[By Mike Mwansa]
THE United Movement for Kola Bemba Kingdom has condemned the ECZ’s decision to lift the suspension of PF cadre Chishimba Kambwili from campaigns.
Over a week ago, the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) suspended Kambwili’s campaigns indefinitely for promoting hate speech and abrogating the Electoral Code of Conduct.
Kambwili has been propagating hate speech against the Tonga-speaking people as he campaigns for PF presidential candidate Edgar Lungu.
Last Thursday, the ECZ announced the lifting of Kambwili’s suspension barely a week after his sanction, claiming that he had shown remorse.
But United Movement for Kola Bemba Kingdom leader Boniface Besa Bwalya said the former information minister is a shameless tribalist who should apologise to the people of Southern Province.
“Kambwili is a betrayer, he is not a good man. He is a betrayer and a shameful tribalist. He has betrayed the Bemba speaking people by talking ill about the people of Southern Province,” he said. “I am condemning the Electoral Commission of Zambia chairperson Mr Esau Chulu for lifting the suspension of Chishimba Kambwili. Kambwili is not supposed to be forgiven by Zambians without him going to Southern Province and apologise for his tribal remarks. He needs to go and seek for forgiveness from the chiefs of Southern Province whom he injured, not the ECZ.”
Bwalya also accused justice Chulu of been biased towards the PF and has since called for the latter’s resignation.
“ECZ chairperson must resign for being partisan while executing his duties because he favours the PF,” Bwalya charged.
And featuring on Chipata’s Breeze FM Radio programme last Friday, former religious affairs minister Godfridah Sumaili said Kambwili was a mature person and an asset to the country.
“I am very happy that the Electoral Commission of Zambia sat with Dr Kambwili and resolved the matters and as we are speaking right now they have lifted that ban,” she said.
Asked whether or not Kambwili was a threat to the country’s unity, Reverend Sumaili responded: “No! No! Dr Kambwili is a very mature person. Dr Kambwili loves the nation of Zambia and he has served so much in so many government ministries. He has been a leader for a long time. He has served in Parliament for a long time. He is an asset. I’m sure that he has a message for the nation. He has a message to even guide the electorate. He has a message to contribute to the building of our nation.”
And responding to Rev Sumaili, Bwalya insisted that Kambwili was a betrayer.
Meanwhile, Bwalya called on President Edgar Lungu to cancel the declaration of founding president Kenneth Kaunda’s birthday a public holiday.
He argued that it was the same April 28 when the national football team died in Gabon in 1993.
“How can we commemorate our hero on the same day our football team is celebrated?” asked Bwalya. “Lungu should cancel 28th April as the date on which to commemorate our fallen hero. Heroes were celebrated on the day of their death, not what we have seen.”