‘It’ll be a shame for govt to abandon Levy’s legacy’

‘It’ll be a shame for govt to abandon Levy’s legacy’
Written by Chibaula Silwamba
Tuesday, September 08, 2009 3:24:27 PM

IT will be a shame for the current government to completely abandon the Mwanawasa legacy, former State House chief analyst for press and public relations David Kombe has said.

In an interview at the launch of the biography of the late president Levy Mwanawasa written by Post managing editor Amos Malupenga with a foreword from Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, Kombe said although every leader had their own style and would want to set their own legacy, it would be bad to completely ignore the legacy Mwanawasa had set.

"Every leader has to set his own agenda and therefore it is up to the leadership to decide whether they want to continue with that legacy or they want to set a new legacy but it will be a shame to abandon the legacy of Levy completely; that will not be very good even when you say you want to set a new legacy. There are a lot of good things in the legacy of Levy that can be emulated," Kombe said.

However, he said it would be unfair to demand that President Banda follow president Mwanawasa's legacy.

"Legacy is very difficult because what you must also understand is that leadership styles differ. While we may want the legacy to continue, we are now dealing with a different leader and therefore, for me, it will be unfair to say that the current leadership must follow the legacy that was set by the late president because every leader I think they aspire to set their own legacy," Kombe said. "But the legacy that the late president left has a lot of things that the current leadership can learn from and had a lot of programmes and ideas that the current leadership can try and implement, but they are under no obligation to do that but they can try and do it."

Kombe said Malupenga's book was indeed an incentive for posterity.

"The book is a very good initiative; it's supposed to serve as an inspiration for future leaders and everybody who aspires to leadership and at the same time it's a tool for everyone to use to learn about integrity. The late president was indeed a very honest man. For those of us who worked closely with him we know very well the vision that he had for this country and he really worked very hard; he used to work long hours just to try and get the country moving. He committed himself to the cause of the country and it's good that Amos has captured most of these things in his book," said Kombe.

"We hope that those who will read [the book] will be able to use it and be able to become better people whether in political life or in business or whatever they do because this book cuts across political barrier. Whether you are a family man, you are in business, you are in politics; this book teaches us something."