It has now become very clear that Chishimba Kambwili is a piece of burning charcoal that has fallen in President Edgar Lungu’s gumboots, and the Head of State doesn’t know how to get rid of it. He can claim that it’s not painful and that he threw it in there deliberately, but judging by his squinting, we can tell that he is feeling the heat.

Anyone who is politically awake in Zambia can attest to the fact that the PF is having nightmares over their expelled member’s rantings. The Roan member of parliament has turned the heat on the ruling party and it’s just a matter of time before the rest of the country starts seeing sense in the nonsense that Kambwili is uttering.

Once again, we have to be very categorical in stating that we don’t see Kambwili as a good leader. We think he is not good for Zambia and would not make a good President because he is too emotional and vengeful, but we find his political strategies amusing.

Kambwili was useless to Zambia when he was in government and couldn’t fit anywhere; no wonder he was moved to four different ministries within five years. As chief government spokesperson at his last posting, his everyday-job was to threaten private media journalists, warning them about how their employers were going to use and dump them. But Karma has taught Kambwili that the world is round, the journalists he was feeling sorry for are the ones wiping his tears.

We love Kambwili now that he is in the ‘opposition’ because his aggression is beneficial to the country. He is a perfect opposition figure, and quite frankly, doing what the UPND seems to be struggling to do. We have a lot of confidence in Kambwili as a saviour in the sense that he has the capacity to save Zambia from the PF, although we are very certain that he cannot save the country from its leadership crisis.

Right now, Kambwili is holding a pair of pliers and targeting specific organs of those in the ruling party who have made his life miserable. He wants to punish President Lungu and the band for throwing him out. He has nothing to lose and therefore, he is pinching at will. Lately, we have seen that when Kambwili strikes, everybody in PF screams in unison. Those in PF are now sitting up. They may still refuse to do the right thing, but at least Kambwili is reminding them that people are watching.

We are very much aware of the fact that this is a personal fight for Kambwili and has nothing to do with his love for Zambia, but be that as it may, this is good music for the public. Those who find Kambwili’s noise irritating are those who enjoyed looting in silence, in the dark.

How can someone hate a politician who has the guts to accuse a serving minister of receiving a three-car bribe from a businessman in order to award a government contract? This is definitely good politics. As a matter of fact, we challenge those whom Kambwili is naming and shaming in his one-man anti-corruption crusade to defend themselves. They should not pretend that Kambwili is not worth responding to because he is just a bitter man. Yes he is bitter and in fact very frustrated, but that does not make his accusations less credible.

Kambwili says when he was local government minister, Stephen Kampyongo accepted 3 brand new vehicles (Toyota Hilux, Range Rover and Toyota Landcruiser VX) from Grandview International, a company that later won the tender to supply fire trucks. Surely, this is not a small accusation, it dents Kampyongo’s reputation so we don’t understand why he is silent. Why hasn’t he sued Kambwili for ‘lying’? Isn’t that what innocent people do?
Anyway, Kambwili won’t stop and we encourage him to keep pressing. He is the only one who knows the inside of President Lungu’s gumboots, how it is shaped and where it is smelly. Kambwili knows who is corrupt in the PF government and whom they were cutting deals with, so we are eager to hear meaningful answers from those who are being accused.

Let the President respond to Kambwili with a straight face and not skirt around the issues he is raising. We don’t want Mr Sunday Chanda to speak on behalf of State House and the ruling party. Sunday Chanda did not fire Kambwili from his ministerial position; he is not the one who expelled him from the ruling party. So let those who thought chasing Kambwili was a good move stand up and face his music.

As for President Lungu, we can only assure him that this burning charcoal called Kambwili will not go off on its own until it does irreparable damage. If he asks those who have herded cattle before, they will tell him that when you are in that predicament, the solution is to pee in the gumboots. But even then, the fire may go, but the filth will remain until 2021 when he will take off his footwear. They may succeed in shutting Kambwili up soon, but it will not take away what he has already laid bare.

It is true what they say that you should never insult a crocodile while your essentials are still dangling above the water. Those who expelled Kambwili did not cover themselves properly before throwing him out on the cold, and now he is out to bite them one by one.