FORMER chief government spokesperson Chishimba Kambwili has complained that the Office of the President is blocking his witnesses from travelling to Lusaka.
Disciplinary committee members of the PF’s Central Committee were supposed to adjudicate on a matter that may see the former information minister ejected from the ruling party, barely two months after he was fired from his Cabinet position, this afternoon.
But in a Facebook posting, Kambwili lamented that the hearing had been postponed to Monday, January 16, 2017, because his witnesses were being intimidated and the OP was blocking them from travelling.
“Good afternoon. The disciplinary hearing that was meant to take place today has been postponed to Monday 16th January. This is due to the fact that our witnesses did not manage to come from Luanshya because of rampant intimidation, the bus operators we hired to ferry them to Lusaka were called by suspected OP officials and they were threatened to say if you ferry those witnesses you risk having your licenses revoked, we made alternative plans which too got chopped by OP officials, they told the operators that there buses would be impounded with zero chance of them been released. For this reason the witnesses could not show up to testify and we requested that the case be heard once all witnesses arrive. Good day comrades,” stated Kambwili.
Kambwili has been charged with gross misconduct following a report by Luanshya Mayor Nathan Chanda who alleged that the Roan member of parliament called him a witch. The brawl between the two goes way back in time and was aggravated during the 2016 adoption process when President Lungu nominated Chanda as Mayor of the mining town, against the recommendation of Kambwili who seemingly did not want him to hold any position in his constituency.
Kambwili accused Chanda of trying to bewitch him so that he could take over his position, but the lawmaker’s fidgeting in the party has forced the leadership to watch his ambitions for the presidency.
Recently, Kambwili refuted a story reported by Byta FM in which a voice purporting to be the former chief government spokesperson, launched a scathing attack against President Lungu’s third term bid.
He is expected to easily defend his case today, especially that the disciplinary hearing seems like a decoy for testing his aggression and preparedness to face the Anti Corruption Commission which is the ruling party’s ultimate weapon for silencing him, should he not have any dossier to keep the powers that be at bay.