Kennedy Liwmwanya investigates George Mpombo’s source of bombastic gymnastics, writes…
IN my upcoming autobiography due for publication in February 2024, there is a part in which I write about my interactions with former minister of Defence George Wello Mpombo.
I became close to Mpombo at the time I was Times of Zambia bureau chief in Livingstone between 2003 and 2004.
At that time, Mpombo was Southern Province minister.
Over the years, Mpombo has been known for his inclination for unfamiliar or difficult English words instead of more common ones.
It is not uncommon to hear Mpombo using words like shenanigans, higgledy-piggledy, kerfuffle, brouhaha, tintinnabulation or the Japanese term hara-kiri.
In my book, I make an attempt to engage him on the motivation behind his love for such words and also seek to know the truth behind who remained with the Instruments of Power when President Levy Mwanawasa was leaving for Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, in June 2008.
Was it Mpombo as Defence minister or Vice-President Rupiah Banda?
Here is an excerpt from the book.
NEARLY every time I went to Mpombo’s office at the provincial administration in Livingstone, I would find him buried in a book.
He was an avid reader.
I do not really know whether all the books he read had bombastic words, which could have been the reason he was fond of using such in his speeches and debates.
One late afternoon, the two of us rode in his ministerial vehicle to the Livingstone Boating Club where we spent some leisure time.
That opportunity enabled me to interview Mpombo about his life, the result of which was a profile that was later published in the Times of Zambia in 2003.
Even when President Mwanawasa transferred him to Lusaka in a new capacity as Energy minister, we still remained close.
Later, our interaction lost steam, particularly when I moved from the Times of Zambia to State House in July 2009.
The main reason was that by that time, Mpombo had resigned as Defence minister from new President Rupiah Banda’s Cabinet due to some differences which he never disclosed.
We never communicated again until 2019 when I called him on his mobile phone to seek clarification on the status of who had remained with the Instruments of Power at the time of President Mwanawasa’s departure for Egypt in June 2008.
I just told him it was Kennedy Limwanya calling and the response was enthusiastic.
After that, I asked him about how he was doing.
“Ken! I’m as fit as a fiddle,” he responded.
In our brief chat, he proceeded to use some more unfamiliar words which I have since forgotten.
But what I still remember was him telling me that “when I come to Lusaka next week, I’ll give you a tinkle”.
I had told him that I was writing a book and that what I wanted was for him to clear the air on the issue of Instruments of Power.
His response was not negative and he went as far as saying he had reconciled with former president Banda.
It was from that premise that he promised to give me “a tinkle” when he arrived in Lusaka from his base in Masaiti.
Once he had arrived in Lusaka, I would then be able to put on record what he would tell me.
A week later, I called him.
I also informed him that I had told former President Banda about his response and that he was happy that the matter would now be put to rest.
Later, Mpombo sent me a text message asking that I forward him the questions I wanted him to respond to.
I did as advised.
I began by asking him about his knack for big words and whether it was a result of extensive reading.
In his text messaged response to me, he chose to begin with the subject of difficult words.
It went as follows:
I’m a voracious reader from my school days at Chiwala Sec [ondary] School where I could hold the assembly hall spell-bound, you literally heard a pin drop.
Each morning, I read the Washington Post, New York Post, The Daily Beast and Wall Street Journal.
At Chiwala, I was also president of the debating society, whose membership was by invitation.
I was also an effervescent English literature student who mercilessly devoured books by literary giant and Nobel literature laureate Wole Soyinka.
I was dubbed moving dictionary at school due to my bombastic gymnastics.
When former president Banda died in March 2022, Mpombo described his demise as a “stupendous and colossal” loss to the nation.
More details in my autobiography in February 2024.