CHISHIMBA Kambwili says his mouth knows how to represent itself very effectively and doesn’t need anybody to represent it.
And Kambwili says the Josephs Akafumba led group has no locus standi to take anybody to court as they were expelled on March 19, 2021 and are not members of NDC.
In an interview, Kambwili said talk about him returning to the PF had been going on for three years.
“And I have never myself issued a statement that I have gone back to PF or I am going back to PF. If I decide to go to PF, I will announce. You don’t have to hear it from anybody else, it has to be me to announce, nobody else,” Kambwili said. “It is as simple as that. If I decide, not when but if I decide to go to PF, I will announce myself. I don’t need Akafumba to announce for me or anybody else. Here where we are we are saying we are going to counter what they have done. We are NDC, but if I decide, it will come from this mouth. This mouth knows how to represent itself very effectively, it doesn’t need anybody to represent it.”
On the injunction Bridget Atanga obtained from the Ndola High Court restraining him from masquerading as NDC president, Kambwili described it as a temporary setback but was nothing to worry about.
He said he respects the courts.
“But what has happened is what we call the last kicks of a dying horse and in my language they say akanwa ka milandu kalaibala literally meaning when you are guilty of something, you panic and you even try to expose yourself and do certain things that people would read between the lines and say that this person is just guilty of what he has done. This is what our friends have done,” Kambwili said. “What they have done is what is known as forum shopping in law. They took me to court last month, asked for an ex-parte injunction, they were told that we do inter-parte and a date was set. When they realised that the court asked for inter-parte where we can be heard, they chickened out. Two weeks later, they filed another matter in the same Lusaka High Court. Again they asked for an ex-parte injunction which they served us the documents and we are waiting for the dates for the inter-parte hearing. While this matter is still active in the Lusaka High Court, they decide to go and start another matter in the Ndola High Court over a similar matter as in Lusaka. That’s forum shopping. They asked for an ex-parte injunction and they were granted.”
Kambwili said he respects courts.
He said the Akafumba group was avoiding inter-parte hearing knowing that it was the fairest way for the court to decide who was right and who was wrong.
“So celebrating an ex-parte injunction nicilya mu ciBembabatila lekeni icisongo icilya ilanda citumpe. Icisongo is like an antelope; when it breaks into a garden, it doesn’t use another route; it will continue using the same route. Once it is settled that it’s got a route then you go and put up a trap and easily catch it,” Kambwili said. “Meaning therefore that sometimes to give a beggar enough room to hang himself. The people that are not on firm ground are the ones that have rushed to court. And for us it is very good so that the court can rule once and for all.”
Kambwili said an ex-parte injunction was not the final restraining order as it gives temporary relief while the other party is invited to state its case.
He appealed to his party members to be calm as they await inter-parte hearing.
“I can just tell the other group to say that he who laughs last laughs the loudest; in Bemba we say akatanshi takalisha, akalekelesha ekalisha. We are looking forward to the inter-parte hearing where we are going to submit on point of law,” he said.
Kambwili said his party would continue running as only himself had been restrained.
“We have got the office-bearers who are going to run the NDC,” he said. “And by the way the court may not have known when granting them the injunction that they were actually expelled on Friday the 19th. On the recommendation of the disciplinary committee, the central committee met and decided their fate. And from Friday last week, they are no longer members of the NDC. So that injunction they have gotten will not worry us. We are going to tell the court that by the way, by the time they came to court on the 24th they were no longer members of the party – they had no loci standi to represent NDC and we will leave it to the court to decide.”
Kambwili said the Akafumbas were just trying to be spoilers to disturb his programmes ahead of elections.
“But we will leave it to court because the court has given an injunction; who are we to say no? However, it is a very temporary setback,” said Kambwili.
The NDC has been torn following Kambwili’s decision to walk out of the UPND Alliance while his vice-president Akafumba, secretary general Atanga, Professor Atanga, chairperson Richard Luonde, Franklin Membe, Roan member of parliament Joseph Chishala, among others went ahead to consummate the alliance.
Akafumba was then installed as interim NDC president, Kambwili’s spokesperson Edward Mumbi as his vice and suspensions and expulsions from the party ensued.