Lucky Musonda

Advancing opportunities for others so that, together, our children will live a better life than ours. - Personal tweets only.

[Lucky Musonda @Chanda_lm]

Start today. Learn a language. Thanks @eliasmunshya !

[Dr. Elias Munshya @eliasmunshya]

TO EVERY YOUTH WHO DREAMS OF SERVING THIS COUNTRY ON THE WORLD STAGE — THIS IS FOR YOU.

I grew up in Chiwempala, Chingola.
Not in a diplomat’s house. Not in a minister’s mansion. In a copper-mining town on the Copperbelt, with roots in Milenge, Luapula. AbaUshi. Chief Sokontwe’s people.
And today, I sit in Luanda as Zambia’s Ambassador to Angola.

So when I tell you it is possible, I am not giving you a hollow motivational speech. I am giving you evidence.

Here is what I wish someone had told me early:

📌 Your story IS your credential.

The most powerful thing I brought to Angola wasn’t my eight degrees. It was the fact that I grew up alongside Angolan children in Chingola. No title can manufacture that. Your background, your village, your language, your people, that is your superpower. Own it.

📌 Read like your future depends on it. Because it does.

Law. Theology. History. African politics. Other people’s newspapers. Other people’s languages. The diplomat who reads is the diplomat who is never caught off guard.

📌 Learn a language. Start today.

Not tomorrow. Today. Portuguese. French. Mandarin. Arabic. Every language is a door. And doors open for those who hold the key. I learnt a little bit of French at Chingola Secondary School in grade 8 and 9. It is a pity we didn’t take it higher. But I’m grateful for the opportunity to greet and understand a little bit of it. Merci!

📌 Build character before you build a career.

Zambia doesn’t need clever ambassadors. We need honest ones. Integrity built in private is the foundation of influence in public. Integrity helps you navigate crisis and survive people bent on tarnishing your image.

Haters will always be plenty. But remember, they can’t win against a person of integrity.

📌 Your town and village is not your limitation. It is your launch pad.

I have sat with presidents and never once been ashamed of Chiwempala, Chingola, Milenge. Knowing where you come from means power will never dazzle you, it simply becomes another room to serve in.

📌 Serve Zambia. Not yourself.

The flag on that car is not yours. The title is not yours. You are a steward. The measure of your success is whether the ordinary Zambian, in Milenge, in Chingola, in Kalingalinga, is better off because of your work. Let that person be your compass. Always.

I serve Zambia and a President who sees public service as just that, public service.

Dear youth,

I was a school prefect. A debate club president. A Scripture Union chairperson.
I didn’t know I was being prepared.

You are being prepared right now. Don’t waste the season.
The world is waiting for what young Zambia carries. 🌍

Tag a young Zambian who needs to read this today.

- Rev. Dr. Elias Munshya
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Zambia to the Republic of Angola.

#YoungZambia #YouthDay #ZambianDiplomacy #munshyadiplomaticdiary #Zambia🇿🇲 #AfricaRising #FromChingola #ServantLeadership #Luanda

[Lucky Musonda @Chanda_lm]

Excerpt from The Official Oaths Act of the Laws of Zambia which an elected President takes "I will ... dedicate my abilities to service and welfare of the people of Zambia, without fear, favour or ill will, so help me God."

[BBC News Africa @BBCAfrica]

"I've tried to grow my maize, I've tried everything so the hunger won't kill my child, but it's too much."
A devastating toxic spill in Zambia has killed the fish around the towns of Chambishi and Kitwe, making the water undrinkable, farmers tell the BBC. https://t.co/eKSTAWzvZ3

[Presidency | Rwanda @UrugwiroVillage]

President Kagame has arrived in Washington, D.C., where he will meet with President Donald Trump @realDonaldTrump and join the signing of the Washington Accord.

[Lucky Musonda @Chanda_lm]

Every elected President of Zambia swears & says "I will faithfully and diligently discharge my duties ... I will uphold and MAINTAIN the constitution and Laws of Zambia ...So help me God". Are calls to #STOPBILL7 justified? Is this a defining moment?

[Felix @FMwenge]

Every Zambian citizen must be allowed to comment and make their views known on the constitution making or amendment process without being demeaned, threatened or made fun of based on their faith, marital status, age, parenting status, gender, tribe, race etc. #Zambia

[BBC News Africa @BBCAfrica]

Zambian-American influencer Ethel Chisono Edwards has been jailed for 18 months after admitting to posting insulting online remarks about President Hichilema, under laws introduced this year. Her sentencing has sparked debate over free speech.
https://t.co/Y0S2ktYCie

[Lucky Musonda @Chanda_lm]

Hope. Solidarity. Multilateralism.

