MAJOR Francis Kamanga says it is unfortunate that Zambians are back again fighting the third term for the current Head of State Edgar Chagwa Lungu.

And Major Kamanga, a former Lumezi member of Parliament, says developmental projects are not equitably shared in the country.

During a press briefing organised by a consortium of NGOs in Eastern Province on Saturday, Major Kamanga, who also worked as permanent secretary for works and supply, said Zambians must fight the third presidential bid for the current Head of State.

“The government came up with the constitution in 1996 which clearly spelt out the two 5-year term for any President and in that constitution it says one who has been elected and sworn in twice he or she has served two terms. The amendment which came in 2016 is not in retrospect, it just clarified that if you serve less than three years, so it did not backdate, he [Lungu] had already served the one term by then if we follow the constitution of 1996. And I feel that we are back again for a third term for the current President and I think that is unfortunate. I am sure those who have gone who were fighting the third term (for Chiluba) are turning in their graves,” he said.

Major Kamanga said he was one of the people who fought Chiluba’s third term.

“And I proudly wish to say that in 2001, I stood up for the people of Zambia to reject Chiluba’s bid for a third term and we succeeded. I was one of the 22 members of parliament who were expelled for refusing Chiluba to go for third term and I have no apologies to make. And on this one, the current President wants to go for a third term, I think the Zambian people must rise and stop him from doing so,” he said.

And Maj Kamanga condemned the move by the police to stop New Hope MMD leader Nevers Mumba from campaigning in Vubwi District.

“Whoever can drive this country forward he or she must be free to come and campaign in Eastern Province, we will listen to them and make a choice. In the same vain, you have seen there are people who have come to Eastern Province. Some in different provinces have been stopped from going to certain areas. The latest one was in Vubwi where Nevers Mumba was turned away to say ‘no you are not wanted’. As a citizen I can go anywhere. This also goes with this selective justice. The application of the law is very selective; if you are in a ruling party you are above board; if you are in the opposition, yours is to be incarcerated and when those in the opposition are arrested, even police bond and bail is delayed conveniently so that they can stay in jail for many days and a number of cases we have seen the state has withdrawn,” he said.

Maj Kamanga said equitable distribution of projects was not there.

“A few places are getting more development than other places. You may wish to know when I was PS we even brought two Chinese contractors to do two roads in Eastern Province. One of them was the Chipata/Vubwi and Chipata/Chadiza. You have traveled around, if you go to Chadiza, you will find the equipment for a road contractor still sitting there. This means that the government still has to pay. The guy mobilised, he demobilised. You have cancelled the contract, you haven’t given reasons, that will cost us dearly; they will claim a lot of money from government. I think that should not be the culture,” he said.

Maj Kamanga said the road to Lundazi from Chipata and Msuzi Bridge were eyesores.

“The road to Lundazi is an eyesore. Msuzi bridge was washed away more than two years ago but to-date it has not been worked on. The Lundazi bridge where even 12 people died, up to now you are blaming a contractor who you are not paying, government is blaming a contractor that it has not paid because if he was paid, he would have finished the job. These are things that we need to look at,” said Maj Kamanga.

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