Patriotic Front (PF) media director Sunday Chanda says NDC leader Chishimba Kambwili has continued fighting for the Roan parliamentary seat so that he can keep drawing his gratuity from Parliament and not to work for the people.

And Chanda says should the Roan by-election be suspended owing to the court action taken by Kambwili, the ruling party will maintain its adopted “caretaker” member of parliament for the constituency, Joe Chibuye.

On Thursday, March 7, Kambwili petitioned the Constitutional Court for a declaration that the Roan parliamentary seat did not fall vacant as ruled by Speaker of the National Assembly Dr Patrick Matibini, charging that Dr Matibini had violated various provisions of the Constitution in his decision.

But commenting on the development in an interview with News Diggers! Chanda said it was not surprising because Kambwili had always been an inconsistent person with no integrity and always stands for what is convenient for him.

“We know very well that Honourable Kambwili would want to push this matter to the end of time so that he can get his gratuity. Now, the ruminants in the NDC, who would still be holding faith in Mr Kambwili, must be reminded that this man is Zambia’s number one flip-flopper! He says one thing to mean another. When Mr Kambwili says: ‘the colour is white’, just know that he means that it’s black, and later, he will come saying that it was grey. Mr Kambwili is inconsistent with everything. As a matter of fact, if there is one thing consistent about Chishimba Kambwili is that he’s very inconsistent! He doesn’t mean what he says and he doesn’t say what he means. He has no integrity, he doesn’t respect his words. But sadly, this is a man who is aspiring for the highest office of the land,” Chanda observed.

“Now, if people are going to be led by a man as inconsistent as Mr Kambwili, then whoever is following him can be guaranteed that sooner than later, they will find themselves in a ditch because Mr Kambwili has no direction, he does not stand for one thing! Mr Kambwili stands for convenience, he stands for what is convenient for him at a particular time. How many times has Mr Kambwili U-turned? What type of a leader exhibits such inconsistencies and yet he wants the public to take him seriously? Sometimes we wonder why a man with such inconsistencies would even get headlines from the media.”

Chanda wondered how Kambwili had been accusing everyone else of lacking integrity when he himself had no integrity.

“What is integrity? It is to mean what you say and say what you mean. Mr Kambwili said he was not going to challenge the decision of the Speaker in Court and he has U-turned 360 degrees and he’s now going to challenge the decision of the Speaker! There are so many things Mr Kambwili said he would not do that he ended up doing. There are things he said he would do that he didn’t do. For us, a man like Mr Kambwili, who demonstrates such frightening levels of inconsistency must never, as a matter of fact, come near the corridors of power! And we wonder just how he found himself very close to the corridors of power…but if this is the Kambwili that we’ve always known, maybe that is why president Michael Sata never allowed him to even act as President for a single day and maybe that’s the reason why he was the most moved around minister under President Sata,” Chanda argued.

And Chanda disclosed that the ruling party had resolved that the adopted PF candidate Joe Chibuye would be the “caretaker” member of parliament as the party awaits for official notice from the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) on whether or not the Roan by-elections will be suspended.

“Mr Kambwili is scared to lose Roan and he knows that he is going to lose! So, the only thing he can do is to go to court and delay that particular process. But from our side as PF, we are not going to let Roan constituency continue as an abandoned or orphaned constituency. We are going to move in and our candidate will be the caretaker MP for Roan constituency. We will ensure that he begins to work immediately after his adoption. Whenever the by-election comes, we are not concerned; we want to take service to the people of Roan. Delivery to the people of Roan will not wait for Mr Kambwili to cease his battles at court! So, Mr Chibuye will be our shadow MP for Roan. We know that whenever elections will be called, if at all they will be deferred, it will just be a question of formality because we know that that person would have been serving the people of Roan,” said Chanda.

The ECZ had announced April 11, 2019, as the date for by-elections in in Bahati and Roan parliamentary constituencies and other local government by-elections before Kambwili took his court action.