Lungu says he Wants to be addressed as ‘Mr Lungu’ Despite Doctorate Honour

President Edgar Lungu says he would not want to be called doctor despite the University of Zambia announcing that it will confer an honorary doctorate on him.

President Lungu said that he did not seek titles as he was just a simple person who never sought to be viewed as the source of knowledge.

The Head of State said that had he wanted to venture into academia he would have been a professor as his academic credentials in his university days were top notch.

“Firstly, I am not a Doctor. I do not have a doctorate and I do not wish to be called Dr. Edgar Lungu. There is so much talk about the doctorate to be conferred on me by the University of Zambia which I am greatly humbled with,” he said at the Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport today.

President Lungu said he did not need a doctorate to confirm his academic credentials.

“But, let me tell you – in class I was one of the best students and if I wanted to venture into the academia world, I would have been a professor by now. But I chose to pursue the political life and practice of the law,” he said.

“Those who think I do not deserve to be honoured by the University of Zambia, well, that is politics and I will not respond to that.”

“And even if I am conferred by the institution, I wouldn’t really want to be called Dr. Lungu, I still want to remain simple Lungu.”

The University of Zambia will confer an honorary doctorate on President Lungu next Friday alongside Zimbabwe president Emmerson Mnangagwa who is a former student at the Great East Road campus.

According to UNZA Senate, President Lungu will be honoured for appointing Zambia’s first female vice president, Inonge wina and for his role in the enactment of the 2016 constitution among other attributes.