Chishimba Kambwili has charged that President Edgar Lungu personally signed the US$500 million sovereign guarantee for STAG Africa to finance Zesco in order for the utility to pay first daughter Tasila for the supply of transformer oil.

In an interview at the Lusaka Magistrate’s Court yesterday the former chief government spokesperson said cursed was the day he joined PF to remove the MMD and put criminals in State House.

He said State House press aide Amos Chanda lied when he said President Lungu was Minister of Finance when he signed the US$500 million sovereign guarantee for STAG Africa to finance Zesco.

“When I wake up under Edgar Lungu I feel like I’m dreaming. From the Kaunda days, our Constitution is very clear. When Parliament is dissolved the President remains in office for administrative purpose. In essence, his term of office also ends when Parliament is dissolved. But to avoid a vacancy you leave the President so that certain emergencies can be attended to, and I mean emergencies. There is never ever a time that the President has acted as Minister of Finance during that period of time, its illegal. I was so surprised that Amos Chanda can tell the whole world that when the ministers where not in office President Edgar Lungu signed that STAG deal because he was acting as Minister of Finance. What a joke, what stupidity, what foolishness, what liars can do. When Parliament is dissolved, the people who run government are permanent secretaries and there is no way the President can act as Minister of Finance,” Kambwili said.

“You people in Zambia are being docile over issues that are straight forward. We are reliably informed that when President Lungu signed that STAG deal her daughter was being owed a lot of money by ZESCO through the supply of transformer oil. When they were chasing for that money ZESCO said ‘sir we can only pay her once we get this deal from STAG’. And he went and signed. This is an allegation which we want him to clear.”

He said President Lungu had messed up enough for Zambians to keep him in power.

“What more do you people of Zambia want [for you] to remove this man who is a disaster from State House? Who can go and sign on a government guarantee as Minister of Finance for his daughter to get paid by ZESCO? I feel sad, my heart bleeds. I feel like crying everyday I wake up and I say, is this the PF that we started so that some man from Chawama who everybody knows was just a drunkard can come and destroy the whole effort, the whole 10 years we put in from 2001 to 2011 to win election? he wondered.

And Kambwili urged chiefs to stay away from politics and defending President Lungu’s dealings which they don’t have details about.

“Let me appeal to the chiefs. Please mwe mfumu twalimichindika (we respect you chiefs). Please be custodians of the traditional aspect and provide leadership to the people. It is embarrassing that every time you watch ZNBC there is a chief defending Lungu’s land deal in Swaziland. They are even saying ‘even me I give land’. You give land as a traditional leader because the law allows you. But the President, the ministers, MPs during their execution of duty there is a Ministerial Code of Conduct which states that you cannot receive a gift beyond minimal value,” said Kambwili.

“The chiefs who are supposed to tell the people of Zambia exactly what’s happening are the ones in the fore front, everyday on TV ‘no those who are talking about Lungu’s Swaziland should keep quiet, me as chief I give land’. Mwemfumu twamipapata twalimichindika. We don’t want to have a problem with our traditional leaders because we hold them in very high esteem. But what is happening is now degrading the value of chiefs. And I think the few chiefs that have done that please you owe the Zambian people an apology because this man is stealing from you day and night. Today you have seen on the internet there are those trucks going round that they belong to him, we need answers from him. I don’t think we need answers from a chief. Because certain things are not official for anybody in government or anybody to comment on, its supposed to be Lungu himself to answer those questions. So my hearts bleeds. And sometimes I say ‘cursed is the day that I decided to join PF and fought to remove MMD’ because had I known that we are removing MMD to bring a worse character like Lungu, I could have not joined PF. This man is a disaster.”