Ndola residents have received the first degree requirement for a presidential candidate with mixed feelings.
In an interview with ZANIS in Ndola today some residents were against the requirement saying that it was discriminatory while others felt it was necessary to have an educated leader.
Robert Mbewe said the requirement was necessary because modern politics and economic dynamics needed a leader whose mind was of a certain academic appreciation to grasp the sophistication in politics.
Mr. Mbewe said education was key to a clear thinking and realistic approach to national matters.
He said taking a leaf from many countries whose leaders have university degree qualifications was testimony enough that a leader with University degree was an asset for the country and those he was leading.
And Gibson Chinunka said a first degree requirement was a political tool to bar certain political leaders not to aspire for the top political position in the land.
He said the first degree was just the beginning of making the presidential position exclusively for the rich and those who had certain attainments no matter how they acquired them to victimize the less privileged.
Mr. Chinunka said eventually they would even call for qualifications from selected Universities to prevent perceived political challengers from meeting them on the same platform.
He added that University degree should not be used as a yardstick for leadership because some people were endowed with wisdom even to surpass those with degrees.
Mr. Chinunka added that first degree was nothing if the candidate was an upstart in politics because even in the real working world, those straight from University learn from those who have been on the job for some time.
ZANIS
So this will mean those chaps growing up in those poor homes with far fetched chances of a university education,should not even entertain the idea of being president one day…life su.cks.
#1 niether should they vote as It’s not the people who vote that count. It’s the people who count the votes.:):):):)
You can have as many degrees as they are on a thermometer but still remain an *****. How many *****s have graduated from UNZA? They are qualify to rule Zambia…. Pathetic….By the way how about ACCA, CIMA….these are not first degrees. but international professional qualifications. Still excluded????? You must be jockers…..How about those who pursue four year Masters programs skipping first degrees…This thing is not making sense….Only *****s like Machunga are dancing around…..
if a degree holding president, has grade 9 ministers like vera chiluba, I can’t see this cluase making a difference, unless all miniterial positions and voters for that matter are degree holders, may be that would work, hoping we would not have educated and enlightened people voting for fools after being given vitenge and blankets or a meal of sausage!
Are you kidding me? the people who vote must have degrees too.Mugabe has six degrees and he doesn’t use them.
Fine let those of us with degrees vote then,no problem,this clause will seive our political system,i wish it was extended to MPs and PSs:)>-:)>-
i think having a degree is a very god idea.An office such as a presidents’ is so important that he/she needs to understand the economical climate in the world and maybe when we start putting this into practise we can avoid selling out our country to foreigners.long gone are the days when people only rule using wisdom,in this day and age unfortunately thats not enough,they need knowledge,they need to have attained certain standardsIt’s all part of raising the standards in our country and who said the poor have no hope to be president?They still have a chance,the bar is not only being lifted for them but for everyone else too.though change maybe a difficult thing but it’s the right thing to do.
useless requirement since we have some law makers (MPs) who are not degree holders.
It makes sad reading that in this day and age some Zambians still think that the country can be ruled by illiterate or semi-literate politicians in this fast-paced, globalising and competitive age. The argument about “experience” and “wisdom” by some quarters as requisites for leadership in this modern age just do not hold water as these attributes have not been scientifically tested. The notion that the presidency will only be the preserve of the rich is a dangerous and misleading idea which needs to be challenged. Most Zambians who studied at various colleges and both the Universities of Zambia (Main Campus) and Copperbelt, came from very poor backgrounds but excelled and today have degrees of all sorts and work all over the world. These are also the young men and women who…