HAVE the issues that Chishimba Kambwili brought so strongly against the PF now been resolved, asks NDC national chairperson Richard Luonde.
Fr Luonde insists that it was Kambwili who led the NDC into an alliance which he has now abandoned.
Commenting on Kambwili’s justification of his apology to President Edgar Lungu, Fr Luonde wondered if Zambians would ever trust the former information minister again.
“What Chishimba Kambwili has done is very hurting and very unkind to us, he is trying to turn us into a mockery. Zambians want to be liberated from the fangs of poverty brought about by the PF. If we don’t help liberate them more coffins will be produced,” he said. “Kambwili did come out so strongly against the PF and Zambians believed him, they trusted him because what he brought out was the truth. The questions now are, have those been resolved by the ruling party?”
Fr Luonde said Kambwili needed to be fair to others instead of having a personality ego.
He added that if Kambwili had any problems with the alliance, an NDC central committee meeting should have been convened and the general membership informed about the issue.
“Look at our brother Harry Kalaba of the DP. He has been saying that he would not go into an alliance with any political party and his members are aware,” Fr Luonde noted. “But Kambwili wanted to take us by surprise and in the end, we would have had no candidates to contest in the elections at parliamentary and local government levels. Zambians have been saying they don’t want a fragmented opposition because this will only help the PF win.”
He said Kambwili had very good people around him who were there for him at all times like Hakainde Hichilema and Josephs Akafumba.
“But a brother who does not respect you is better left alone. And we have done so not because we hate him, we love him; but we don’t like his decision. Kambwili walked into the alliance alone and that is how everyone followed,” explained Fr Luonde. “The friendship that grew between the NDC, UPND and ADD is very friendly and cordial and nothing is private. So having such a relationship what would stop us progressing? Kambwili was leading us like wagons on a rail track where when an engine derails all wagons derail and can’t go anywhere. But we are not wagons, we are human beings who need to be respected and heard.”