There is no tension in this country, no need for any indaba – Wynter Kabimba

There is no tension in this country, no need for any indaba – Wynter

By Kholiwe Miti

ECONOMIC Front Party president Wynter Kabimba says he does not agree that there is tension in the country.

He says political players need to respect one another and practice civil politics.

“We actually fail to hit the nail on the head in Chinua Achebe’s words in Things Fall Apart. Africans we are very good at talking in parables and that is how we become economical with the truth. You know what is true but you do not want to say it. And I have been accused saying people do not like you, you are very forthright. You are very candid. So in order for me to be liked by people I must lie, I must not think independently? I must go with the flow, I must say what I do not believe in, no!” Kabimba said when he featured on Lusaka Radio’s “Talk of the city” programme recently. “There is no tension in this country. There is no need for any indaba in this country. What we ought to do is start practicing civil politics. Respect for one another. Express our views in a manner that doesn’t injure your neighbour. Let’s be good neighbours. So I do not agree with those, with all due respect to Bishop Masupa, I do not agree that the problem is tension because tension must have a genesis. Tension is a symbolism of what has gone wrong. So go for what has gone wrong not the symptoms.”

He said society needs to demand and produce mature politicians.

“The problem that we face today is lack of civility in our politics. I will also put it this way that we luck maturity. We need to start producing mature politicians. That is what society should start demanding. I was watching on BBC, the debate between [Sir] Keir Starmer, the Labour Party leader and [UK Prime Minister] Rishi Sunak. They had a public debate in the run up to the elections in July. The guys were so civil to one another. They debated issues, tax cut. They were gentlemen. That’s the politics that I want to see. So we should be talking to the politicians, including myself, that if I want to disagree with another politician I don’t disagree by way of using pejorative language. I do not have to be vulgar. I don’t have to lie. Because immediately you do that I can tell you even the indaba people are talking about how are you going to sit ECL (Edgar Chagwa Lungu) in one corner and HH (President Hakainde Hichilema) in one corner and hope that just because you have called it an indaba these guys will treat each other differently and they will have different feelings for one another because you have called it an indaba? No!” Kabimba argued. “Who said that just because you have been arrested therefore there is tension? What logic is that? Just because Wynter Kabimba has been arrested then therefore there is tension in the country. Who am I? If you have transgressed the law, if you are being held to account for what you said how can that give right to tension? The way I would deal with that issue you can’t include arrests as a symbolism of tension. Because you can be arrested for different reasons and you can be arrested because you are wrong. But on the issue of the public order Act everybody is concerned. On the issue of HH having said one thing in opposition and doing the complete opposite now, I agree with everybody even I feel injured. He is doing complete opposite of what he said. Forget about the value of the kwacha. Forget about the indices. Forget about mealie meal. Just talk about the principles of the rule of law. If you come to court we use the most civil language to one another. In fact the legal fraternity, if I right, a letter to a colleague, a letter which is not civil they have got the right to write a letter to LAZ (Law Association of Zambia) and complain and I will be charged with misconduct by LAZ. So we are taught that you must be civil in the manner in which you speak to one another and the way you address each other. I remember one day a young lawyer and the young lawyer said to the judge I think Mr Kabimba is lying and before I even responded the judge told the young lawyer ‘withdraw that that language is not for this. It’s a language for the pub not here’. So the point am making and very seriously is that let us take a step backwards. I argued over this matter even when ECL was president and HH was in the opposition. I said to HH, you do not have the right to demean the President. You do not have that right, it shows that you have no civility. You lack civility, because you shall be President yourself. I do not know who he is addressing now but at that time I raised this point with him, because it was important for the political discourse. I called the President one day and told him, listen you were swearing your Inspector General of Police at State House and I watched the clip and you said that ‘don’t ever arrest somebody unless you have completed your investigations and make sure that they are taken to court within the period prescribed by law’. I said to HH I have got two of my cousins in the village, forget about the politicians, I told him I do not want to give you an example of a politician because you will misunderstand me. I want to give you an example of two villagers that had spent 10 days at the Westwood Police Station up to today the record is there. They have not been allowed and they have not been taken to court. And I said this is wrong. You spoke against this in opposition, how many times has he repeated that? Many times. What action has he taken when the police do that? Nothing. What conclusion can we draw from that? It is that they are doing it at his behest because if they didn’t think so he will be firing IG’s every other month.”

Kabimba said if there are people who understand the psychology of politicians it is civil servants.

“A few days ago the President was in Livingstone where there was a pass out parade. Do you know what he said there? ‘Mr Commander make sure that when you are recruiting you must recruit from all the 10 provinces’. I am sure the [ZAF] Commander [Lieutenant General Oscar Nyoni] was saying are you sure sir, are you sure I should do that? He knows that the man is playing PR (public relations), because if he hears that I have appointed many people from, you know, and I might probably get fired. They know, they read this. They do not even have to take instructions, they read what is expected of them,” said Kabimba.