LUSAKA PF provincial chairman Kennedy Kamba has apologised to the United States Embassy over the indiscriminate use of the American Flag by some party youths.
And PF cadre Innocent Kalimanshi, commonly known as “Ama Amelicans” has promised to stop wearing the US marine uniform.
Commenting on the remarks by US Embassy in Zambia interim Charge d’Affaires David Young in which he called on the cadres to stop using his country’s flag, Kamba assured him that the youths would no longer use the flag.
“We have assigned that issue to the provincial chairman and they are scheduled to have the meeting with the youths from Chawama, Innocent Kalimanshi and the group. If you can recall, we had a fruitful meeting with the youths where they promised that they are going to comply with the party regulations and respect the leadership of the party. So, we expect them to stop using that American Flag and use the PF material as well as the Zambian Flag. We can just apologise to the American Embassy and assure that the issue has been resolved and we have communicated to our youths. The issues raised by the Ambassador are genuine. We also don’t want the youths to involve themselves in violence but to engage the voters and tell them what we have done in terms of development. We are restraining them from using violence as a way of campaigning,” said Kamba.
And in a separate interview, Kalimanshi promised to stop using the American Flag.
“Iyi ili apa, ni politics. Elyo ba umfwa ati kwaliba ama Americans, ba president babo eba butukile ku Embassy nokuya mukulanda. Ili ishina nangufye tulande ati twaleka, lyalyingila akale. So ninshi bala kwanisha ukwenda door to door? Ili ishina yaliba worldwide. Ifwe ukwafala ama uniform twalaleka. Efyo tulefwaya fye ni peace. Flag twaliponya pa office (This is merely politics. When the opposition leader heard that there was a group calling itself [Ama Amelicans], he rushed to go and tell the US Embassy. Even if we say that we stop using this name, people know it. Will they manage going door to door to tell people to stop using this name? It is a worldwide name. We have also stopped wearing the US marine uniform, what we want is peace. We have also pulled down the American Flag at our offices),” Kalimanshi said.
He also called on the opposition party supporters to desist from beating up people.
“Don’t ukuma abantu, don’t ukwipaya abantu. Ama politics ngawantampa ukuma abantu ninshi te leadership. Leadership kuseving’a abantu. If you continue ukuma abantu, tukaba geared naifwe chapwa. Not ukulasenda abantu ukufuma ku Kalabo mukuma abantu twakana. (Don’t beat or kill people. When you start involving yourself in that, that is not leadership. If you continue beating up people, we will also be geared to reiterate. Don’t ferry people from different places to come and beat people),” said Kalimanshi.
One Response
It is not enough to say “We can just apologise to the American Embassy and assure that the issue has been resolved and we have communicated to our youths”. What is required is leadership. This is an issue to be solved by the police, not fruitful meeting with youths. This is promoting criminality.