NDC leader Chishimba Kambwili says Special Assistant to the President for Press and Public Relations Amos Chanda’s insults on members of the opposition alliance had the blessings of President Edgar Lungu since the Head of State has not reprimanded him.
Speaking when he featured on Muvi TV’s assignment Program, Sunday, Kambwili said some of the opposition alliance members were old enough to be Chanda’s parents, hence it was an insult of the worst kind for him to compare their brains to that of a rat.
“I will not dwell on what Amos Chanda said, but I can only say that Amos Chanda is drunk with unknown powers, swimming in wrong waters under very big jackets. That arrogance he has will lead him into disaster. When you have got power, when you are enjoying power, you must know that power is sweet but it must be checked. The arrogance that the young man is exhibiting is leading him to a very bad downfall, because political power is not in perpetuity,” Kambwili said.
“That office has been held by men of integrity who were very civil in their language and by the way, when you are the spokesperson of the president, whatever you say, if you insult, you are insulting on behalf of the President. If I were President Edgar Lungu, Amos Chanda could have been fire a long time ago. But birds of the same furthers flock together, it simply means all the insults, all the arrogance is coming from President Edgar Lungu. Because if it was not coming from him, he could have disassociated himself from that or just verbally warning him that can you be civil in your language, but the young man has become so pompous to the extent that you can’t believe when he talks that he is only a civil servant, you think he is the President himself.”
He advised Chanda to tone down.
“And my advice to Amos is to tone down, that’s exactly how Richard Sakala was, you know where he ended up, Chimbokaila. Amos my young brother, if you are listening to me, I used to know you as a very humble young man, but you have disappointed me after been given some responsibility at State House, you think State House is above the law. There is no institution in this country that is above the law, have respect for other people. To describe people as having brains of a rat is an insult of the worst kind, look at the people who are in the alliance, some of them are big enough to be his father, honourable [Charles] Milupi for instance. Can you go and say he has got a brain of a rat? Young man, tone down,” Kambwili said.
And Kambwili insisted that President Lungu’s refusal to fire Housing and Infrastructure Minister Ronald Chitotela on the basis that he had not been found guilty of corruption was illogical.
“Was I found guilty? Was Emerine Kabanshi found guilty? You cannot have two rules for two, three sets of people, you must be consistent. And it’s just a trend all over the world, if a minster has been arrested by the Anti-Corruption Commission, that minister must relinquish his position, all over the world! We have only seen it here in Zambia that a minister can be coming from the office, jump into a flagged vehicle, go to court using tax payer’s money, come back in the afternoon, and attend to government business. That is a failed attempt to fight corruption, people will not take us seriously that a sitting minister is facing corruption charges in court and the president says I cannot fire him until he is proven guilty, that creates a lot of suspicion and that obviously twins well with my saying that President Edgar Lungu is a corrupt person,” Kambwili said.
Meanwhile, Kambwili explained why he wanted to become Head of State.
“I have been carried in political buses, first it was Dr [Kenneth] Kaunda, I jumped on, then came another political driver Fredrick Chiluba, I jumped on, RB…..and now the driver is President Edgar Lungu. Now I want to be the driver so that I can implement my ideas. You must know that Zambian Politics are President driven and when you have a president who is not thinking, then everything will go wrong. The people of Zambia elected president Lungu to form a government of men and women who are going to help him deliver to the expectations on Zambians based on his ideas, so if things are not working, you want to go and blame Jesus Christ? You have to blame the leader! Lungu is a tyrant who just want to arrest opposition leaders, he is a failure because poverty has escalated than ever before,” Kambwili said.
Meanwhile, Kambwili insisted that the Indian compactor driver almost killed him and argued that sentiments by Zambia’s High Commissioner to India Judith Kapijimpanga that he was not the right person to speak against foreigners, as his wife was also working in a foreign country, were mere political rhetoric as his wife was a professional working in a country with a shortage of nurses.
“That was just a political rhetoric. Is there a better way when you are almost being killed? I have seen that my reaction may have been harsh but that was due to the circumstance that the man almost killed us. But what I said is we cannot allow people from outside to come and do such jobs in a country with 70% unemployment rate. Judith Kapijimpanga said I should be the last person to talk about that because my wife works in a foreign country. My wife is a professional, she is a nurse and England has a critical shortage of nurses, we don’t have a shortage of labourers in this country, to the contrary we have a critical shortage of jobs. And by the way, it was not about Indians, people want to say that Kambwili is a racist, I am not and I will never be. At my own company, my business development manager is an Indian, an expatriate. At my own company, my site manager is a Boer for South Africa, I am not a racist but you cannot bring labourers to come and take the jobs that should be done by Zambians,” said Kambwili.
