Special Assistant to the President for Press and Public Relations Amos Chanda says NDC leader Chishimba Kambwili will faint when police go to pick him for lying and defaming President Edgar Lungu.

Chanda says Chinese Ambassador to Zambia Li Jie has informed President Lungu that most Chinese investors are running away from Zambia by signing for long leave for fear of xenophobic attacks.

Meanwhile, Chanda has announced that Prince Harry will visit Zambia to join the centenary commemoration of the end of the first World War.

Addressing a media briefing at State House yesterday, Chanda reacted to Kambwili’s allegations that that money fell off bags meant for President Lungu in his presence, saying only a mad man could make such wild allegations.

“The Mast and the News Diggers have carried allegations by Mr Chishimba Kambwili alleging that Chinese nationals come to State House carrying bags of money and that one day in his presence one of the bags snapped and money was spewed all over. There is no such incident that has happened in this State House and therefore whilst it’s not in our character to respond to Mr Kambwili and also to respond to reckless tabloids like that, we are placing on record that it is this xenophobic incitement that is causing things like what we saw in Kitwe. And that is not true…So his rantings and lies must be dismissed as cheap lies which he can keep to his political dispensation. I have perused the diary of the President, the PPS has told me [that] there has never been, not that it is wrong, there has never been Chinese contractor in the last 18 months that has seen the President at State House. The President has met [with] Chinese contractors when he goes to commission projects, he has met them at their social functions. There has never been any formal entry in the presidential diary in the last 18 to 19 months that shows that there has been this,” Chanda said.

“So to say that the President is not suing him because it is true, that is a lie. Again, there is a limit to which we can say that’s ‘political insanity, that is normal, that is abnormal’. So we will try as much as possible to live normally and exclude abnormality because I think even as we are upset with what is happening, we still believe that there is a criminal minded minority on the fringes of our society and the normal society still believes things are normal. Only a mad man can make the kind of allegations he made.”

Chanda said whilst President Lungu was constrained from suing Kambwili, police could nab him for defamation, mocking that the former information minister would be “half dead” during the operation.

“Mr Kambwili’s lies must be dismissed as utter rubbish which he must keep to himself. He goes on in another tabloid, The Mast, to say that the President cannot sue him. Yes, the President cannot sue an ordinary citizens [and] Mr Kambwili knows that the only proceeding that can be put on him are criminal proceedings which relates to defamation of the president. There can only be criminal libel [and] so the President cannot sue an ordinary citizen yes, and he knows that. So the fact that he is insulting the President and the President is not suing him and that he uses it as a basis that it is true the allegation of theft [which] he is pressing on the President are true is the utter nonsense, very preposterous and unjustified…But the Penal Code [which] I am invoking here is for the police and I don’t want to appear to place pressure on the police. If the police think that there is no charge to press upon Kambwili, that’s it but he knows that when that pressure is brought to bare on him, clearly even before the police reach his home, he will be half dead, he would have fainted,” he said.

“So what does Mr Kambwili want? The police to come calling on him? Because clearly, he knows the President can’t sue him. What can be brought upon him is the Penal Code to bring him to book in line with the clause that deals with Defamation of the President…It is so difficult, I am not President but even in my position, as long as you are working at State House, it is extremely difficult to sue an ordinary citizen and expect that there will be a fair administration of justice. Already we are presumed to be putting pressure on the courts and what not, so we rarely do those things. So in the case of the President, yes, that suit cannot go to Kambwili but that cannot be used a justification as he is going on. But if he so wishes that he can dare the police to bring the penal code to bare on him, the police will make that decision independently.”

And Chanda disclosed that Ambassador Li Jie has informed President Lungu that most Chinese investors are running away from Zambia by signing for long leave for fear of xenophobic attacks.

“Sadly the third item in the message of His Excellency the Chinese Ambassador was to deliver a message of regret and complaint that China [is] greatly let down by acts of xenophobic attacks that are being targeted at their citizens as a result of reckless statements from some political circles. China has therefore submitted a formal complaint at the highest level. And the message of regret and protest here was that Chinese nationals were being targeted in a manner that represents xenophobic attacks. Regrettably, they are being targeted on the basis of falsehoods…They regret such developments as was the case in Kitwe. They were very specific that they were extremely offended by the developments in Kitwe that Chinese nationals were targeted. And to that effect, the Chinese Ambassador announced that the disproportionate high number of Chinese nationals have taken long vacation as a result of developments in Kitwe,” he said.

“They have gone on leave, they have gone on vacation, some have closed their businesses, some have scaled down their operations. And they said that because of those developments and overwhelming queries of the Chinese Embassy from international media and other interest groups, they thought that they should put on record the regrettable development that Zambia, which is primed as one of the best Chinese destination for Chinese investment and settlement, could record such a regrettable development. Chinese authorities therefore in Beijing have raised these concerns and President Edgar Lungu assured the Chinese Ambassador that his primary responsibility as president is to protect life and property of all citizens in this country. and the president assured them that Zambia was safe and sound for investment for all nationals. But if he so wishes that he can dare the police to bring the penal code on him, the police will make that decision independently.”

Meanwhile, Chanda has announced that Prince Harry will visit Zambia to join the centenary commemoration of the end of the first World War.