Roan PF member of parliament Chishimba Kambwili says it’s time to organize a three thirds majority in the House and move a motion to impeach President Edgar Lungu because the Head of State abrogated the Constitution by threatening judges.

And speaking to journalists in Lusaka yesterday, Kambwili said the theft of public resources has increased by a staggering percentage in the Auditor General’s report because civil servants have learnt the art of stealing from President Lungu.

The former chief government spokesperson was reacting to President Lungu’s viral statement from Solwezi where he warned Constitutional Court judges that if they became adventurous and disqualified him from standing in 2021, there would be chaos in Zambia.

President Lungu also wondered why opposition political leaders were allowed five times to contest for the Republican Presidency while he was being restricted to go for the ‘third term’.

But Kambwili said Lungu’s statement was a clear case of abrogating the Republican Constitution for which he needed to be impeached.

He however said impeaching a head of state could not be achieved by one MP, and urged other members to be ready to vote for the motion once it is moved.

“He needs to be impeached. After all, yesterday in Solwezi, he abrogated the Constitution and you know that when a President abrogates the Constitution, that’s an impeachable offense. He went there and started warning the judges, he is supposed to respect the principle of separation of powers, he is not supposed to interfere in the judiciary but he starts warning the judges ‘if you rule against me, you stop me from standing, there will be chaos’. What kind of President do we have? Nipamansansa or chinshi tulechita? Awe nipamansansa tulebuta. Natusebana fwe bena Zambia, this is a wrong man,” Kambwili said.

“It is not just a question of moving a motion to impeach the President, it is a question of galvanizing all the members of parliament so that we can have the three thirds majority but as usual, those from the PF side will grow cold feet. But if the Zambians stand in every constituency and say ‘you represent us and not PF, go and vote for the impeachment, it can be done’. The onus is on you people. If the people of Mansa Central call [Dr Chitalu] Chilufya, ‘vote for the impeachment’, those in Bahati call [Harry] Kalaba, ‘go and vote for impeachment’, those in Mambilima call [David] Wanchinga ‘go and vote’, it can be done. But if you leave it to Chishimba Kambwili, Jesus says ‘do not cry for me, cry for yourselves’.”

And Kambwili said theft of public resources had increased because civil servants were emulating President Lungu.

“I have told the people of Zambia and I want to say it again to make it very clear to the people of Luapula Province that President Edgar Lungu cannot have the will to fight corruption because President Lungu is corrupt himself. Now you tell me, if you are a thief, would you like to be fighting thieves? Because thieves will be your friends, they will be your colleagues. President Edgar Lungu is corrupt and he cannot lead a crusade against corruption, far from it. The revelations in the Auditor General’s report, it is only indicating to you the level of thieving and stealing that is happening under the nose of President Edgar Lungu as Head of State. You see, if your father is a thief, the children in the house will think stealing is a normal way of life,” said Kambwili.

“So the civil servants have seen that the President is corrupt, the President is stealing from them, some ministers are stealing from them, what do you expect them to do? To watch them? They will also start stealing because that is what they are learning from their leaders…under normal circumstances, he should say ‘I am going to take a very strong action against these people as Head of State’ but he tells you ‘we sent it to Parliament and it is up to the ACC to act’. What a way of answering on serious matters that affect the livelihoods of our people. I was just reading the Auditor General’s report that misappropriation of money has increased by 500 per cent, it has never happened on the history of Zambia, it is because the people of Zambia have seen that the person they have as Head of State is a corrupt man who is stealing from them. So there is no political will, the only way out is to have President Edgar Lungu voted out of office. In fact, to wait for 2021, we are putting ourselves in problems, this man must leave State House like yesterday.”