[The Global Fund @GlobalFund]

Just Announced: US$11.34 billion raised to sustain the fight against AIDS, TB and malaria, save millions more lives, and strengthen systems for health.

Despite global challenges, the @GlobalFund’s Eighth Replenishment marks a moment of renewed solidarity and resolve – reaffirming that the world can still come together to confront these three epidemics and protect future generations.

https://t.co/4oGA5cTiqS

[Teslaconomics @Teslaconomics]

Elon believes Optimus will end poverty.

“Imagine a world where everyone has access to the best surgeons, literally everyone. And Optimus will have the level of precision that is frankly superhuman. And will be able to do medical procedures, very sophisticated medical procedures, any medial procedures, perhaps things that really humans can’t even do bc it’s too difficult. And that will be available to anyone. People often talk about eliminating poverty and providing great medical care, but they don’t actually have a solution. And money doesn’t solve it bc there’s only so many, very limited number of great doctors and surgeons. They don’t grow on trees. But now they’ll get built in factories.”

[Lucky Musonda @Chanda_lm]

Every country's dream citizen.

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

🇺🇸

[Felix @FMwenge]

Some of the current students when they arrived at @cruciblelusaka last year. December applications are open. Your niece, son, daughter or that neighbor’s child could be the next one to get a 100% scholarship. #CrucibleLusaka

[Sishuwa Sishuwa @ssishuwa]

Why is the UPND panicking over John Sangwa?

By Sishuwa Sishuwa

In a recent press statement titled "A Call to National Reflection", constitutional lawyer John Sangwa said if he were to run for presidency, he would rather have his political campaign, much like our democracy, funded by Zambians than foreign donors or corrupt financiers. "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", Sangwa wrote in his call (see attached).

Today, News Diggers is quoting Paul Kabuswe, in his capacity as Minister of Mines, telling Sangwa that “Zambians won’t fund your ambitions. I don't understand which world he is coming from because Zambians cannot fund his ambitions. If someone is a foreign funder and he genuinely wants to support your party without strings attached, why not? What is wrong with that? He is a wrong guy to fit Zambian politics", Kabuswe said before advising Sangwa to "abandon his ka accent of his; let him go and talk to the people normally, not just speaking English in that accent".

Even if ones completely ignores the disturbing lack of intellectual depth in Kabuswe's response and his abject failure to apply his mind to Article 60 of Zambia’s constitution that calls for legislation on (i) the establishment and management of a Political Parties’ Fund to provide financial support to political parties with seats in the National Assembly; (ii) the accounts of political parties which are funded under the Political Parties’ Fund and the submission of audited accounts by political parties; (iii) the sources of funds for political parties; and (iv) the maximum amount of money to be used for campaigns during elections, how does it fall under the responsibility of the country’s Minister of Mines to respond to Sangwa's call for Zambians to fund their democracy? What Sangwa said has nothing to do with mining and yet Kabuswe thought it was within his official mandate to address the question about whether we are "willing to fund our own democracy so that it belongs fully to Zambians and not to foreign donors or corrupt financiers"?

And since when did Kabuswe become the spokesperson of Zambians? Why are UPND leaders panicking when it comes to Sangwa? The other day, the ruling party’s Lusaka Province chairperson, Obvious Mwaliteta, was quoted saying 'Sangwa must first get a wife before standing as president'. Since when did having a spouse become a requirement for seeking election to any public office in Zambia? Of course, Sangwa is married and I have twice met the couple in public spaces this year alone. It seems, however, that the default position of UPND leaders, as Clayson Hamasaka showed yesterday in relation to his lack of basic knowledge of the country’s constitution, is to speak confidently even on matters on which they are totally ignorant, rather than asking questions so that those in the know can cure their repulsive ignorance.

Others have gone as far as saying Sangwa should first tell Zambians which primary school he went to before he can stand as president. How does knowledge of one's primary school advance public interest? Instead of responding to the fundamental issues that Sangwa raised in his call for national reflection, the UPND and its supporters are lowering the quality of public discourse by way of attacking the person and needlessly dragging his innocent family into a matter that has nothing to do with them (the family).

