Patriotic Front media director Sunday Chanda has challenged National Democratic Congress (NDC) president Chishimba Kambwili to stop practicing politics of insults and character assassination.

And Chanda says calls for Energy Minister Mathew Nkhuwa to resign are misplaced because the load-shedding has been caused by drought and therefore his resignation cannot change the status quo.

Commenting on Kambwili’s mockery of Presidential Affairs Minister Freedom Sikazwe, that his Juju would not prevent the people from kicking out PF in 2021, Chanda said the NDC leader was demonstrating bad politics and setting a bad example for the future generation.

“If that is what our colleagues in the opposition would want to call politics, then we are at pains to continue participating in that kind of discourse with them for the simple reason that Zambia at 55 (years) deserves a mature politics. Zambia at 55 does not expect an opposition leader to sink so low as to demean another politician and as to attack someone’s personal character in the manner that our brother Mr Chishimba is trying to do. We have made a commitment going forward that, let’s engage in substantive politics. Calling honourable Sikazwe names does not bring any incremental value to the democratic process in this country,” Chanda said.

“The people of Zambia demand better from those of us engaged in politics because politics ought to be a contestation of ideas and that is where all of us must be churning all of our efforts towards. Can we redefine our politics to be a contestation of ideas? Much as one would want to vent their annoyance or their frustrations whether justifiable or not, it does not bring any incremental value to continue with the ‘I vs you’ attitude in politics. Politics is not about going for someone’s throat or calling another person a witch or wizard, that is not the kind of politics that the people of Zambia deserve. The people of Zambia deserve better from the body of politics, especially the young people who are looking up to today’s leaders to say: ‘how are these guys practicing their politics?”

And Chanda wondered why Kambwili was calling on Nkhuwa to resign when as Chief Government Spokesperson, the NDC president had told the country that the power deficit was a global problem.

“Honourable Chishimba Kambwili calls for honourable Nkhuwa’s resignation on account that he has failed to resolve the load shedding issue. But clearly, we would want honourable Chishimba Kambwili to address himself to his remarks of about three years ago when he informed the nation on the same issue of load shedding and droughts and climate change. Honourable Chishimba Kambwili is on record as having said ‘it is global’, so at what point did this issue move from being a global affair to being a Nkhuwa affair? The people of Zambia would want us to move from just playing blame games; what alternatives is honourable Chishimba Kambwili bringing to the table? What solutions is he bringing to the table? Because criticising what he said two years ago is the simplest thing anybody can do. But the job of an opposition is not just criticising , but to offer solutions to the problem. So, what solutions is honourable Kambwili bringing to the table with regard to the energy challenges this country is facing, which have been triggered by climate change?” Chanda asked.

He charged that Zambia’s water sources would still not be filled up even if Nkhuwa resigned from his position for incompetence.

“Today, honourable Chishimba Kambwili can get to the Victoria Falls and see how dry the Falls are. Let honourable Kambwili get to Kariba, look at the state of affairs at the Kariba and tell us if that is a creation of honourable Nkhuwa as a person. Where we have reached as a country, the people of Zambia expect that opposition should move from just being armchair critics and move away from politics of character assassination to engaging in politics of solutions and alternatives. So, we are throwing back a challenge to honourable Chishimba Kambwili: which solutions does he bring to the table? Because even if honourable Nkhuwa was to resign tomorrow, that is not going to end load shedding, that is not going to make Kariba Dam full,” said Chanda.