KITWE Mayor Christopher Kang’ombe says unlike some ministers and members of parliament who don’t publicly acknowledge their presidential ambitions, he is not afraid to say he one day hopes to become Head of State.
In an interview with Kennedy Gondwe for his Studio Ken Youtube Channel, Kang’ombe said the difference between the PF now and the PF of Michael Sata is that there is currently more in-fighting in the party.
“Christopher Kang’ombe I always say, is a very open minded person and very open, you can read me. You can actually ask me and say are you ambitious, I will tell I am ambitious. There are people within PF right now, and allow me to say this, who are very ambitious, they actually want the Presidency, within the PF, some are ministers but they will not say it but you could actually pick certain movements, certain activities that, that minister, that MP wants to be a President but here is Christopher Kang’ombe, he will tell you he wants to be a member of parliament and then others will say he is too ambitious. So I think that we have passed through certain phases as a party, now that we are in government, now that we are a ruling party, there are so many dynamics and sometimes you think there is too many in fights within the party, that I can confidently tell you. So that could be the difference between then and now, there are more fights in PF now than before,” Kang’ombe said.
“Popularity is a very general term, we can measure popularity sometimes they say through how many elections you win, others say you can’t measure popularity by the number of by-elections, others say we can’t measure popularity by how someone wins, it’s also about how people perceive a political party. So the PF of 2001, 2006, 2008 there was a presidential by election, you remember at 2011, the PF was in opposition and when we were in the opposition, you do recall that there was a certain momentum. You know when you haven’t yet formed government, there is a certain momentum which you have, a certain level of unity which is so strong, everyone is speaking the same language. Now when you form government, within the party, there are always people that want to aspire for different positions.”
He said there was need for PF to start having conversations around the management of members who were aspiring to move to higher levels of leadership.
“Like I have told you, in PF there are conversations people don’t want to have. They don’t want to have a conversation about how do we manage those who wish to aspire to the next level, it’s a conversation we should have and that is why the President in Chilubi talked about if you want to contest, let us know you,” Kangombe said.
And when asked whether he aspires for the Presidency, Kangombe said in 10 years time, he would vie for that office.
He said, however, that he was currently eyeing the Kamfinsa parliamentary seat.
“I don’t think there is anything wrong with aspiring or sharing your thoughts with colleagues that look, I want to try this. So in short, there is nothing wrong with being ambitious. First of all, I want to keep progressing in my leadership, ultimately I would obviously want after, if given a chance to serve in Parliament we will see where it leads me but obviously the ultimate goal is to keep making progress in leadership and how do you make progress in leadership? You move from layer one to layer two, from layer two to layer three, you serve, pick lessons from your other layers and take them to the next level,” he said.
“In national politics the last layer obviously is the Presidency, that’s the last layer. At the right time, I am very sure that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to offer myself for that position…it’s not so much about how long you have been in the system but also how you apply yourself to the needs of our people and I think at a later stage, 10 years from now maybe, I will be 45 years old, I think by then I should be ready to be President of Zambia. For now, the goal is to work in Parliament, to learn from those that have gone before me. There are so many parliamentarians that have valuable lessons. I read a lot of books, I read about how so many people have ascended to the next level.”
He said if he wouldn’t be adopted by the PF, he would find another avenue of serving the country rather than standing on an opposition ticket or going independent.
“There are always platforms where you can serve the community so if Christopher Kang’ombe is not picked to stand as member of parliament for Kamfinsa under PF, I am very convinced that I will still be serve this country in another capacity. [Standing on the opposition ticket] is not an option, I am not thinking of standing on the opposition ticket, I am not standing as an independent [candidate],” he said.
Meanwhile, Kangombe said a high point in his career was when he was elected councillor in 2006 while he was a third year engineering student at the Copperbelt University.
“My highs, I always remember how I got elected in 2006, I was a student, at that time I was not standing on any party ticket, I stood as an independent candidate. I remember one day I was giving out fliers, there is a place called Via Mail in Riverside, so I was giving out fliers to those who were passing then this resident of Riverside tells me, ‘young man you are wasting your time, you should have actually concentrated on passing your exams and get employed and the when you get employed, you can contribute more to this country than wasting your time in politics’. At that moment, I would have been discouraged but I know that I had this plan and the plan was fitting well with the dynamics in the ward where I was standing and I managed to win that election and obviously it launched me into mainstream politics. That was a great opportunity for me because it allowed me to offer myself for leadership,” said Kangombe.
