Former National Democratic Congress Leader, now opposition Patriotic Front (PF) member Chishimba Kambwili has disclosed his intention to contest the PF presidency at the forthcoming party convention.
And Kambwili says the loss of the PF in the 2021 general election was a great political revolution by the country against the PF and Edgar Lungu.
Kambwili said he was personally ready to take up the task of presidency, saying he has been a member of the opposition PF and had labored to build his name politically.
“Personally, I am more than ready to take up the role of presidency of the PF but I want to say I will not go outside of the realms of PF to discuss the coming convention of PF because I feel this is an internal matter, I am only a senior member of the PF, I am not a policy maker and not a member of the Central Committee,” he said
Mr. Kambwili said he contributed to the PF votes during the past general elections, dismissing as baseless allegations by some party members that he had contributed to the downfall of the opposition party.
“If the PF won the election, today could there be such allegations, check the results of the areas where I campaigned and see the results of the areas that I did not campaign in and also were the areas where I went physically held rallies physically and those places I did not visit and that will give you the answer, I have contributed to the numbers of the PF both during the 2016 and 2021 general election,” he said.
He alleged that some shallow minded people whom he termed as new entrants and likened to visitors in the PF, wanted to discredit him using deceit.
“Where there is competition some people who are shallow minded want to discredit others using deceit when they know for sure that my campaign during the 2016 election was a booster to the PF victory, so someone who wants to stand as the PF today, who hasn’t even worked for the PF who joined yesterday would come and bring boys to make those allegations, I feel very sorry for them,” he stated.
ZANIS reports that Mr Kambwili attributed the loss of the PF during the 2021 general elections to a great political revolution of the country against the PF.
“What happened in the last election was purely a political revolution, and when there is a political revolution in the country, you can even get a stone and make it stand against a very popular person and the stone will still win the election because the people are against the political party just like it happened in 1964 and it also happened when president Michael Sata won and also to the PF in the recent election,” he indicated.
Mr. Kambwili said despite his campaign, people were set on the revolution and that his contribution to the PF would be best judged from his contribution in the 2016 PF victory in which his campaign was a booster.
He said this when he answered questions from journalists during a press briefing held at his residence in Luanshya today.