Much has been the talk of who should succeed President L.P. Mwanawasa. There are indeed a lot good candidates.

Qualities of a President

What then do Zambians look for in a Presidential candidate? First of all, they demand honesty, strong leadership, management skills, and moral integrity in the nation's 4th president. There is some emphasis on military experience, business experience, and religious commitment. Though political experience comes out to be vital, it does not guarantee good leadership.

Beyond these shared views, most people do regard marital fidelity to be essential in a president. Furthermore, public opinion should be considered in decision making.

One then asks what quality they consider most important for the next president to possess. A second question would be to rate the specific important qualities a president might have.  I believe that the response would be Honesty and Strong Leadership.

With the current attitude towards corruption and accountability, honesty would be the top-named quality by all electorates. With it comes the competency in managing the government. Though many would share the opinion that personal qualities of a president do play an important role in electing a president, there are, however, good candidates who appear to have a weakness, if so to speak, with their social lives. Honesty, integrity, good moral values, intelligence, being honourable, being trustworthy, being a Christian, having common sense, and having charisma are the most commonly mentioned qualities, although they account for less than half of the populations view on Presidential qualities.

Most also say it is essential the next president be an effective manager and focus on uniting the country.

Vision
"Vision" is a term with a variety of connotations. One is the capacity to inspire. It can also refer to preoccupation with the content of policies, an ability to assess their feasibility, and the possession of a set of overarching goals. Here the standouts are Kaunda, Mwanawasa and to a lesser extent Chiluba, whose views were poorly grounded in specifics. Vision also encompasses consistency of viewpoint. I strongly believe that the costs of vision-free leadership include internally inconsistent programs, policies that have unintended consequences, and sheer drift.

I believe it is the right time to start looking around for people who possess, at least, most of these qualities.