MWAKALOMBE SAYS IT’S MALICIOUS TO CLAIM MUNDUBILE WANTS POWER ONLY TO FREE JAILED PF MEMBERS.
TONSE Alliance elections chairperson Japhen Mwakalombe says it is malicious to suggest that Brian Mundubile’s main campaign promise is to release jailed PF members once elected.
Mwakalombe argues that Mundubile’s use of the term “liberation” has been misinterpreted, saying it does not refer to freeing imprisoned colleagues but to resetting the country’s governance and economy.
Recently, the Tonse Alliance president said the freedom of PF members such as Raphael Nakacinda, Bowman Lusambo and Joseph Malanji, who are incarcerated, will only come when UPND leaves office.
However, several netizens expressed concern, suggesting that Mundubile should present and analyse his manqifesto more thoroughly to citizens.
Responding to this in a recent interview, Mwakalombe said Mundubile was focused on realigning the economy and ensuring equal application of the law.
“It’s not true that all Brian Mundubile wants is to liberate PF members who are in prisons, because president Mundubile is not a vengeful president. Even when he wins elections, he is not going to follow nobody. All he is going to do is realign the economy and make sure that some things that were not done right will be reviewed.
But to be honest, he is not there to go and liberate those people, it’s just one example that he uses in his speech, but not that he is becoming a president so that he can release people who are in jail, no. He is there to make sure that all Zambian citizens face one law. If I make a mistake or I commit an offence, the law should visit me whether I’m in the ruling party or in the opposition.
If one offence has been committed by a person in the ruling party and the same offence is committed by a person who is in the opposition, then all of them are visited by the same law as opposed to what is happening today,” he said.
“An issue that took Chishimba Kambwili into prison is the same that was committed by the mayor of Kafue, but the other one didn’t go in [prison], the arm of the law never visited her, it only visited Chishimba Kambwili. So, these are examples that we are saying that we have to stop those.
These are the things that Brian Mundubile is working on, and that’s the reason why we follow him; it’s because we want one day even when I commit an offence and I’m in the ruling party, the law should visit me. If I commit the same offence with someone who is not in government after the August election, the same law should visit me and visit that person”.
He argued that it was malicious for critics to question the clarity of the opposition’s message.
“So, it is not true that Brian Mundubile wants to release his colleagues; and if you have heard him, he has practically said that when he comes into office, he wants our country to restart. What does restarting mean? It means let’s forget about this pattern where one is out of power and you start following him. We need to stop that and reset the country where when someone is out of office tomorrow, you don’t follow him as an individual, you leave people to be together.
When he says liberation, you can sue it as a term. When he says I’m going to liberate you from the economic hardships, that’s liberation. So, he uses it as an example, but it shouldn’t mean liberation only points to people who are in prisons, no.
So, I don’t think people who are saying our messaging is not clear and we are not, I think there is maliciousness in there because as far as we know, we have a manifesto that when we form government this is what we are going to do, and it’s a social contract with the Zambian people,” said Mwakalombe.
Credit: News Diggers