By Patson Chilemba
Hakainde Hichilema and Chishimba Kambwili are in a marriage of convenience that will end disastrously, but Kambwili must come back to the PF where he belongs, says ruling PF media director Sunday Chanda.
And Chanda said Kambwili is part of the PF failures and successes, saying that is something he cannot run away from.
Speaking with Daily Revelation on National Democratic Congress (NDC) leader Kambwili’s disappointment with Zambians, that he is reflecting on why he wastes time speaking on their behalf when they don’t seem to care about what is going on in the country, Chanda said Kambwili was preaching a wrong message that was not in sync with the Zambian people because of his wrong association with UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema.
“Firstly we don’t think there is anything wrong with my elder brother honourable Chishimba Kambwili per say as a person. There is nothing wrong with him. I think that he’s a great son of the soil and one who has made serious contributions to this country’s political discourse and someone who has been there and represented the cause of the masses,” Chanda said. “However if you are a preacher or you are a missionary and you keep on preaching and no one is coming and no one is following you there are only two things, either you are preaching the wrong message or you are preaching in a way that is not appealing to the masses.”
Chanda said Kambwili had allowed himself to be overtaken by emotion and anger, saying those in the opposition who wanted to ride on him have confused him to start preaching a message that was not in sync with the Zambian people.
Chanda said speaking on his own behalf as Kambwili’s “brother” and also from the PF’s position, that it was gratifying that the NDC leader was reflecting, as it showed that he still had a conscience that he was different from those who kept pushing the wrong message, without any form of reflection whatsoever.
“The people of Zambia are a good people, great people and when they understand that you are genuinely representing their plight, or their cause, they will stand with you. But Zambians are also intelligent that you cannot use them as a facade. You cannot stand and claim to represent their concerns when in actual sense you are fighting your misplaced battles,” Chanda said. “For me one of those who advised my elder brother, although sometimes I did it harsh but between him and I, we made that peace, but I always point to the fact that my elder brother’s greatest weakness was his mouth, and his words and I said that his words will come back to ensnare him, and everything that my elder brother is going through today is a doing or his own mouth. It’s about his word.”
Chanda said there was everything wrong with Kambwili’s association, as it profited him nothing to insult and demean President Edgar Lungu. He charged that Kambwili’s relationship with Hichilema was not built on trust and therefore it would end in disaster.
“I feel sorry for my brother because he has gone to bed with the wrong people, and I can tell you brother Patson that Mr. Kambwili does not trust Mr Hakainde Hichilema. And you ask him and I can tell you that Mr. Hakainde Hichilema does not trust Mr Kambwili. it’s a marriage of convenience. The only thing they share in common is let’s fight Edgar Lungu, but between themselves there is no trust,” Chanda said. “That is a marriage that is bound to fail it’s just a matter of time that marriage is going to fail. It’s a statement of fact. Brother Patson you can come and cut my finger, Mr. Hakainde Hichilema would never agree that Mr Chishimba Kambwili becomes a presidential candidate and he becomes a running mate, never. So between the two of them, forget Mr Milupi, Mr Milupi is just being a master of ceremony but between the two of them there is no trust and that is a marriage that is bound to fail. It will be disastrous.”
But asked if the PF would guarantee Kambwili the top position themselves if he rejoined them, since he had raised the matter, Chanda said that decision was up to President Lungu, but like a prodigal son, Kambwili was guaranteed that he will always have a home in PF.
“If Mr. Kambwili today said I’m coming back to the Patriotic Front he knows that he’s going to have a home and that is where he belongs,” Chanda said, adding that although the PF winning elections was not about one giant individual winning elections for them, Kambwili had made serious contributions to the party. “His DNA is PF and my appeal to him even during this moment of reflection is that like the story of the prodigal son or the prodigal brother there is no shame of coming back home because that is where he belongs. The marriage with my brother Mr Hichilema is not based on trust, it’s one that is informed by anger, by annoyance and frustrated congregation.”
Chanda said it was either Hichilema was using Kambwili or vice versa.
“I challenge you ask Mr Hichilema if he trusts Mr Kambwili and ask Mr Kambwili is he trusts Mr Hichilema and they will tell you long explanations,” he said.
And Chanda said Kambwili has been part of the PF family, and by the doctrine of collective responsibility; the good and the bad, the successes and failures, the challenges and victories of the ruling party, Kambwili was part and parcel of them all.
“So he cannot choose to only side with the good and say that whatever has not worked I wasn’t part of it. He’s on record as having defended a number of things, Zambians have not forgotten. Zambians don’t suffer from collective amnesia,” Chanda said in reaction to Kambwili’s statement that he left the government when the foreign debt was at $5 billion as opposed to the $18 billion. “You see it doesn’t matter I think that even if his argument was to be true and we said comrade Kambwili can we subtract $5 billion from the current debt stock how much would it come to? For me I think the morality of politics must be that collective responsibility says we are toothed through thick and thin and my elder brother was a senior government official, he’s was a cabinet minister he strongly defended the the PF’s infrastructure development agenda which I would still defend even if I left the Patriotic Front because I understand it within the context of stimulating the economy and the role that infrastructure comes to play in the economy.”
Chanda said even on the failure to pay interest on accumulated foreign debt, the ruling party would still argue that they borrowed for infrastructure development.
“There is no country having it easy,” said Chanda.
Speaking with Daily Revelation, Kambwili bemoaned what he termed as Zambian culture which did not seem to care about matters happening in the country, leaving him to fend for himself whenever he fell into trouble on account of speaking for the people. -Daily Revelation