I don’t insult, I just tell the truth, if you steal or you are corrupt and I call you a thief, that’s not an insult, says Roan PF member of parliament Chishimba Kambwili

And Kambwili has charged that he will continue reporting ‘thieves’ to law enforcement agencies.

Meanwhile, Kambwili says some media organisations are misleading the public every day with impunity by making an impression that all is well in the country.

Speaking to journalists after appearing in court, Thursday, Kambwili insisted that he would continue reporting thieves to the relevant law enforcement agencies, adding that he felt sorry for those who were condemning him for reporting President Lungu to the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) for money laundering.

“And let me say that for those who are condemning my reporting President Lungu and PF for money laundering; I feel very sorry for you. I will continue reporting thieves to law enforcement agencies. It’s up to the law enforcement agencies to take the matter up. Namu mona efyo ba ntukile kwati baka pala (have you seen the way I have been insulted)? Uyu antuka, instead of them addressing the issues, which I raised, [which is] where are you getting the money?” Kambwili said.

“Sunday Chanda is just insulting me, Kampyongo is insulting me. Well and good. I have said insele ma futa. When you insult nkalasuba pofye. And those who are threatening me, Kampyongo ati, ‘I can arrest you for calling Lungu a thief’. Am I the one who sent him to steal K39,000 from that poor woman, a widow? It is him who should work on his life so that that system of stealing, he must stop it! That is the answer, not to insult Chishimba Kambwili.”

And commenting on Minister of Information Dora Siliya’s remarks that media houses that were giving coverage to politicians that insult the President would be shut down, Kambwili charged that Siliya was just trying to keep her job.

He observed that some media organisations were misleading the public by making an impression that all was well in the country.

“The problem with you journalists also, you fail to give the people of Zambia the information that is required in order for them to make informed decisions. Look at the behaviour of ZNBC, Daily Mail and the [Daily] Nation, you people, posterity will judge you very harshly. You are misleading the people of Zambia with impunity every day with your news; creating an impression that everything is alright in the country. Now, when the [News] Diggers!, The Mast and the private TV stations cover the opposition because we tell the truth, you become an enemy of the Minister of Information. But you can forgive Dora. She doesn’t know what she talks about. All Dora is doing is to keep her job,” Kambwili, who is also the National Democratic Congress (NDC) consultant, said.

“Look at misleading stories from these media houses who are pro-government, very misleading! Every time, misleading news. And I don’t know whether journalists who work for these media houses have got special shops or houses where they pay less rent, where food is cheap, for them to be preoccupied with building an image of a man whose image can never be built.”

He added that media houses that were trying to build the image of President Lungu were wasting their time because his image could never be built.

“President Edgar Lungu, if he was a footballer, for instance, you brought the Brazilian coach Carlos Perello, you bring him as a coach to Edgar Lungu, he can never perform! Even a penalty where they remove a goal keeper, he can’t score! So, for those media houses that are trying to build the image of Lungu, they are wasting their time because Lungu has reached a point of no return in as far as not knowing how to run this country is concerned,” he said.

And Kambwili reiterated that he doesn’t insult, but only tells the truth.

“…And when you say that you don’t have a President, that Kambwili is insulting? I don’t insult, I just tell the truth. If you steal and I call you a thief, it is not an insult. If you are corrupt and I say you are corrupt, you are a thief, is that an insult?” he asked.

Meanwhile, Kambwili said the PF was insisting on collecting taxes from the poor landlords who survive on rentals because it does not care for the people.

“The priority of this government is out of this world. As we speak today, they have given a contract by ZRA [Zambia Revenue Authority] to a company called Sherwood Greene. They will start going in the compounds. If you have built a cabin, they will come and count, ask you how much rent you get, they also want to get money from that cabin. They are going to kill the people! You don’t care about the poor people. You are living lavishly because of stolen money [yet] you want to follow a poor man in Kalingalinga who has built a cabin and he’s getting K200 per month. From that K200, you want to get K50 because the government is broke! They have no money,” said Kambwili.

“And you people, like people in Lusaka, you are joking. There’s a mayoral election mwaya vota Sampa uwansala! (you vote for Sampa who is starving!) you leave people that could work for you. Now, you are going to see, all your rentals effective next week, they have advertised for people who are going to be going door-to-door, collecting money from rentals. What is going to happen is that rentals are going to be expensive. So, for me, I feel very sad for you people of Zambia, extremely very sad.”