NDC leader Chishimba Kambwili says the opposition must unite and field one 2021 presidential candidate in order to kick out the Patriotic Front.

And Kambwili says the just ended Malawi presidential elections must be a lesson to Zambia and all other African countries that there is power in the vote.

Speaking when he was called in during a Radio Pheonix programme, Wednesday, Kambwili appealed to opposition political party leaders to unite and consider fielding one candidate for 2021.

“Imagine a situation where a minister is charged and arrested for corruption at 12:00 hours [and then] at 14: 00 hours he is in Parliament answering questions and giving a ministerial statement. What a way to insult the Zambian people. Even himself the minister could have just said ‘let me take a break from the public domain for a few days’. But these people have taken us for a ride. They think Zambians are stupid,” Kambwili said.

“That is why I am advocating that in the coming elections in 2021, the opposition must seriously think of fielding only one person and come out like the Malawi way, so that we can remove the mediocrity, corruption and this unreasonableness being exhibited by President Edgar Lungu and his administration. Some of us are determined to make it work, some of us have a genuine passion and love for Zambia because our call is not for me to be president at all costs, my call is that we should have a Zambia where every Zambian has to share in the goodness of a country. The country must be governed based on the rule of law with fairness to one another.”

Kambwili said the opposition is determined to unseat the ruling PF for the good of the nation.

“Look, they are not allowing the opposition to campaign, but they are all over. When the opposition goes to campaign, they are arrested, when civil societies want to protest, they are arrested. Their own people are protesting every time through solidarity matches and so on and you think that if you go it one on one, you can beat them, people need to listen to only one voice. Let the people realize that the opposition is serious to unseat this unreasonable government which has got nothing to show. Governance is very poor, the economy is very poor, the social sector is very poor, what can you say about PF today?” Kambwili asked.

He warned his fellow opposition leaders to put their personal ego aside and avoid being led by the PF for another five years.

“So, if you want to be selfish and have your ego that ‘it’s me to be president’ even the next five years you will be under this same leadership and the people of Zambia are the ones who are going to suffer. My earnest call to reasonable opposition is that let’s unite and he who wants to lead must be prepared to be led. What is important is that we must be genuine in making sure that this country is well-governed. When you are coming to work together, you have to sit down and harmonize your manifestos, agree to disagree so that you only pick the best manifesto that can lead this country out of this quagmire that we are in,” Kambwili said.

Kambwili insisted that it would be easy to remove the PF from power once the opposition united.

“It is going to be possible. Already the UPND, the NDC, ADD, RPP, and other political parties have already started the process. I can assure you that this is what the Zambians want and it is going to work. Those who will not want to join the alliance, it’s up to them, but my earnest appeal to them is that please, let’s put aside our egos and for once protect mother Zambia from this quagmire. Everybody is uniting to remove one person because of corruption. And that Kaizer Zulu should be the last person to talk about that because he is a corrupt chap and he knows where he is going after elections. So we are not trying to remove one man because he is powerful but we are trying to remove this government because it has failed to rule, it is unreasonable and it is a scared government. And I can tell Kaizer Zulu that ‘you have 14 months to answer to where you got all this money even going to establish some manufacturing companies in Dubai when you were a pauper. We shall follow you,” he said.

Meanwhile, Kambwili said the just ended elections in Malawi should be a lesson to all those in leadership positions that the interest of the people must come first.

“Excellent Malawi elections, driven by the people who have passion and love for their country, people who don’t have personal egos, people who decided that the people come first than themselves. And that is the way it should be in Africa. The problem in Africa is that everybody wants to be president but there can only be one president at a given time. And that is why there is dictatorship because people know that if you split the votes, there will be power in perpetuity. What is happening in Zambia today is nothing to write home and talk about. In fact, we have stooped so low to the extent that Zambia has become a laughing stock throughout the world,” Kambwili said.

Kambwili said he lacked confidence in the judiciary because some judges were refusing to recuse themselves from certain cases.

“What confidence can you have in the judiciary when a magistrate refuses with impunity to recuse themselves and the Chief Justice is watching, all the High Court Judges are watching, all the Supreme Court Justices are watching. What confidence can you have?” asked Kambwili.