I WON’T FIGHT WITH ECL BUT AM RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT – KBF
Democracy has time limits and it’s about time that President Lungu stepped aside so that he can retire and support others the way he was supported as Zambia needs a fresh start to overcome the challenges at hand.
Speaking in an Online WhatsApp interactive forum called *Zambia First* from 21 to 23hours on 24th November 2020, KBF says he is PF and running for President either under Plan A or B, “so there’s no doubt about that, am running.”
*Eligibility of ECL*
“For me as a lawyer, this is not a question. As a party, we must begin to look for a new candidate other that His Excellency. I will not back down on that. Whether the PF as a party throws its wait behind the President or not, is another story. We must look for a knew candidate”, he emphasised.
“When I declared my intention to stand to run for Office, I respectfully said I would not challenge the President but I will ask the President to step aside so that another person takes over this party si that we can have a new vision, a new face, new ideas to push the agenda of this Nation. The President has had his time, some of us like my colleagues CK, Harry Kalaba, Given Lubinda, Mulenga Sata at the time we all humbled ourselves in 2014 and allowed him at the Convention to take the reigns of the party. We have now tested his leadership now its time for him to support us. And he must step aside – _ukususha ilungu kwendamo_ . We have tasted his leadership it’s time for a different face. There’s nothing personal. These things are not personal. If the party rallies behind him and then tomorrow we suffer a blow, then what? And what’s more: why do you want to create confusion in the nation over one person? A section of the PF may want President Lungu but is it the whole country? Some of the economic problems we facing today are attributed to his leadership. He may not be guilty per se. But his ministers, his civil service that he has presided over, directors and others are responsible for that. Now in politics the buck stops at the President so you can’t run away from that. We just have to be courageous, face that bullet and bite that bullet and say ba President _afweniko umuntu umbi_ (Mr President help another person) go and enjoy your retirement and that’s the way it should be. Democracy must move like that” KBF elaborated.
The Republican Constitution in Article 106 (3) clearly states that a person who has twice held office of Pres6is not eligible.
“The judiciary is not the problem. There is rampant corruption. When people begin to think they can flout the law because they are interfering with the rule of law, you become a rogue state. If you flout the law, you must be taken to court.”
KBF illustrated the genesis of the ruling PF party’s problems. “The problems in the PF began in 2016, others bought their way in, process was not transparent hence we have independents who are actually PF. And when I brought out those issues, I was called a rebel. By 2016 there was no legit Central Committee whose time started in 2011 and now we’re trying to rape the Republican Constitution, am too experienced at the law for me to start making mistakes. We cannot be trusted as a party if we are flouting the law and cannot respect our own party Constitution. Your word is your bond. If your word means nothing, people cant trust you. Dont ask me to do something illegal, I won’t do it. On eligibility of President Edgar Chagwa Lungu, KBF says _ngatwaumfwana pa fintu_ on how we are going to proceed, you will find me to be a very easy person to deal with.”
On his action plan, he says: “The first thing I will do when I become President is to harmonise the party, numbers are important but that doesn’t mean the MMD takes over the party. We should have called for a Truth and Reconciliation commission as early as 2016.
KBF appreciates the current predicament Zambia is in, “When I ascend to power, (and regarding) on default of Eurobond, the international rating agencies may rate us as a junk nation, so borrowing may be affected, our Kwacha may be devalued. Bond holders may sell this debt to vulture funders, our assets within and outside the country may be taken. We are now at the mercy of lenders.”
KBF has a plan out of the current mess, “to turn around this economy, you dont allow government to borrow money when you know you have no capacity to pay back. Begin to produce like in agriculture- identify cash crops which produce jobs, study the international market like the DRC that needs food; enter into arrangements like India in textile to generate forex. Give enough acrerages, move away from fertilisers and get into organic application. Produce something to sell, add value to produce.”
On procurement, the KBF Administration shall set aside say 80% that must be procured is reserved for Zambians and half of that is reserved for youths – that makes money stay in Zambia and not the way it is in favour of foreigners.”
