Lungu Shares Fake Road Photos On Facebook

President Lungu has been caught up in an embarrassing photo scandal after State House officials admitted to using stolen photos and posting them to the president’s personal Facebook page.

On Tuesday the president’s page shared photos purporting to show works on the Mazabuka Road. It later emerged the photos had been stolen from Nigeria and President Lungu was forced to apologise and post fresh photos. 

President Lungu’s post on Wednesday [left] and the original photos from Nigeria

The photos, which the president claimed were ‘erroneously attached’, were also used by an Ethiopian road project in 2019. This prompted social media users in Zambia to investigate whether State House had posted other fraudulent images.

It was discovered that another photo, which President Lungu posted to depict the success of an Aquaculture project, was also stolen. 

Former State House spokesman Dickson Jere has called for those responsible for managing the president’s Facebook page to be sacked. 

“State House has two full-time photographers backed by ZANIS team. How can one embarrass the Head of State in this manner and still keep the job? My brother Isaac Chipampe ought to be firm and make sure those running the Facebook page of the President are read a ‘riot act’,” he said. 

Mr Jere added that the stolen photos were tantamount to plagiarism and opened the Zambian government up to a lawsuit. 

State House has since released real images of the Mazabuka Road works. 

The actual photos of works on Mazabuka Road