Civil Rights activist Brebner Changala says former acting Auditor General Ron Mwambwa resigned out of decency because he has for long been a casualty of tribalism and total frustration from the PF government.

And Changala says he will not be surprised if the replacement of Mwambwa comes from Northern or Eastern Provinces because under the PF government, only people the tow provinces are acceptable to occupy leadership positions.

Speaking to News Diggers in an interview, Changala said he was not surprised that Mwambwa had finally given up because the PF government was not happy with the way he was revealing the misapplication of funds of public officers.

“Institutions in this country have been destroyed and the tribalism that the PF has brought in this country is totally obscene. Ron Mwambwa is a very qualified auditor, he has spent all his life in the Auditor General’s office. Ron Mwambwa is a man who I met when I was only 14 years old, I met him at Saint Johns Secondary School in Mongu. He has been acting Auditor General for the last two years and he could not be confirmed because of the tribal element. In this country, especially under PF, only two regions can run this country and that is the Northerners and the Easterners, I really don’t know why this tribalism in PF is destroying the professional institutions of all sectors. We have a huge price to pay to this effect if we cannot arrest this situation we find ourselves in,” Changala said.

“I saw this coming and I am not surprised that Ron Mwambwa has left, it’s out of decency. If you have observed in the last one month, there is a private Newspaper that has mounted a campaign on tribal lines, and mark my words, the replacement of Ron will either come from Eastern again or Northern Province again. Because in this country people are scared to speak against the ills that are in our country. They don’t want to face the truth. Ron Mwambwa is a casualty of tribalism and total frustration by the government itself. He has been a professional who has been revealing glaring mismanagement of our finances in government. But this government is not happy with that. So they did every trick in the book to frustrate him. And out of decency, he has given up. He doesn’t want to be part of the problems that are in PF. He has given them a chance to look for an Auditor General who is going to cover up the dirt.”

And Changala said the next person to resign out of frustration would be Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) director general Mary Tshuma.

“I don’t think Madam Mary Tshuma will last long, she will follow suit. I would have loved for him (Mwambwa) to stick around, knowing very well he was working in very hostile environment where decency and professionalism is not accepted. But this victimisation that PF has brought in this government must be stopped forthwith. Ron Mwambwa could not be confirmed because he comes from somewhere the current regime doesn’t accept. He has been humiliated, attacked by PF and PF aligned media houses without any sort of defence from the government system itself. But the fact is that Ron knows the Auditor General’s chambers like the palm of his hand. One expected that immediately [Dr] Anna Chifungula left, he was going to be confirmed. But that was never to be because he was neither from Northern nor Eastern. I am hammering this because this is the injury that this government is doing to this country. It’s to frustrate, mistreat and humiliate people from the regions they don’t seem to accept. But one day they will pay a big price and it’s high time the people of Zambia realised that the administration of this country is in wrong hands,” Changala said.

Changala called on the civil society organisations and the Church to help stop the cancer of tribalism that the PF government was promoting.

“We can only fight this if we are united. Ron has been brought up through the Auditor General’s systems and the government of the Republic of Zambia has spent a lot of money to bring that young man from a junior auditor to rise through the ranks to the point of an acting Auditor general. Mind you, he was for many years assistant to Anna Chifungula, and to have such an ending as a professional, is very sad. And we must discourage people who form up media houses for the purpose of pursuing personal agendas and aligning themselves with an oppressor. The PF is not doing any good to anybody in this country. They are existing because of their ruthlessness and the power of money. For sure they do not deserve to be there because they are destroying this country,” said Changala.

“The tribalism in PF is cancerous and it must be amputated. How we do it is by coming together as a united people. CSOs, the Church and concerned citizens like myself. For sure the departure of the Auditor General prematurely is a signal to many sad things that will come in our midst. Look at the Secretary to Cabinet, the engine of the civil service, how can you have the entire top four leaders from one Province? Msiska, Miti, Martin Mtonga, Mvunga and my good friend PK. You can’t allow this thing to go on. This tribalism must be fought. I am sure that the people who fought for this must be crying and others turning in their graves. How can we surrender this country to a group of people with no vision?”