SHAMOBA, a Zambian journalist, blogger, and youth advocate has argued that the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) and other media outlets often refer to a sitting President of the Republic of Zambia as the ‘REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT.’
The term REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT is frequently used to refer to the PRESIDENT OF ZAMBIA, who leads a Cabinet of ministers. But is that what the word actually means? If some media houses in Zambia haven’t gotten it wrong, then the genesis of referring to a sitting President of Zambia as ‘REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT’ must be established.
According to the Collins Pocket Dictionary of the English Language, 1989 edition; Republican is an adjective of REPUBLIC (a country in which the head of state is an elected or nominated president).
Republican also means ‘a person who supports the idea of countries having a president, rather than a king or queen.’
Further, Republican refers to a member or supporter of the Republican party or the Irish Republican army.
In light of the aforementioned, the word Republican does not mean Head of State, and it has been wrongly used!
Unless there is another reason some media houses use Republican President to denote President of Zambia, but there is no such a title in Zambia.
Sadly, the term REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT has been accepted and widely used by the general citizenry. But it’s WRONG.
It’s President of Zambia or simply Zambian President!
While changing this will take time, there has to be serious intervention from the top at both media house and government level.
©️ SHAMOBA
