Rainbow Party general secretary Wynter Kabimba says it is shocking that the PF is now distancing itself from some clauses in the Constitution Amendment Bill when their officials supported them during the National Dialogue Forum (NDF).

And Kabimba says PF should have concentrated on showing sympathy towards Minister of Justice Given Lubinda who was beaten at Kabwita market instead of shooting down resolutions they supported.

Reacting to PF Secretary General Davies Mwila’s press briefing, where he announced some of the clauses which the ruling party does not support, Kabimba, who was one of the opposition leaders who attended the NDF, described Patriotic Front officials as a bunch of confused fellows.

“One would have thought that they would have given their position which would have come from the central committee even before their delegates went to National Dialogue Forum. Because the issues that were going arise and the draft constitution bill was originated by them…To me they are coming across as a bunch confused fellows and hence their failure to run the affairs of the state properly. Because Mwila was coming across as if they did not have delegates at the forum. And yet some of the delegates that attended the forum are members of the central committee. The Minister of Home Affairs is a member on the central committee, Dora Siliya is a member of the central committee, Jean Kapata is a member of the central committee, Mumbi Phiri is a member of the central committee, I can go on and on listing them. And here is a man holding a media briefing and coming across like it was another opposing camp to them that came up with those resolutions and yet this was a process which they participated,” Kabimba said.

“They want to act clean now for lack of a better term and pander to civil servants and say to ‘civil servants it is us that are supporting you not those who were at the forum’. Who were at the forum? They were also at the forum. So I was surprised to see the promotions of these contradictions without wearing shame in the face of the secretary general. He was a delegate at the National Dialogue Forum, he never even attended not even a single day, he stayed away, the chief administrator of the party. So if that is the route that they have taken that they themselves have disowned their own positions even the position of the majority because when we went to a vote, it was a position of the majority. It was a position of the majority and if they are democrats, they must respect the position of the majority.”

Kabimba wondered why the PF was going to present a bill they didn’t support.

“So what they are saying, they are telling their members that don’t go and support the Constitution Amendment Bill. If that is the message to their members of parliament, why are they even presenting it? It is ridiculous, it is preposterous why are they presenting a bill they don’t support?” he asked.

“It is funny. Why are they presenting a bill which is supposed, remember the position of the National Dialogue Forum was that the chairman of the forum gave three draft bills to the Ministry of Justice; the constitution amendment bill which was to be taken to Parliament in that form, they also presented the Public Order Bill and the Electoral Process Bill, three bills. Now these bills are supposed to be originated from or given the stamp from the Attorney General of the Republic of Zambia who is the chief legal adviser to government and then the Ministry of Justice will present them to Parliament. So I sit back and watch these human beings who are coming across as shameless that they are presenting a bill they do not support. So if they are presenting bill which they are not supporting, why present it in the first place?”

He said something was wrong in PF.

“Who is going to support if not them? So something has terribly gone wrong in PF. These guys don’t know if they are going or coming. They have no idea whether they going north or south because this is the highest level of confusion which can arise out of a government and a ruling party. So this the highest level of confusion may God bless them in that confusion,” Kabimba said.

“One surprising article which is not only surprising but interesting is the period that will be required for civil servants to resign if they want to participate in an election. All the PF delegates that were there had proposed three years without an exception and the reason they were doing that was that they were scared of the District Commissioners who sitting Members of Parliament consider being threats to them. Because the Districts Commissioner is every day in the district while the Member of Parliament is attending Parliament in Lusaka. So they perceive District Commissioners as being their first line of threat in their political careers. And they magnanimously supported the view that three years should be the period required. The idea was that they should eliminate all District Commissioners and other civil servants. That matter went to a vote because the period that was on the motion was three months, six months, one year, two years then the three years which was the PF position. And the forum voted for the two-year period. So to hear the Secretary General say that ‘six months is a better period, we have nothing to fear’, it was them that had feared not the other delegates at the forum.”

And Kabimba said the PF’s decision to reject some proposals was an indictment on the party.

“Even if you took that angle that this is an indictment on the Ministry of Justice why would they be fighting their Ministry of Justice? So it means they have no sympathy for him being beaten at Kabwata market. Because I thought that PF would rise and condemn that the fact that their Minister of Justice has been assaulted by some suspected PF members not any other group of people. That is the type of press briefing I expected the Secretary General to hold…instead they are shooting down the resolutions which they were part of. So for me I actually have no quarrel with the Ministry of Justice it is an indictment on PF more than it is on the Ministry of Justice,” said Kabimba.

“The Ministry of Justice is a conduit of the bill to Parliament by the PF government. He is just a vuvuzela so why should he shoulder the blame? I think it would be unfair. They are not putting salt to the affairs of the state. I don’t know the internal debate that went on, I have no idea but the product which came out there as announced by the Secretary General of the party is most ridiculous, shameful. They thought that they were scoring and for me I said to myself here is a group of people who do not know what they are doing. Mr Mwila was looking like a champion but an ignorant champion.”