NDC leader Chishimba Kambwili has accused his former secretary general Mwenya Musenge of conniving with Minister of Home Affairs Stephen Kampyongo and President Edgar Lungu to deregister his party on the basis that it does not have a proper constitution.

And Kambwili says PF deputy chief whip Tutwa Ngulube must tone down on his attacks against LAZ president Eddie Mwitwa because the latter’s fight against the Constitution Amendment Bill 10 is in accordance with the will of the Zambian people.

At a media briefing in Luanshya, Monday, Kambwili said Musenge would soon announce the formation of his own party called Zambia Our Own Motherland (ZOOM) in order to confuse the opposition party’s members.

However, the former information minister who had a cannula in his hand during his briefing, vowed that he would put up a spirited fight against these plans.

“Some of you may be aware that I have had a bout of Malaria, that’s why you are seeing a cannula because I have been taking injections but certain things are very compelling that even in a state of sickness, you cannot avoid to call a function like this…I regret to inform the nation that after trying to use Musenge in their plan to destroy NDC and after what the court ruled, the PF government has now been meeting and planning a way to deregister NDC. And their plan has been as follows; they had a meeting with Musenge where they told him to register a political party called ZOOM, calling it Zambia Our Own Motherland. Immediately they register, Mwenya Musenge, by either today or tomorrow, and as soon as he announces registration of the new party, they will then deregister NDC so that the members of NDC can move to Musenge and the purpose of this political party is to be issuing statements in support of the PF government,” Kambwili alleged.

“So you can even see from yesterday’s Mast newspaper, one person called Brian Chilambo who has been masquerading as NDC spokesperson, started this new endeavor where he was condemning Professor Muna Ndulo for stating that the constitution amendment was flawed and that it should be discarded. He said ‘on behalf of the NDC, we condemn Prof Ndulo and he is one of the worst professors’ [or] whatever. I want to say that that statement has nothing to do with NDC, that statement is part of the plan that Kampyongo, Musenge and Lungu have planned to form a political party where they can swallow NDC and start supporting the PF. That statement, I want to apologise to Prof Ndulo that it is not from NDC and Chilambo does not represent NDC in any way, we don’t even know him., Even before there was confusion between Musenge and us, Chilambo has never been a member of the NDC.”

He said Musenge’s party was cleared last week Friday and it would be launched any day from now.

“I want to appeal to the people that this is a plan by Kampyongo, Lungu and Musenge and our members must stay calm. And I want to tell the Registrar of Societies that the law does not allow you whatsoever to deregister organisations or societies as you deem fit. So the Registrar, Musenge and Kampyongo have sat down to say because the NDC constitution is not operational, then NDC is an illegal entity. But let me mention this, that before we went to court, we discovered that in our constitution, there was that provision, and in the law, the Societies Act, there is a provision which states that a political party or an organisation can amend its Constitution by giving notice to the Registrar of Societies through a resolution. National management committee met and made a resolution and furnished the Registrar of Societies with our new constitution. The Registrar of Societies up to now has refused to accept the new constitution, they said they will only accept this new constitution after the squabbles between you and Mwenya Musenge are resolved, what kind of thinking is that?” Kambwili asked.

“Country men and women, you can even imagine, central committee met and invited me to be president, submitted the correspondence to Registrar of Societies. When I went to the police to have my fingerprints lifted, because it is a requirement for anybody who is on the leadership of a political party or a society to go to the police to have their finger prints lifted to see if they have any criminal records, the police refused to clear my finger prints saying until the Registrar of Societies gives us instruction…For me, I have accepted what I am going through, and even this issue of you wanting to deregister NDC so that you allow Mwenya Musenge and ZOOM, even the name ZOOM, you can even see that fyabuwelewele (it is all jokes). But I want to tell you that we are going to put up a very strong legal battle against you if you try dare to deregister NDC and I want to warn the police today that tomorrow, can you clear my finger prints so that we can go and file my name at the Registrar of Societies.”

He insisted that Kampyongo was not fit to be Minister of Home Affairs.

“Some things can make one to ask whether it is bad luck, or a curse or whatever it is that the country did but I think if a fish starts to rot, we notice from the head. So this is a reflection of the leadership that we have. A leadership that can go and pick Kampyongo, first it started with (Davies) Mwila. It’s only in Zambia where Mwila and Kampyongo can be Minister of Home Affairs, I swear, not any other country in the world,” Kambwili said.

“And I want to warn my brother and friend, Honourable Mwenya Musenge, I want to warn, particularly, the Minster of Home Affairs Stephen Kampyongo, I want to warn the Registrar of Societies and I want to warn President Edgar Lungu, that my dear brothers and my sister, if God in his infinite wisdom has said that Chishimba Kambwili will one day be president of Zambia, I will be. If God has said I will never be president of Zambia, no matter what I’ll do, I will never be because leadership comes from God.”

Meanwhile, Kambwili has asked Ngulube, the Kabwe Central member of parliament, to tone down his attacks on Mwitwa.

“I also want to warn my younger brother Tutwa Ngulube that life is in the brain. My brother, you are a brilliant lawyer and my stay with you in Parliament when we were in the back bench gave me an impression that you are a person who can be trusted to speak for the poor people in society. Little did I know that you were only using the platform of Parliament to negotiate for a government position. People of Zambia, you will agree with me that the Tutwa Ngulube we knew when he was a back bencher is not the same person we are seeing today when he is given a GX and a government office. Integrity is the last thing to lose but young man, if you are not careful, you will lose your integrity. You have now become as if you are the only one who knows how to talk in the PF. Castigating LAZ for doing a noble thing, taking government to court over Bill 10 of 2019. There is absolutely nothing wrong, LAZ is only doing something good for and on behalf of the people of Zambia,” said Kambwili.

“90 per cent of the people have said these amendments you want to take to Parliament, withdraw them, they do not represent the people of Zambia…My heart bleeds to speak to you in this manner but tone down my brother. Tone down and start behaving like a human being. But suffice to state that Bill number 10 of 2019 must be withdrawn.”