EMMANUEL MWAMBA “THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF GOVERNANCE AND A VOICE OF FTJ’S LEGACY”
By Wiseman Tembo and Cornel Zimba
(2 min read)
Former late President Fredrick Jacob Titus Chiluba aka “Bally One” (the original Bally by the way) was an astute politician whose political calculations and judgments come second to none. Many people argue that his cabinets for both his Presidential terms can not be compared to the cabinets of his counterparts because they were well balanced and selected on merit.
After Chiluba left the Presidency in 2002 he still went on to make brilliant decisions and choices with one being the choice of his spokesperson – a lesser known youthful Journalist Emmanuel Mwamba. Many wondered then what was going in Chiluba’s head to pick Emmanuel Mwamba as his Spokesperson when he was facing an avalanche of allegations of abuse of office and corruption. Am certain now that many people have now come to understand Chiluba’s mind owing to the view that they can now see in Emmanuel Mwamba what FJT saw.
FTJ knew then before all of us that Emmanuel Mwamba had this quality about him that makes him easy to love and hard to hate. I mean – this soft spoken gentleman has thought provoking punchlines that make you pay attention and make you want to listen to him more when he speaks.
Ambassador is a wiseman who chooses his words carefully. It’s rare that you find him in trouble because of his mouth. The youths of today who are so much in love with the metaphors of hip hop culture would say of him – “he watches what he says like he has got eyes on his tongue.”
Having worked closely with three Republican Presidents in Fredrick Chiluba, Micheal Sata and Edgar Lungu I doubt if there are many people out there who can also claim to have the vast Governance knowledge of Ambassador Emmanuel Mwamba. The man is simply an encyclopedia of Governance but how he manages to stay this humble is beyond comprehension. Had it been anyone with just even half of Ambassador Mwamba’s Governance experience they would be blowing their horn 24/7 claiming they have what it takes to single handedly fix all our problems as a Country.
Ambassadors Mwamba’s humility despite having vast experience in Governance is the reason why he has zero scandals to his name. The man is as clean as KK’s handkerchief. Again had it been someone else by now their name could have been synonymous with corruption.
This Man Chiluba chose to be his Spokesperson at a time when nobody wanted to associate him with, is a gifted orator with the ability to easily convince people with facts whenever he speaks. Ambassador Mwamba doesn’t have to curse to keep it real because he is always calm, cool and collected.
Now that he is now a full time Politician and an active senior member of the former ruling party, he has focused his energies on offering credible checks and balances to the new Dawn Administration. Typical of him. His advice to the Government always comes from a good place. He is offering checks and balances to the Government with the sole purpose of helping it deliver to the Zambian people because he knows that our Country Zambia is the bigger picture.
This year marks 11 years since FTJ passed on but his legacy still lives on having brought us Democracy and so many other things. Today, FTJ’s legacy still speaks to us through his Spokesperson – Ambassador Emmanuel Mwamba. We thank you FTJ for identifying Ambasassor Mwamba’s qualities long before we did. You were indeed a visionary leader.