National Democratic Congress (NDC) president Chishimba Kambwili says his party has finally appealed to the Ministry of Home Affairs against the deregistration of the opposition party for allegedly having an inoperative constitution.

And Kambwili has insisted that he will not apologise for allegedly insulting President Edgar Lungu, but has challenged the Head of State to disclose the kind of relationship he is involved in with Lusaka businessman Valden Findlay.

Speaking during a press briefing held at his residence in Lusaka, Monday, where he updated party members on the status of NDC, Kambwili said the opposition party decided to tender an appeal to Home Affairs Minister Stephen Kampyongo against the NDC’s deregistration following consultations with his legal team.

“I wish to inform you that the party has decided to discontinue any court proceeding until further notice. In the meantime, we wish to further inform you that following the meeting of office bearers of the party held on the 7th of September, 2019, it was resolved that we lodge an appeal with the Minister of Home Affairs against the deregestration of the party. This decision has been arrived at following the advice of our legal team that once an appeal is lodged with the Minister, the said appeal shall act as a stay of decision of the Registrar to deregister a society. This is in accordance with Section 231 of the Societies Act, which in effect says ‘so long as the appeal remains pending, the concerned society continues being legally in existence and can continue to exercise its right and conduct its normal business’,” Kambwili explained.

“This provision is very clear and requires no further elaboration. I, therefore, wish to inform all of you and our members that this morning we lodged in the appeal with the Minister of Home Affairs, having done this in line with the law as outlined, the National Democratic Congress continues to exist and it can continue to carry its activities until we hear otherwise from the Minister. Arising from this, I have asked the secretary general, Mrs Atanga, to call for an urgent national coordinating committee meeting on Wednesday the 11th of September, 2019, to be held at our party secretariat here in Lusaka at 09:00 hours so that we can attend to urgent matters pertaining to our party. I wish to appeal to our members countrywide that they should continue organising the party, they should continue with activities of the party as normal as we are within the confines of the law.”

And Kambwili, the former Roan PF member of parliament, reiterated that he would not apologise to President Lungu for anything because to the best of his knowledge, he had never uttered any disparaging remarks against the Head of State.

“To apologise for what? I have never insulted anybody. I have listened to that video, I don’t know whether it was me who was talking or somebody, I don’t even know who took the video and where. But I think the person who was speaking there said: ‘ishi imbwa sha bantu’. Now, in Bemba, when you say ‘uyu muntu nimbwa ya muntu’ it simply means that individual is not behaving as expected. But then, when you become so cheap and want to just destroy somebody for the sake of destroying, you always want to misconstrue things. Ask the Bemba chiefs and they will tell you that, when you say:‘ulya nibwa ya muntu’, it does not mean that, that person is a dog. It’s an expression that only tells you that he’s not behaving normal. So, how do you apologize even if it were me in that video? Because I really don’t remember taking that video myself,” Kambwili said.

“You remember Fr Bwalya called ba Sata ‘chumbu munshololwa’ and he was arrested at taken to court in Kasama. But when Bemba’s gave the interpretation, they told them it meant someone who doesn’t get advice, is that an insult? Now, because we don’t learn from past history that’s why we find ourselves in awkward situations all the time. Muleisa kuli ifwe ba (you should be coming to us) Bemba pundits tulemifuna icibemba (we teach you Bemba). Muleishiba ichibemba, utuntu (you should understand some of these things).”

However, Kambwili challenged President Lungu to disclose the kind of business he is involved in with Findlay.

“I want to ask the President to be very honest with the people of Zambia: tell us what business you have with Valden Findlay. The Zambian people want to know what business you have with one Valden Finalay. History has it that Mr Findlay was locked up by Dr Kenneth Kaunda for dealing in drugs. We have seen [Mr President] that whenever you go abroad, when you are alighting from the plane, the next person to come out is Valden Findlay! There are allegations by the people of Zambia and world-over that, maybe, the Presidential trips and the Presidential Plane is now being used to courrier drugs! This man (Findlay) has been mentioned in drug deals in America! Are we under State capture by Valden Findlay? What business do you do with Valden Findlay, your Excellency Mr President? The people of Zambia want to know!” demanded Kambwili.

“We have seen now that even jobs in government have started going to people who are close to Valden Findlay, this Chellah, who is the Special Assistant to the President for Project Monitoring was a chola boy for Findlay, but he’s now got a government job! We are wondering, your Excellency. And this one, I don’t want your press aide to answer, I just want the President himself to answer to the people of Zambia whether we are in State capture with Findlay. And also, we want to know how many jobs has Findlay done as contract jobs with the government? What is the value of those contracts because this is State capture! There is no way a President worth his salt can be moving and associating with a person who was locked up for drugs; a person who is mentioned for drug dealing in America by a well-known drug dealer in the name of Guzman. And I am appealing to the Americans, please come and pick up this man.”