NATIONAL Democratic Congress vice-president Josephs Akafumba says Chishimba Kambwili is still in the 2021 race.
And UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema says only a lunatic can celebrate the NDC leader’s incarceration.
Principal resident magistrate David Simusamba on Wednesday sentenced Kambwili to one-year imprisonment each, for forgery and uttering a false document.
The two sentences will run concurrently, meaning Kambwili will only serve a year.
Speaking at a UPND-NDC Alliance briefing in Lusaka yesterday, Akafumba who is a lawyer said the Magistrates’ Court was not the final arbiter.
Akafumba also said he is not shocked by magistrate Simusamba’s judgment.
“We know that the PF have done this because they want to block president Kambwili from achieving his political aspirations. We saw yesterday (Wednesday) on their platforms where they were saying president Kambwili is gone and dusted and will never stand again because he is a convict…,” he said. “Let me make this very clear, the exclusion clauses in the Constitution are only two. Number one is when you are serving a prison sentence and by implication it means you are in prison; you cannot go out and campaign. And the second one is when you have served a term of three years. So, to us we have to fight to ensure that CK comes out of jail. So, to me those don’t apply to CK. And if again this is what they wanted to achieve, mwailasha (you are doomed) again. We are ready for it but time for them will come.”
Akafumba complained about magistrate Simusamba’s behaviour during trial and judgment.
“What happened at court is very saddening, but we expected it because the route of journey the trial for president CK took is out of the preamble for any justice system. If you recall or are not aware, first of all, CK reported magistrate Simusamba’s bad conduct to the Chief Justice,’’ Akafumba said. “He went further to report magistrate Simusamba to the Anti-Corruption Commission and has also sued Simusamba in the High Court of Zambia. In all court systems the magistrate must always have water in the mouth but Simusamba chose to swallow the water and jumped to the arena and that’s why this judgment is in the manner it is. I am not shocked by that, but Simusamba is not the final court as we are going to appeal all the way to the Supreme Court.”
He said all the aforementioned matters were alive and active, and that it was the same magistrate who went ahead to hear and determine the matter of the NDC leader.
He charged that Simusamba had scores to settle with Kambwili from inception.
“We did go as far as the Chief Justice to air the complaints that Simusamba was not the right magistrate to determine this matter. So even when he was reading out his judgment, it became very clear that what he was settling was the perceived conduct of Kambwili in his eyes,” said Akafumba. “And then he went ahead to say that because of what happened, because of him not coming to court with the alleged attempt to delay the court and therefore was going to punish him. I don’t think this is the way it should have been done or should be.”
And Hichilema said Zambia had an autocratic and brutal regime.
He encouraged the Kambwili family to be strong, stating further that what was happening was a passing phase.
“I said to the family that this should never be viewed as a case of criminality. This is the time to be united; this is not the time to start polarising yourselves over issues that are of no consequence. This is the time to bond, and we expect you to be strong and then we the alliance can add more glue to that bondage,” Hichilema said. “Ifi fyonse fikapwa, all of this will come to an end but we have to remain strong as a nation, as a people. We must also remove fear because what is happening to CK is because most of us are afraid to stand up for our rights. Be strong, mukose. It’s darkest before dawn. And a lunatic was celebrating the incarceration of CK. We are losing basic values of care for each other.
When leadership is rotten, it cascades downwards. This is what is happening in Zambia.”
He said every time Zambians worked in unity against evil, the nation succeeded.
Hichilema said while the forefathers fought for independence, Kambwili is “fighting for new independence”.
“2021, there is another call to duty. On the left is the PF, the bad, and its surrogates. The other side, is what is right, it’s where the people are,” said Hichilema.