Home Affairs minister Stephen Kampyongo says the resignation of Foreign Affairs Minister Harry Kalaba has left him surprised because, despite being best friends in Cabinet, he never confided in him about his decision.

And Kampyongo says leaders are not expected to point out problems and then run away from them, adding that he would like to know the extent of the greed among government leaders which Kalaba was refering to.

Meanwhile, Kampyongo says there will be need for PF to hold an indaba to address the issues which have been pointed out by critics.

Speaking when he featured on Hot FM’s Hot Seat program, Thursday, Kampyongo said Kalaba always consulted him on several issues, but kept him in the dark over his move to resign.

“It (Kalaba’s resignation) is a difficult one because you are talking about a person who was not just a colleague in cabinet, this is a brother to me, a comrade. A man I have known prior to politics. His decision [to resign] I would assume is a personal one. He has exercised his democratic rights on what he should do at any given time. I will respect his decision. Like I have said he has been a brother to me and we have worked very well with him. We talk, consult each other but on this one, he didn’t give me a privilege, we didn’t discuss it. So I will respect his decision. I may not understand fully the reasons that he has cited and in what context because we are people’s representatives and people of Zambia are very intelligent now. If you say you are greedy, to what extent? And that’s why I’m saying I can’t understand,” Kampyongo.

The Home Affairs Minister said he would not run away from problems but be part of the solution.

“On the other issue of corruption; of course I must say that we are all concerned when we see the Auditor Generals report coming out and issues of misapplication of funds that are cited in the report. It’s a concern not only to the Head of State but to all of us. But what do you do? For me my decision will be not to run away from the problem but to be part of the solution,” said Kampyongo.

“On PF ministers leaving; it’s not unusual in a democracy to see people leave. You may recall that before, we had GBM leaving and a few others. We had my dear brother Miles [Sampa] leaving, today we are back together as one family. I think this is normal. We have seen people resign from other political parties and move to other political parties, it’s normal. What is important is to allow people to exercise their democratic rights and decide where to be at any given time. As a party we are not going to shy away we are going to ensure that we deal with issues as they are pointed out. Because that’s what leadership is all about. It’s not about saying here is a challenge and you shy away and run away from the challenge, no. It’s not by being defensive but looking at matters as they are pointed out and then deal with them.”