Roan PF member of parliament Chishimba Kambwili says he never fights back whenever he is attacked by his fellow members of parliament because he thinks fighting is for lunatics.

On Tuesday, Kambwili this evening got yet another beating ordeal in Parliament, this time from Presidential Affairs Minister Freedom Sikazwe after he called him a witch.

The incident happened when Kambwili was debating the 2019 budget and Sikazwe kept interrupting with running commentaries.

It took a horde of other MPs to restrain Sikazwe who reached out for Kambwili’s throat while throwing punches in the Chamber.

“I was debating about debt, but Sikakzwe kept on interrupting with running commentaries. He was shouting ati ‘iwee ikalafye (just sit down) you were part of the decision’. He was saying ‘just sit down that’s rubbish debate’. Then I said Mr Speaker don’t worry about Honourable Sikazwe, he was supposed to be a witchdoctor at some village, so that’s why he is making noise,” Kambwili narrated.

“After I said that, that’s when he followed me right in the House and started saying ndekuponona ine, ndaponona ine (I will beat you, me I beat). So he held me by the neck and threw a punch. Then the Parliament security and other MPs came to take him away. After business was suspended, just after the national anthem as the Speaker was walking out, he came for me. Even when I walked outside parliament, he followed me again and he started attacking me.”

When contacted, Sikazwe said Kambwili deserved it.

“If he is claiming that he was punched, then he deserves it. But people were there, you can ask them. I would have punched him but I was restrained by the people. I didn’t follow him in the car park, I found him on the Roadside and he was waving at me when I was driving out,” he said.
Asked what made him angry to attacked his fellow lawmaker, Sikazwe said he got annoyed because Kambwili called him a witch,” he said.

“It was the usual debate, he was debating and in his debate, he was alleging that this government, whatever money they are getting, they are getting the money ‘question!’ that is what followed, where we said ‘question’. And his comment now was that ‘people who are saying question, like this one seated here Honourable Sikazwe is a witch. And that’s what annoyed me. You can go and get the verbatim from parliament, that made me annoyed.”

Asked if he was going to punch him if there were no people to restrain him, Sikazwe said he was going to punch Kambwili hard because he is a stupid man.

“Yes I would have punched him seriously because he is very stupid,” said Sikazwe.

And reacting to Sikazwe’s admittance, Kambwili said, “It just shows you the kind go leader that he is. You see, leadership is about controlling your emotions and accommodating the views of others. And by and large, if somebody says you are a witchdoctor and you are not a witchdoctor, why should you get upset? What I know is that people get upset when they are told the truth.”

Asked why he never retaliated whenever he was attacked, Kambwili said he would not fall into the PF’s trap.

“For me, I know that I am in a very weaker position. If I hit back, the strides will turn against me. They want to provoke me so that probably I can hit one of them back and they say ‘assault’ and they will blow it out of proportion but I am way ahead of them, I know their thinking and I would not play in their hands. Like I said yesterday, I will not take any action, Parliament has got CCTV, they watched obviously and surely, if parliament wants to take action, they should not wait for me to complain. The man committed an offense which he has accepted in the newspaper,” Kambwili said.

Asked if he was physically strong enough to take on any PF member, Kambwili said he was not a violent man and his strength was in his mouth.

“I am just a gentleman, I don’t fight. For me, I talk policy and issues. My strength is in the mouth, not physical because people who go physical are abnormal. I mean, at our age fighting? What are we teaching the young ones? It is not a weakness but it is a mark of leadership,” said Kambwili.

“I am neither a physical giant nor a weak giant. I don’t even know when last I fought so I don’t know if I can win a fight or lose a fight. It is not my preoccupation to fight so to talk about either win or lose, it is a waste of time because I will never fight. It has never been my nature. I have been married to my wife for 25 years, I have never beaten her, not even a slap, you can ask by beautiful wife Carol, I am a gentleman, I believe in talking. So for those who want to go physical, to me they are lunatics. That’s failing to reason.