*KBF’s strategy on infrastructure.*
“Procurement is a problem but the biggest problem is ourselves. Some of people at ZPPA are a problem. NCC – National Council for Construction only has foreigners in Grade 1, we will need to restructure that.ZPPA puts up a tender document whose conditions make it impossible for Zambians to perform. E.g they say you must be in this business for 10 years, have financials fir last 3 years, have a contract worth $10million. And some of these guys at ZPPA taylor the contract documents to suit the foreign companies and some times, they even write these documents on behalf of foreigners. Its tantamount to you preparing an examination paper and you go to write it on behalf of a foreign company and you’re the same people sitting at the Evaluation table to assess winning bids. You mark yourself, can you fail such an examination? That’s very silly. Thats why some of our contracts are very inflated because the procurement people involved cream off the inflated costs at expense of the nation. We shall get to the root of this scourge and end it.”
He revealed, “We were supposed to do a dual carriage road between Lusaka and Copperbelt, Finance Minister Margarer Mwanakatwe reject that, and figures began to drop. Politicians connive with contractors, tax payers are the ones who pay. Such Ministers don’t deserve to be in government and if found must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law as all State capture perpetrators shall be halted.”
*The Youths*
The youths form 82% of Zambia’s population. It is wrong to just think only those kids who are academically sound, it’s wrong. Let’s copy from others like in football – *Lionel Messi* has never been to college. His father signed his first contract on a serviet at age of 12 or 13 and has been at Barcelona since and he’s a millionaire in Dollars because he can score goals. *Ronaldo* never been to college but he’s a millionaire in Dollars. These are rich people out of their talent. So, what happens to talented youths in Zambia? Lets begin from there. Artisans are important. For women, are multi tasked- firm cooperatives to rear goats, chicken so as to raise productivity so that when a Zambian family prospers, a nation prospers. My Admininstration shall ensure every Zambian has a house, three square meals a day, have medical care, they must be able to educate their children with the income they raise and remain with surplus income to save or investment for their families- stop hand to mouth nonsense by government giving incentives to Zambians to make them prosper.
Reverend Kelvin Mugala of Makeni in Lusaka asked KBF on how this prosperity shall be achieved in a broken governance system.
*Protecting the Presidency*
KBF says the President enjoys immunity for the discharge of his duties. “That only kicks in if you remove his immunity. I want to begin with reconciliation because we’re embarrassing the Presidency. The Presidency shall always be protected. I shall do my best to ensure that I protect that. There are ways and means of dealing with an ex President, you can engage an ex President. If it’s a question of loss of income, he enjoys 80% of the incumbent. I have no personal scores to settle between me and ba Chagwa – none. I dont habor bitterness, that’s not how I am. I like talking. When we talk, things happen I move on. Even in 10 years time, that’s my position.
We must reconcile the problems as we see them and the solutions that we intent to have.
*Political will*
Political will is the biggest answer to any problem. “As a leader, you must indicate your political will to push ab agenda to a point where you declare to achieve such an agenda to come to fruition. Dont flip flop, keep eyes on the ball – that’s what a vision is. A vision is the end product. In everything God gives us a vision but doesn’t tell us the route we going to take to achieve that vision- case of Joseph in the Bible. God said to him that he will be King but didn’t tell him that his own family will dump him in the ditch, that he will be beaten; that he will be sold as a slave to end up in Potpher’s house. And that in that house, Potipher’s wife will accuse him of trying to rape her. That he will go to jail for 13 years and that it will be there in prison were you meet people whose dreams you would interpret and consequently become Pharaoh’s Prime Minister. God didnt explain all this because Joseph could have been scared. Keep your eyes on the ball. The route may be challenging but as long as your focus and vision remains the same, we shall overcome, I am very confident that we have enough resources and human capital to push a political agenda with the right Leadership that Zambia prospers which begins first, that Zambians prosper.”
The informal sector is crucial in KBF’s attainment of the set vision. He pledges to apply what he terms as _Triple M_ policy: *mentor* to damage their _ignorance_ so that they stop thinking small but begin to dream big by giving them enough knowledge and exposure, enough training and apprenticeship so they can use their skills to borrow. Introduce them to *money* and educate them on how money is used, the value and meaning of money regarding how much they can invest and how much they can live with.
*Rule of law*
On the rule of law, corruption, we are losing money. Now we’re defaulting on the Euro bond. That image at international law is a very dangerous image. Nobody wants to look at us. The global rating agencies – _Moodies, Fitch_ and others, once they rate you, you will need to devalue your currency whether you like it or not. So Kwacha buying power reduces. We are not like other countries.
“For us we just have bad Leadership, bad investments, bad procurements we have made, wrong priorities in our budget.
Emmanuel Chilekwa
*Zambia Must Prosper – ZMP*
Proudly Team KBF