PRESS STATEMENT
(For immediate release)
28th January 2023
KAMBWILI AND KALABA ARE HARD-CORE TRIBALISTS , THEY SHOULD BE LAST TO TALK ABOUT TRIBALISM
We note with serious concern the irresponsible divisive tribal remarks by Mr Chishimba Kambwili and Mr Harry Kalaba over Anthony Bwalya’s redeployment to Tanzania as Deputy Ambassador.
Mr Kambwili and Kalaba should be the last ones to talk about tribalism as they ran a government of regionalism, starting from the cabinet to the lower staff in the Civil Service.
All of them having been former Foreign Affairs Ministers, ran diplomatic missions which were ridden with tribalism, corruption and sub-standard personnel and saw nothing wrong with it. Why do they want to be heroes of their own mistakes, wrong planning and inefficiency?
Kambwili’s governance ideals lacking intellect which excludes some tribes stinks to say the least. His hatred for Southerners, Westerners, Central ), Northwesterners, Lusaka and Copperbelt dwellers must be dismissed and rubbished with the contempt it deserves.
The question is, does he ever think that these regions can ever vote for him when they know very well that he hates them?
Before the 2021 General Elections Kambwili, uttered all thoughts of tribal hate speeches with a hope of attracting the Northern circuit vote, but the Bemba speaking groups proved to him that they are independent-minded, sober citizens who can easily distinguish quality from chauff and true Zambians who practice the principle of ONE ZAMBIA ONE NATION.
In case Kambwili has forgotten, with all his tribalism, Edgar Lungu got 49 percent of the votes in Northern Province, while Hichilema got 51 percent.
This goes to demonstrate that the Bemba people which Kambwili and Kalaba wants to use believe in unity of purpose.
Zambians have not forgotten the ethnic cleansing witnessed in all government institutions under the PF’s Kambwili and Kalaba, in which some tribal groupings could be retired in national interest.
As a result of the divided state in which the country was left , Zambians went for polls in 2021 to stamp out tribalism by removing the PF.
It is evident to all that when President Hichilema was elected, the first thing he did was to come up with a balanced cabinet, which these two irresponsible citizens have never talked about.
Further, President Hichilema went into ensuring the recruitment process of teachers and nurses, among others had a national character.
Our surprise is that, Mr Kambwili and Kalaba want to run the country even when they are not in power; they want to decide who should be appointed where and who should maintain which position.
They want the UPND government to run like the PF government with nepotism and pettiness.
We want to remind the two irresponsible opposition leaders that government is so vast and people can hold any position and still remain part of government unlike under the PF where they fired citizens for merely coming from particular tribes.
The New Dawn government has never tied any tribe to a specific positions.
Government runs an ethnically balanced system without allocating specific positions to tribe as Mr Kambwili and Kalaba think; Thus citizens, irrespective of their tribe can run various government positions so long the entire government system upholds unity of purpose and national character.
We also want to remind them that it is the President’s prerogative to appoint or redeploy. President Hichilema did not consult them when he appointed Anthony Bwalya as Presidential Spokesperson and so it is completely out of question for them to question the President on who to redeploy.
Mr Kambwili and Kalaba (who runs his party in the social media, wants government to freeze certain positions for specific tribes; we cannot take that kind of cheap propanganda.
As a party in power, we remain committed to embracing all citizens regardless of their ethnicity.
We urge Mr Kambwili and Kalaba to give space to the head of state to govern.
As we congratulate Mr. Bwalya on his well-deserved redeployment, we want to also applaud the New Dawn administration for seeing it fit, based on proven merit, to send our brother, Anthony, into the foreign service. Given that President Hakainde Hichilema is pursuing a path of Economic Diplomacy, the calibre of Zambians to be deployed into the foreign service is expected to be very high. For the sake, of the nation, we will not compromise on that.
We affirm that going by the way he accounted for himself, both before the 2021 General Election and as the presidential spokesperson, Anthony Bwalya meets the calibre of people expected to drive Zambia’s economic agenda at the country’s missions abroad. Tanzania remains one of our major economic partners.
So, for these two individuals who only see tribe where the President Hichilema-led government sees proven merit, our word of advise is that they should just join the New Dawn in correcting the mess they created in our foreign missions. What they are actually confirming is that they were appointing people to serve as diplomats based on their ethnicity. In short, they are revealing who they really are – self-confessed hardcore and unrepentant tribalists.
No amount of malicious propaganda will stop UPND from further reuniting this country and rebuild Zambia’s dented image abroad through high-calibre appointments to the foreign service, without looking at one’s name or where they hail from. On this, President Hichilema has raised the bar very high.
Issued by:
Batuke Imenda
UPND SECRETARY GENERAL