man who would then go on to do almost all in his powers to hinder his ambition to win the subsequent Presidential election. This is because he sought peace. “I want to be remembered as an ordinary person who became President, a person who brought ordinary and human characteristics to the office of the Presidency…”
Edgar Chagwa Lungu, Hot FM radio interview October 2015.
By Anthony Mukwita.
Edgar Lungu has been known for many things but humility for a man of influence in a country where people often get over-consumed by their own self-importance sets him several paces apart from other politicians or national leaders. Observers have sometimes described his humility as his most admirable quality and, to many people - especially the common folk who make up the largest part of Zambia’s population - his most endearing attribute. Tenacity
If there was one word to describe Edgar Lungu as a late-blooming politician facing a vicious power struggle to replace Zambia’s fifth President Michael Sata, tenacious would be that word. He needed bags of it, first, to survive the bitterly fought internal war to win the Patriotic Front’s nomination to stand as its candidate in the 2015 Presidential election occasioned by Sata’s death and, later, to fend off arch-rival Hakainde Hichilema of the opposition UPND in another closely contested Presidential poll. Politician
Politicians make their names for any number of reasons or actions. Some for their ruthlessness, others for their brashness, cunning or indeed kindness. Edgar Lungu seems to have crafted a name for himself simply by cleverly playing the role of the political tyro who knew little about the game...the ‘green horn’ the opposition made the fatal mistake of underrating. Peace-loving
It is hard to imagine any other Zambian politician would so willingly have yielded to another the instruments of power left with them in accordance with the law by a sitting president, as Michael Sata did when he left Edgar Lungu to serve in his place the night he left for the UK to seek medical help in 2014. When Sata died in hospital, there were many 'expert' voices advising Lungu to keep hold onto the instruments of power, rather than decline to the incumbent Vice-President Guy Scott. Lungu happily handed over the instruments to a man who would then go on to do almost all in his powers to hinder his ambition to win the subsequent Presidential election. This is because he sought peace. “I want to be remembered as an ordinary person who became President, a person who brought ordinary and human characteristics to the office of the Presidency…”
Edgar Chagwa Lungu, Hot FM radio interview October 2015.
By Anthony Mukwita.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
176 pages, Paperback
Published January 5, 2017
1 person is currently reading
202 people want to read
About the author
Anthony Mukwita
4 books3 followersAnthony Mukwita holds a Masters degree (with six distinctions) in Professional Communications obtained from Edith Cowan University in Australia were he studied full time and graduated on top of his class. Currently he is Charge d' Affaires at the embassy of Zambia in Sweden. He has the Best Investigative Journalism Award from the World Bank that saw him attached to the Burea of Investigative Journalism in London in 2012. He was pivotal to turning around the largest daily newspaper in Zambia, the Zambia Daily Mail were he worked as both Deputy Managing Director rising to the top job of Managing Director between 2011 and 2014. He was vice chairperson of the Edgar Lungu media campaign team in 2014. He is married to Elaine and they have two boys Lubinda and Lushomo. They live in Stockholm.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 12, 2021
I have not read a book this bad in a long time. Anthony Mukwita's book is a muddled mess.
Firstly the book is centred around two characters and two incidents. Everything else is put together in service of these two. The two characters are President Lungu and Guy Scott. You can tell that the author has no love for Scott and includes him even more often than he includes Esther Lungu, who is supposed to be a pivotal character in the book. The two incidents are the party nomination and the inauguration. Mukwita spends a lot of time on these two duos. Unfortunately the book is not referenced, at all! I will get to this in my third and final thought on the book.
Secondly the author insists on including himself in the story. At times he does so in the third person as though there is another Anthony Mukwita and at other times in the first person which makes it very difficult to take seriously. The inclusions are there to praise the efforts, character and placement in time of the author making the author very much a part of the story. But even in that the book does a poor job of telling events in a clear chronological order. The inclusion of images in the book also makes no sense, at all. The images have nothing to do with the chapters they are placed in and include the images of the author for absolutely no reason. He even includes an image of President Lungu with the authors son as a sign that President Lungu loves children, as though that would be evidence of anything substantial.
Thirdly the book makes no direct references and so is hard to follow. Direct quotes are given in a way that causes the reader to doubt it is an actual quote, at times the quote is altered in the two or so instances it appears in the book. The author makes claims of people thinking and believing things and has no foundation for any of it.
The worst part about this book is that thirty years from now it will be considered as one of the references regarding the rise of Edgar Lungu and it absolutely should not be. It does not meet that standard. At best it is poorly written and at worst it is propaganda.
One Star
Firstly the book is centred around two characters and two incidents. Everything else is put together in service of these two. The two characters are President Lungu and Guy Scott. You can tell that the author has no love for Scott and includes him even more often than he includes Esther Lungu, who is supposed to be a pivotal character in the book. The two incidents are the party nomination and the inauguration. Mukwita spends a lot of time on these two duos. Unfortunately the book is not referenced, at all! I will get to this in my third and final thought on the book.
Secondly the author insists on including himself in the story. At times he does so in the third person as though there is another Anthony Mukwita and at other times in the first person which makes it very difficult to take seriously. The inclusions are there to praise the efforts, character and placement in time of the author making the author very much a part of the story. But even in that the book does a poor job of telling events in a clear chronological order. The inclusion of images in the book also makes no sense, at all. The images have nothing to do with the chapters they are placed in and include the images of the author for absolutely no reason. He even includes an image of President Lungu with the authors son as a sign that President Lungu loves children, as though that would be evidence of anything substantial.
Thirdly the book makes no direct references and so is hard to follow. Direct quotes are given in a way that causes the reader to doubt it is an actual quote, at times the quote is altered in the two or so instances it appears in the book. The author makes claims of people thinking and believing things and has no foundation for any of it.
The worst part about this book is that thirty years from now it will be considered as one of the references regarding the rise of Edgar Lungu and it absolutely should not be. It does not meet that standard. At best it is poorly written and at worst it is propaganda.
One Star
February 16, 2019
Great book and good writing buy Anthony Mukwita.
I appreciate how he brought out alot of Zambia's political history
Theres a part in the book where he overpraised the leader
especiallye& enjoyed the beginning and the ending
I appreciate how he brought out alot of Zambia's political history
Theres a part in the book where he overpraised the leader
especiallye& enjoyed the beginning and the ending
January 25, 2021
Biography on the 6th president of Zambia, Edgar Lungu. The book elucidates the hurdles Edgar Lungu surmounted on his pursuit to power as well as life in general.
January 1, 2019
3 Stars = Okay. I liked the book. It was worth reading.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews