02/10/2025
I’m Ready to Serve-John Sangwa SC
A Call to National Reflection
Fellow Zambians,
In recent months, many within and outside Zambia have urged me to enter politics and consider offering myself for public office. I am humbled by this confidence.
But let me be clear: no single individual can deliver Zambia from its current challenges.
Our future will not be secured by one person's sacrifice alone, but by the collective will of all citizens acting together under the Constitution.
Leadership matters, but it succeeds only when it is matched by the people's readiness to play their part.
The Constitution, in Article 43, makes it plain that every citizen must be patriotic, promote national development, pay taxes, protect public property, uphold the Constitution, maintain law and order, and foster unity.
These are not my personal demands; they are our shared constitutional duties.
Service, therefore, is not the responsibility of leaders alone. It belongs to all of us. My own role, and the role of any leader, is meaningful only if the people themselves are prepared to shoulder these duties.
That is why I put forward ten questions, not as a politician chasing power,but as a fellow citizen inviting reflection on the path to renewal.
The Ten Questions
These ten questions are not a manifesto of promises. They are a mirror held up to all of us.
Their purpose is to test whether we, as a people, are ready to accept our constitutional responsibilities and the hard choices required for national renewal.
Leadership alone cannot
transform Zambia; only the collective will of disciplined, united, and responsible citizens can.
Our answers to these questions will determine whether our future is one of repeated failure or lasting progress.
1. Understanding the Crisis: Are we willing to understand, accept, and face the real scale and complexity of our national crisis, not just poverty and high prices, but the deeper cancers of
corruption, wastage, weak institutions, and a population growing faster than schools, hospitals,jobs, and land can keep pace with? Until we face these realities honestly, solutions will remain
superficial.
2. Sacrifice and Discipline: Are we prepared to make the hard sacrifices required for national renewal, to reject corruption in all its forms, to end the culture of wastage, and to embrace
responsibility not only in leadership but also in family and community life? Strong families, responsible communities, and disciplined leadership are the foundation of a strong nation.
3. National Unity: Are we ready to rise above tribe, region, and party, and stand together as one people united by the higher goal of building a nation that works for all? For as long as we remain divided, we weaken our own strength, waste resources on rivalry, and open the door for corruption and poor leadership to flourish. Unity is not just an aspiration; it is the foundation of justice, stability, and lasting national progress.
4. Truth and Responsibility: Are we willing to demand and accept the truth, even when it is painful, rather than settle for comforting lies and political slogans? We must be willing to face
hard truths about our economy, our governance, and our own conduct, because comforting lies have already cost us too much.
5. Shared Accountability: Are we willing to hold ourselves, as well as our leaders, accountable for the state of the nation? Accountability must extend from how leaders manage public resources and institutions to how each citizen fulfils their duties under the Constitution.
6. Choosing Leaders: Are we willing to elect men and women of integrity and competence,rather than those who trade in tribe, populism, or money to gain power? True democracy is not
about the loudest promises, but about leaders who will put aside their own interests and strengthen all our national institutions, from the Judiciary, Parliament, and the Electoral
Commission to law enforcement, the civil service, and local government, so that the rule of law is upheld, public resources are protected, and every citizen can trust the system that governs them.
7 Rule of Law and Constitution: Are we willing to know, defend, and live by our Constitution, recognising it as the foundation upon which strong institutions stand? For it is only through respect for the Constitution and the rule of law that leaders can be held accountable, institutions can function independently, and the promise of justice and equality
can be made real for every Zambian.
8. Equality Before the Law: Are we willing to respect the law equally, so that no person is above it and no citizen is beneath its protection? The rule of law means nothing if it serves only the powerful.
It must shield the weak, restrain the strong, and apply with the same force to all
- whether rich or poor, leader or citizen, rural or urban. Only then can justice be more than a slogan; it becomes a lived reality for every Zambian.
9. Living Within Our Means: Are we willing to live within our means as a country, to reject reckless debt, pay taxes faithfully, and manage our resources with the same discipline that we demand in law and governance? Just as no leader should be above the law, no government should be above the limits of what the nation can afford.
Zambia cannot prosper by exporting raw copper and importing finished goods; we must add value here at home, build industries,and create jobs for our people. Economic self-discipline is the financial face of the rule of law;it is what turns sovereignty into prosperity.
10. Funding Our Own Democracy: And above all, are we willing to fund our own democracy, so that it belongs fully to Zambians and not to foreign donors or corrupt financiers?
Just as we must discipline our economy, we must also discipline our politics. A democracy paid for by outsiders tends to serve their interests, not ours.
A democracy bought by money-lenders and power-brokers will never be free. But if we fund it ourselves, through our taxes, our institutions, and our civic commitment, then it will reflect our values, protect our sovereignty, and secure our children's future.
Closing Unless these questions can be answered in the affirmative, Zambia cannot escape its present struggles.
No leader, however sincere, can succeed without the people's willingness to change.
But if the answer is YES, if together we are ready to choose leaders who put aside self-interest,to strengthen our institutions, to uphold the Constitution, to respect the law equally, to live within our means, and to fund our own democracy, then Zambia will stand firm on the foundations of discipline, sovereignty, and unity.
That future will not be built by one person alone, but by all of us acting together: each fulfilling our constitutional duty and demanding the same of those who lead us. I am ready to serve, but only if the people of Zambia are ready to walk this path with me. Renewal cannot come from my sacrifice alone, but from our collective decision to change course together.
By renewal, I mean a Zambia where corruption is rejected, institutions are strong, and the rule of law is respected; where families and communities take responsibility, citizens live responsibly within their means, and the Constitution is not just words on paper but the living foundation of our daily life.
The time has come for us, as one people, to face reality honestly and begin the work of national
Non-partisan civic message on constitutional duties under Article 43 of the Constitution
