Roan PF member of parliament Chishimba Kambwili says the perception which has been created that he apologized to Home Affairs Minister Stephen Kampyongo over allegations that he received a bribe from Grandview International is false and he stands by his words.

And Kambwili says even the Financial Intelligence Centre has backed his claims that a minister received gratification in the fire tender scandal.

In an interview, Kambwili clarified that he only apologized to Parliament because he could not disclose his source of information as it would have put the whistleblowers in jeopardy.

“What I said about Kampyongo on the floor of the House is correct and will never change. They wanted me to disclose my source of information for the whistleblowers but I withheld the names of my source of information because I didn’t want them to be victimized. Some of them are within the civil service. So it is not correct that I apologized to Kampyongo in Parliament. What I said was correct, even now I can stand by my words, Kampyongo received gratification and I have got evidence. But what Parliament wanted me to do was to disclose my whistleblowers which I refused,” Kambwili explained.

“Going by parliamentary privilege, if you cannot substantiate your statement, then you have breached the parliamentary privileges. So I apologized for breaching the parliamentary privileges for refusing to disclose my source of information because that matter is subject of an investigation. And why should I go to parliament and give whistle blowers as my source of information? That’s what I refused to do.”

And Kambwili said FIC had backed his claims.

“There is no apology and I will never apologize to Kampyongo. It is Kampyongo who needs to apologize to the people of Zambia for the gratification that he received. Even when you read the Financial Intelligence report, it talks about a minister who received gratification in terms of motor vehicles. It is just that in this country, thieves are celebrated. I want to make it very clear that I did not apologize to Kampyongo and I will never ever apologize to Kampyongo. I will not sink so low as to go and disclose my source of information. What Kampyongo and them want by going to parliament, they want them to discover the whistleblowers so that they can intimidate them before the matter is investigated by the ACC,” said Kambwili.

“That is why if you were in Parliament, you saw it was very difficult for me. I even said that ‘it is difficult for me to make such an apology’. But I respect the institution of Parliament and that is why I apologized to the Speaker and the House, I didn’t apologise to Kampyongo and I will never apologize to Kampyongo. Kampyongo is nothing but a corrupt criminal so help me God.”