LUSAKA Province PF chairperson Kennedy Kamba has described tribalism as filthy.
Kamba, who is also member of the central committee, has defended PF cadre Chishimba Kambwili’s tribal attacks on the UPND, saying the former information minister had a basis for his antics.
Kambwili has toured the northern part of the country, speaking against citizens from Southern Province.
And members of the public have condemned him for what is seen as outright hate speech and tribalism.
“Kambwili is not complaining from without. He became one of them and after realising that he was being sidelined purely on tribe, he dumped them and returned home to the PF. And we are proud of him for making a bold decision to ditch them and the alliance talks and rejoined the PF, his home,” he said in a statement. “It is important every time in life to face reality and deal with the issues that arise holistically, with boldness while looking at facts. Tribalism is filthy, tribalism is evil and it must be condemned. One Zambia One Nation!”
Kamba insisted that Kambwili had facts on which he was basing his statements on the UPND.
“Today in our country, there has been a debate over the remarks that comrade Chishimba Kambwili has repeatedly made of late regarding the tribalism that exists in the opposition UPND,” Kamba added. “Allow me to first of all put it on record that tribalism is evil and it must be condemned with impunity, especially now that the country has come together to mourn a gallant man, our founding father Dr Kenneth David Kaunda (MHSRIP) who fought tribalism to the core with all its offshoots to make One Zambia, One Nation.”
He said PF members and all other citizens were one family.
“We must also put it on record that in the PF and the nation at large, we are one family regardless of where one comes from. We have brothers and sisters from Southern Province who are serving the party and the nation diligently and at the highest level. We love them dearly and we highly respect them,” Kamba said. “However, when we talk about the leadership of the UPND and its tribal tag, we are not in any way saying we hate people from Southern Province or the fact that Hakainde Hichilema, the leader of the UPND is Tonga. Not at all. The beautiful and nice people of Southern Province and a clique of the few tribalists that are at the helm of UPND as a political party are two different things. We must be able to make this clear distinction for us to understand issues in context.”
Kamba accused the UPND of having set a precedence for tribalism after the death of its founding president Anderson Mazoka.
He said no PF member hated Tongas as a group but individual members whom he described as tribalists.
“When one great son of the soil who founded the UPND Anderson Mazoka died, his vice-president then was Sakwiba Sikota and he really wanted to take over the leadership of the UPND. After all, he was and still is a respected, highly qualified, experienced and competent politician and renowned lawyer,” said Kamba. “What happened? The UPND refused that a non-Tonga cannot take over from Mazoka. From nowhere, they brought in Hakainde Hichilema who has never even held a political office, not even at branch level or ward level and they named him party president simply because he was Tonga. Zambians will recall that Sakwiba Sikota, Given Lubinda and others were literally chased from the UPND for trying to resist and condemn the tribalism that existed and still exists in the UPND. It is the UPND that set the bad precedence of tribalism within their party and themselves.”