DISCUSS HOW POWER AND AUTHORITY CAN BE USED BY THE PRESIDENT IN

RUNNING OF THE AFFAIRE OF THE STATE.

SOLUTION!!!!!!!!

Power and authority are closely related but conceptually distinct constructs. The exercise of
power is legitimated through authority. Authority is derived from real or implied perceptions of
the leader’s position in the organization or from the leader’s knowledge and expertise. Authority
is power granted for a purpose.

Power is the ability to control or direct someone. Sometimes people have the right to use power;
sometimes they do not. For example when a thief robs you at gunpoint; he has the power to do
so, he does not have the right or when the Supreme Court says a law is unconstitutional, it has
both the power and the right to do so.

Authority is power combined with the right to use that power. The right to use power usually
comes from laws, customs, or principles of morality. For example Police officers have the
authority to arrest a person because the law gives them that right and Parliament has the authority
to pass a law because the Constitution gives it that right.

Authority is power that has been legitimated by the consent of followers, not by coercion or
force.

Though authority and power are terms quite often used interchangeably but they are quite
different. Specific differences can be described as below:

Authority is legally enforced and is derived from level of position in an organization. Power
however is individual and independent and originates from charisma and social positioning.

Authority is formal based upon superior and subordinate relationship. Power is informal and is
based upon individual understanding. There are three types of authority as listed below;
Traditional authority; is the type of authority that is based on inheritance and lineage.

Charismatic authority; is the authority base on personal characteristics a person has and they are
more like a gift from God.

Rational-legal authority derives from a system of institutional procedure, wherein government

institutions establish and enforce law and order in the public interest. Therefore, it is through
public trust that the government will abide the law that confers rational-legal legitimacy.

The president of Zambia is the head of state and the chief executive officer of the government.
He has the authority stipulated in the constitution of Zambia; he can also use political powers
through legitimated authority.

-He or she can use power through legitimated authority to appoint ministers in and outside
parliament.

- He or she has the power through legitimated authority to pardon and release the
convicted prisoners or to reduce and change the verdict from a death sentence to life in jail.

- He is the commander in chief of all the armed forces of Zambia.

- He or she has the power through legitimated authority to veto or assent to the decisions
made by the national assembly.

- He or she has the power through legitimated authority to fire and employee civil servants.

- He or she has the power through legitimated authority to proclaim and declare the state
of emergency.

- He or she has the power through legitimated authority to sign the national treaties.

-He or she also has the power through legitimated authority to implement or launch all
government projects in the country, these among others.