In this video, PF lawyer Kelvin Bwalya Fube (KBF) says newcomers in the PF want to drive out old members like him who have history with the ruling party, so that they remain eating alone.
And KBF says “I will keep talking and expressing my views because if we keep on following blindly and we fall off the cliff, the President will ask why we did not tell him, even when we knew that we were going into a cliff.”
Senior Patriotic Front members are up in arms, bickering over the ruling party’s preferred candidate for the August 2021 general elections; some throwing their weight behind incumbent President Edgar Lungu, others wanting the presidency to be democratically challenged while the rest argue that the head of state does not qualify to stand again.
KBF says not only is it too early to start debating the presidential candidacy, but also that the legality of President Lungu standing again will have to be backed by the Republican and party Constitutions.
In expressing his views, KBF has been accused of fighting the party leadership and that he has joined hands with others of similar views to form a party of their own, an allegation he denies.
“We have not formed any political party. I am not a member of any other political party other than the PF. In a family setting, you expect to have friction and divergent views by different people and this is what is happening, which in my view is healthy.
The issue that I have formed a political party with Dr Ngosa Simbyakula and Dr Chishimba Kambwili is false; I am not aware of any political party that I belong to other than the PF,” KBF said.
“But let me emphasise this. My law firm, as late as yesterday, was in court defending the PF in election petition appeals, today my lawyers were in court in another election petition of Honourable Greyford Monde. Are these the actions of a person who is against his political party?”
He charged that some PF members were afraid of him and were fighting him through social media.
“I want to challenge the people who are peddling these lies on social media. They should provide proof of me meeting with Dr Simbyakula and Kambwili. What is the name of this political party? Where is its secretariat? Right now I do not hold any position in the Patriotic Front, I am an ordinary member. If these cowards are fearful of an ordinary member like me, what lies are they telling the President? Lets be serious about how we conduct our politics. The fact that I hold different views, doesn’t necessarily mean that I am going to form another political party. If anyone wants to push me out of PF by spreading false stories on social media, balebepafye. I have history with this party,” KBF said.
“I want to make this clear and abundantly clear. I have never been a coward in my life. I am not going to be a coward today. If people are not happy with me being in the Patriotic Front because I am expressing a different opinion to theirs, so be it. That’s the beauty of democracy – its divergent views with unity of purpose. Maybe they should go back to school and learn about democracy. Maybe they should read about Patriotism. I am not going to be patriotic to an individual, I will be patriotic to my country, and I will be loyal to the President. That’s it.”
Take a look:
He charged that the greedy newcomers wanted to remain eating alone in the ruling party after chasing older members.
“I am not going anywhere. This is my political party, if you don’t like it go and form your own party. In fact bamo nibangwele, elo baishile (some are jerks, they just recently joined the party) they found us. They want to start rumours for us to leave, no! They were not there when we defeated the enemy. They want to be eating alone? No! They will find us,” he said.
“I will keep talking and expressing my views because if we keep on following blindly, and we fall off the cliff, the person leading us will say why didn’t you tell me, even when we knew that we were going into a cliff. What are we going to say? ‘We were following you because you are the President’, no! its our job to advise. IF things are going wrong, we should speak up, that’s what good membership is about.”
He stressed that the law will have to be followed of choosing the next PF candidate.
“The process for endorsing a presidential candidate hasn’t began, it’s so far away. So why are we talking about it? We must always remember that our authority in running any electoral office is in the Constitution. The republican Constitution and the party constitution. If those two agree and are in tandem, so be it. If they don’t agree, there is nothing I can do. We will be guided by what the Constitution says,” said KBF.
“We can’t be guided by the masses, I am a lawyer, I can’t be following the fancies of the people outside. I read the law. If the law tells me this is legal, I will follow. If the law says its not, so be it. Its not me, it’s the Constitution, which the very President signed. The President assented to the Constitution, so lets follow the Constitution.”
3 Responses
Manyai at work and play! Total chaos.
ON THIS ONE, YOU ARE RIGHT KBF. ALMOST EVERYONE NOW IN THE POSITION OF POWER IN GOVERNMENT IS MMD.
RB, BO INONGE AND LUNGU ARE PARTNERS IN HOUNDING OUT ALL ORIGINAL PF MEMBERS.
PLEASE LETS VOTE WISELY BA COPALA AND BA NORTHERN POWER IN THE NEXT ELECTIONS.
ORIGINAL PF SWAG!!
This is the first time I have followed Kelvin, if what he as portrayed in this video is who he really is, I like the way he thinks. There is nothing wrong with having divergent views even within a political party, the trouble is that we have a lot of blind followers in these parties. Even a Country as whole, people will have different views about the political situation, this environment provides checks and balances. Good on you Kelvin.