On September 13, 2025, the front page headline in The Mast newspaper screamed: “Zambians Mock HH …how can he be writing own speeches – they wonder.” And below the headline was the picture of the Zambian president in his office, pen in hand, writing something on paper. The headline came a day after the president delivered his speech during the official opening of the Fifth Session of the Thirteenth National Assembly on Friday, 12th September, 2025.
The Mast headline compelled me to pause and reflect. What kind of society ridicules its leader for working? What mindset finds it laughable that a president should pick up a pen, put thought onto paper, and prepare his own words for the nation?
This reaction reveals a deeper problem than politics. It reveals a distorted view of work itself. To mock someone, especially a head of State, for diligence is not only illogical, it is symptomatic of a cultural malaise that diminishes labour, glorifies idleness, and confuses privilege with leadership.
The Illogic of Mocking Work
Let us begin with the obvious: writing one’s own speeches is work. It is the labour of thinking, of choosing words that carry meaning, and of shaping ideas into sentences that persuade and inspire. That is not a small task - it is hard, careful, and demanding labour.
Why then would anyone ridicule this? Perhaps because many have been conditioned to think leadership is about appearing important, detached, and served. In such a mindset, “real leaders” do not soil their hands with the sweat of effort. They delegate everything, even their voice. If this is the standard, then indeed a president writing his own speech looks out of place.
But this is a false and dangerous notion. Leadership is not laziness. Authority does not excuse one from labour; it binds one to greater responsibility. A president who writes his own speeches is not reducing his dignity, but enhancing it. He shows that he owns his convictions, that his words are not borrowed but born of his own reasoning, and that his leadership is not second-hand. To mock such work is to expose one’s own folly. For what is truly ridiculous is not a president who writes, but a people who laugh at diligence.
Work as a Divine Calling
From a biblical perspective, the necessity and dignity of work cannot be overstated. Work is not a curse; it is a calling. Before sin entered the world, Adam was placed in the garden of Eden “to work it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15). Human beings were created to labour, to cultivate, to produce, and to steward.
After the fall, work became toilsome, but it never ceased to be honourable. The sweat of the brow was not meant to be despised but to remind us of our dependence on God who blesses labour. The book of Proverbs consistently warns against laziness: “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber”(Prov. 6:10–11).
The Apostle Paul gave perhaps the sharpest reminder in 2 Thessalonians 3:10: “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.” Work is both the condition of survival and the context of dignity. It is by labour that families are sustained, communities are built, and nations are strengthened. Therefore, to ridicule someone for working is not simply unwise, it is rebellion against God’s order. It mocks what God esteems.
A Model for Leadership
In leadership, the dignity of work is even more vital. Leaders are called not merely to occupy positions, but to serve. Christ Himself, the Lord of glory, declared: “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). If the eternal Son of God could stoop to labor for the salvation of His people, then surely a president writing his own speeches is no humiliation, but an act in harmony with true greatness.
When a president drafts his own words, he models ownership and accountability. He is not merely repeating phrases crafted by anonymous aides; he is speaking from conviction. That act alone should inspire respect, for it demonstrates that he takes his leadership seriously enough to think for himself.
Contrast this with leaders who abdicate all thought to advisers and speechwriters. Such leaders may deliver eloquent addresses, but the words are not theirs. They are actors reciting lines, not thinkers shaping policy. To prefer such detachment over the authenticity of personal labour is to choose shadows over substance.
The Folly of the Mockers
It is worth asking: what do those who mock gain? Do they not reveal that they would rather have leaders who are ornamental than substantive? Do they not show that they value appearance over reality, ease over effort, and privilege over responsibility?
This mindset is destructive. A society that despises labour will not progress. A people that mocks diligence will never rise. Nations are built by hard work, by men and women who do not despise effort but embrace it as honorable. If citizens laugh at a president for working, what hope is there that they themselves will take their own work seriously? Mockery of labour is the seedbed of poverty. Respect for labour is the foundation of prosperity. The choice between the two is not political - it is moral and spiritual.
A Call to Recover the Dignity of Work
What Zambia, and indeed every society needs is not less work, but more. We need leaders who labour with their minds and hands. We need citizens who see work not as a burden to be avoided but as a calling to be embraced. We need parents who teach their children that dignity lies not in avoiding toil but in doing it faithfully.
When a president writes his own speech, the proper response is not laughter but admiration. It should encourage us to also take responsibility for our words, our duties, and our vocations. It should remind us that no one is above work - not even the highest office in the land.
The front page of The Mast may have reported laughter, but it inadvertently raised a serious question: Do we as a people honour or despise work? If we choose mockery, we embrace folly and weaken the foundations of our nation. If we choose respect for work, we align ourselves with God’s design and secure the dignity of our future.
President Hichilema writing his own speeches is not a shame to be ridiculed, but a virtue to be celebrated. It is a small but significant reminder that true leadership is not about luxury but labour, not about privilege but responsibility. And until we learn to honour work in all its forms, we will remain a people who laugh at the very thing that could lift us.
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