Sangwa’s story, much like his professional record, is in the public domain. He attended Mutakwa Primary School in Chief Mungule’s area in Lusaka rural, then Riverain Primary School in Kitwe, Natwange Primary School in Chimwemwe where he wrote his Grade 7 exams in 1977. He then attended Kitwe Boys Secondary School, Mpatumatu Secondary School, Roan Antelope Secondary School, Luanshya Boys Secondary School and Kantanshi Secondary School, all on the Copperbelt. The high turnaround in the schools that Sangwa attended has to do with the nomadic professional life of his father, a civil servant who was constantly transferred by the government from one place to another.

More ruling party functionaries have also alleged that Sangwa is not Zambian but Congolese and therefore ineligible to stand for president. This is another truckload of nonsense. First, Sangwa is as Zambian as they come and was born in Mansa on 29 December 1964. His father was Davies Sangwa from Mwinilunga district in Northwestern Province. His mother is from Luapula Province. Second, even if one of his parents were not Zambian (and both are Zambian citizens by birth), he would still be eligible to stand for election as president because the parentage clause was removed from Zambia's constitution in 2016.

Although all this information about Sangwa's life has been in the public domain since April 2003 when Amos Malupenga published his profile in the Sunday Post (a profile that was later reproduced in Malupenga's 2022 book Conversations with Memorable Personalities), most UPND leaders do not know it because many of them – with Hamasaka, Kabuswe, and Mwaliteta serving as prime examples – hardly read. Like most praise singers, they are largely functional illiterates with limited intellectual capacity and short attention span. They appear to be more at home listening to songs and watching TikTok videos and to be allergic to reading anything longer than a short tweet. Their extraordinary appetite to comment on subjects they have neither read nor taken time to understand is only matched by their clear aversion to reason, their boundless energy to defend the indefensible, their unqualified hostility to anyone critical of the Dear Leader, and their sycophantic and ingratiating attitude towards him.

Argh, ba UPND! Criticise Sangwa and his proposed ideas or solutions to Zambia's foremost challenges, but consider leaving his family out of your attacks.

[Lucky Musonda @Chanda_lm]

@FMwenge @Arsenal @ManUtd Am with you my brother.

[Lucky Musonda @Chanda_lm]

3 points less is a FULL SETBACK, nothing "slight" about this @FMwenge . After #LIVARS , @Arsenal now occupies position No. 3, with only 2 points above @ManUtd #EPL2025

[Lucky Musonda @Chanda_lm]

I am happy. Because the ticks are more on the team that played better today. Definitely, a better-looking @ManUtd squad. #ManUnited #manuarsenal @FMwenge & your @Arsenal watch out... 37 more games to go.

[Lucky Musonda @Chanda_lm]

@eliasmunshya Please do the needful.

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

As goes Norway, so goes the rest of the world.

Combustion engine cars will be like the steam engine – quaint, but primitive.

[Musa Mwenye, SC @MusaMwenye]

The Constitutional court, has today, by a decision of the majority, declared the current constitution making process unconstitutional for lack of a structured and wide consultative process. For us lawyers, it is judgments like these, that renew our pride as lawyers.

Therefore, the Bill 7 process is unconstitutional. In other words, before any other bill is formulated, the consultative process overseen by an independent body of experts must be engaged in, in order to determine which clauses the people want changed and how the clauses should look. By convention, the process of consultation must be structured and guided by an act of parliament which will stipulate the composition of the consultative body and how the will of the people will be determined.

The Bill 7 constitution review process is arguably the worst constitution review process in the past 20 years and, in a democracy such as ours, we should never have a process that is as blatant and as unconsultative as the one we had under bill 7. Zambia is a democracy and we should all strive to preserve our democracy through the legal channels open to us as citizens.

Special commendation to the lawyers and petitioners who decided to exercise their rights in defence of our democracy. Special commendation also to the Constitutional court that has yet again shown, that, at critical times in our democracy, lawyers and the courts become the last line of defence of our democracy.

[Lucky Musonda @Chanda_lm]

Impressive!

[NUL Research and Innovations @nulinnovations]

This video shows a smart system built at the National University of Lesotho (NUL) by Mangange Mpobole. It uses cameras to monitor chickens, track their movements, eating & drinking habits, and alerts farmers if a bird shows early signs of sickness—before symptoms appear!

[Lucky Musonda @Chanda_lm]

Yesterday, the 9,941st meeting of @UN #SecurityCouncil was convened. The agenda of the meeting was "Threats to International Peace and Security". Iran, Iraq, Israel and Kuwait were invited to participate in the meeting. Listen ⤵️
https://t.co/GNZC7QIVEO

[Lucky Musonda @Chanda_lm]

"Diplomacy must prevail"

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

Starlink now available in Lesotho!