Major Richard Kachingwe says he will continue to participate in the political arena amongst men and and women of goodwill and not people like Hakainde Hichilema who decide to discuss the personal affairs of other people behind their backs.

Major Kachingwe who is former MMD national secretary announced, Sunday, that he had ceased to be a supporter of the opposition UPND, claiming he had been betrayed by the party leadership after his son’s name appeared on the list of those accused of being part of the PF militia reported to the ICC.

In an interview with News Diggers, Monday, Kachingwe explained that he decided to ditch the UPND because he chose to side with his son who had been wrongly-accused.

“This is a man I worked with. But he decided to go and discuss my son’s issues away from me, without even telling me. He went to discuss with the Alliance partners, which is unethical! It’s just normal practice that when you work [with] somebody and something comes to you, if you are a boss, you should call that person and ask them: ‘is this you?’ And then you find a solution. But for him (HH), he did not even talk to me, then he goes and starts discussing my son with the Alliance partners, I thought that was unethical and a betrayal! That is just my line of thought. If you were my junior, I work with you and then I come across something about you, then I go and have a meeting over your son somewhere else, that is not correct. It means I have betrayed your confidence, it’s betrayal of highest calibre!” Maj Kachingwe lamented.

“I was his advisor. So, the best thing he should have done was just to pick up his phone and ask me. I have been national secretary myself, if I find any of my juniors like provincial chairmen wanting, I used to call them and ask: ‘what is this?’ before I go to the (party) president. Sometimes, things were not even going to the president, we would iron them out right then and there. Now him, he decided to go and hold a ‘Kangaroo court’ for my son with his Alliance partners. I think that is betrayal, and at that level of leadership, for me, it’s uncalled for. This is just like in marriage, you don’t go out to broadcast what has gone wrong in the house before you talk to each other. You talk to each other first, if you can’t find a solution in-house, that’s when you call the relatives to counsel you. So, for me, what he did was wrong and at best, he should have just said: ‘sorry Major, I transgressed’.”

Maj Kachingwe charged that Hichilema had put his life and that of his son in danger.

“As for the legal action, it is up to Mpangwe to take legal action. I took my decision as a parent to defend him because I know that he’s not a riffraff, he’s an intellectual and he doesn’t participate in such things. He’s PF, I know, but they use him as an intellectual not as a stone-thrower and he doesn’t even know how to hold a gun. So, the best course of action for Mr Hakainde, if he came across that name, he should have called me. But he has simply passed a vote of no confidence in me, he doesn’t trust me and he does not only endanger the life of my son, it endangers even my life. How will his cadres perceive me?” Maj Kachingwe wondered.

He reiterated that he would not trade his obligation as a father for a position in the UPND.

“If your boss can’t trust you and he tries your son like that… blood is thicker than water! That is my offspring, that is my son. I cannot sacrifice him because of politics, I can’t! But I am still in active politics. Just like I said in my [resignation] statement, I will work with men and women of good will, who will work for the common good of Zambia and Zambians,” said Maj Kachingwe.