KELVIN Fube Bwalya says his expulsion letter from the ruling PF was signed by a central committee which has no mandate to do so.
Bwalya, known as KBF, also says Bill 10 is a waste of time, resources and has hidden agendas.
Meanwhile Bwalya says jeering a president is an expression of the peoples’ will and there is nothing wrong about it.
Featuring on Hot FM’s Hot seat yesterday, Bwalya said the PF had no central committee as the one masquerading to be in place has no jurisdiction.
“The expulsion letter was delivered one year late, that’s my first reaction and of course I had been expecting it. The serious part of it is that the letter was signed by the central committee which I think has no jurisdiction to expel me, they have no power to do what they did and in doing what they did they are basically breaking the PF constitution and breaking the law as it were,” he said.
Bwalya said the PF constitution was very clear on how one becomes a member of the central committee and none of those, except the three whom the President is allowed to appoint, met the barometer to sit in the committee.
“A member of the central committee is elected at the general conference every five years. The last time we had a general conference was in 2011 when the late president [Michael] Sata was alive running up to his election but since then we have never had a general conference. They don’t have a mandate to expel me, no they don’t. There is no central committee, technically. In article 51, it specifies on how the central committee is elected, how many members of the central committee should exist at any given time in the PF,” he said. “There should be 30 members of the central committee, 25 of these must be elected at the general conference. The President has power to appoint three members of the central committee, I repeat, three, not more than three. You and I know how many people have been appointed as members of the central committee by this current President, flouting the PF constitution.”
Bwalya recalled that when he was deputy chairman of elections, after the 2016 general elections he told the party that the mandate of the central committee had finished therefore they should move to hold elections but they did not listen to his advice.
He said owing to his advice to stick to the constitution, he was called a rebel.
“Today they are nominating and appointing people into the central committee. The people who are supposed to be expelling me have no mandate. If we are going to count, if the President is allowed to appoint three members of the central committee, let’s allow him the Secretary general, the deputy Secretary general and name another person…the rest of them who are they? Where are they from, how have they come in?” Bwalya asked. “There has been no general conference. I was saying to the PF and I am still saying now, let’s follow the law. This is a party in power and we must lead by example. We must not do things willy-nilly, no. We are the party in power and we must follow our own constitution first of all and then follow the Republican Constitution. If we are not following our Republican Constitution and party constitution, are we fit to govern?”
He said he has not decided to form his own political party because gentlemen don’t run away from problems but stick around to fight.
Bwalya warned that going to court would be more embarrassing for the PF but that he has been giving the ruling party time to think.
He said while he was an ordinary member of the PF, he should not be underrated.
“Have you ever seen an ordinary member of the party being served an expulsion letter by the deputy secretary general of the party? She calls me a nonentity but she dares to come to my office to deliver a letter, the deputy secretary general serving an ordinary member! She knows who I am in this party, she knows what I am capable of doing so she must not play, she knows exactly what I can do. I don’t want a fight, I want us to think and resolve this matter properly. I am giving them time to think, I am giving them time to reason,” Bwalya said.
He said the PF does not pay him but he has been putting time and energy into the activities of the party as a dedicated member.
Bwalya said he had not benefitted anything from the PF, “no government contract, not one piece of corruption and no appointment worth naming” but that he has been building the party.
And Bwalya insisted that Bill 10 was laced with an agenda that was not well for Zambians.
“Bill 10 with the greatest people that want it is a waste of time, a waste of resources, a waste of focus and waste of energy. Right now we have more serious pertinent problems to attend to than Bill 10. Bill 10 has got hidden agendas and the agendas are not noble and are not good for the Zambian people in the current form. It should not even visit parliament, let it die,” he said.
Bwalya said anyone who has read Bill 10 would understand the agenda being feared.
“Very recently my young brother Brian Mundubile, chairperson legal in the PF said that they must get rid of article 52 because it will block Ba Lungu from standing. Now if that is not an innuendo telling you something then you must be blind. Why do they want article 52 removed, why do they want that particular article removed? It’s because it’s very clear what it is bound to happen and it is in tandem with the PF constitution,” he said. “When you read on the qualification of the President, one of the qualification for the president of PF once elected is that he must qualify to stand in the Republican Constitution clauses. He must qualify, he must be a Zambian, he must be above 35, elected at a conference or convention but he must also qualify in the Republican Constitution. But now the Republican Constitution as you know, is flying in the teeth of a certain candidate. So they want article 52 removed so that you are only able to challenge after his election. There are lots of things in Bill 10 but I have only given you one. An innuendo which they want to bring, hidden but I can’t allow that. I will not be part of an illegality.”
Bwalya said the current Constitution was good enough and there was no need to change it.
“It’s a waste of time, it’s a smokescreen, and it’s for small minds. We don’t need this right now, the resources being spent on Bill 10 can be spent creating jobs for the youths. Let’s be serious. There can be anarchy in this country if we are not careful because people who think they will not be allowed to do certain things will go on the streets,” he said. “Let us be normal and reasonable, we have a functioning Constitution, there is nothing urgent about amending the current Constitution, so why are we in a rush?”
Meanwhile, Bwalya said history would guide many that booing a president is an expression of one’s will in trying to show individuality and unhappiness.
“The President was booed, I was at the university when we pelted, booed and scorned Kaunda with eggs, banana peels, and so on, as he was coming to watch a football match but he still watched the football match. Magnanimously, he sat and watched that game, shook hands of each players and kicked the ball to start the game like nothing had happened. That is leadership,” he said. “Booing a President is an expression of your will. You are trying to show that you are an individual, a person who is not happy about something. Booing by itself is not an insult but it is trying to convey a message to somebody that I am not happy about something.”
Bwalya noted that prior to President Lungu’s booing, UPND members of parliament Gary Nkombo and Jack Mwiimbu complained of the pulling down of their flags and defacing of their party president Hakainde Hichilema billboards, thus one did not expect people who were angered in such a manner to be clapping.
Bwalya said the people of Monze were reacting because they were angered by something but he expected President Lungu to merely do his business in the area and be presidential about the scene.