By Patson Chilemba
Anthony Bwalya has been relegated in favour of Clayson Hamasaka, says Chishimba Kambwili.
But Colonel Panji Kaunda said President Hakainde Hichilema will be criticised even when he makes decisions on merit, saying that was part of human nature.
Speaking with Daily Revelation over the creation of a new position of media director at State House, which has been given to former Evelyn Hone College lecturer Hamasaka, which some pundits have said is senior to the special assistant to the President for press and public relations position held by Anthony Bwalya, Kambwili laughed off the matter, saying there was a saying in his language that says “ati bamisula kale, ninsoni shakumyebelapofye shabula (they don’t have any consideration for you, it’s just that they don’t have the courage to tell you).”
“Ahahaha I am just saying wait and see. I am just saying wait and see. I already gave my views during the campaigns and all I can say is wait and see. People can pretend to some extent but just see the actions and wait and see,” Kambwili said. “If you are a general manager, you are in charge of everything then on top of you they bring a chief executive officer, he becomes in charge of everything, what does it mean. He’s relegated isn’t it? But the President has got the right, it’s his prerogative to choose who he wants to work with. He has also the power to create positions. The constitution allows him to do so.”
Put across to him that Hamasaka was a qualified media practitioner, Kambwili said he was not saying that Hamasaka had been given the position because of his Tonga tribe, nor that Bwalya had been relegated because of being Bemba, but he insisted that people should watch the actions in government closely.
“Wait for the actions as they unfold everyday, look at State House, look at other institutions and judge for yourselves. I am not insinuating anything. I am only worried at certain comments of people that are trying to tell me I am tribal,” he said.
Kambwili said he wished Bwalya well.
“In my language there is a saying ati bamisula kale, ninsoni shakumyebelapofye shabula. When a thing like that happens where you are a general manager then they bring somebody on top to supervise you we call it in my language that bamusula kale, ninsoni shakumyebelapo shabula,” Kambwili said. “Because if you are effective, if they have the trust in you why not promote you to that position of director and bring the other person below? Why put a person on top? Then you know that that’s how they look at you. Not on tribal lines but that is how they look at you as a person who is not capable, he needs a supervisor.”
He condemned Vice-President Mutale Nalumango over her recent statement to parliament.
“Really how can someone go to parliament, a Vice-President to parliament and start saying out of 7000 people employed only 281 were employed from Southern, North Western and Western? That is divisiveness of the worst kind and it must be condemned,” Kambwili said. “And if it is true that people really employed 281 out of 7000, those who did that must also be condemned. But I think it is wrong for a Vice-President to go and isolate a certain region in the manner it was isolated in that statement.
“Sometimes there is a saying in English ‘let the sleeping dogs lie’ and just do the right thing. Because how do the people in Southern, Western and North Western feel about that revelation? You are putting the people of that region against the rest of the country…I think the Vice-President owes this nation an apology. That statement should have never ever come from a Vice-President or even a minister. Two wrongs do not make a right.”
He said the same of Muzungu, saying he held him in high regard as a long time politician but all the trust and confidence has now evaporated.
Asked on assertions that he recently posted in one of the WhatsApp blogs that Zambians must start voting regionally and then the one with the majority of votes from all the regions combined should assume the presidency, Kambwili said he has never been a tribalist, and that if anything he has been discouraging tribal voting, and that neither does he even post anything in blogs. He said if he wanted to issue statements, he spoke directly to reporters or posted on his Facebook page.
“There are certain things you can’t say as government like what Nalumango said…Where is Laura Miti to say arrest Muzungu? Where is Laura Miti to condemn the Vice-President?” wondered Kambwili.
But Col Panji said Zambians must take off tribal cloths when talking about people’s appointments, saying what must preoccupy them is if the people appointed were qualified.
He said there was a danger of making mistakes especially when looking at people’s sir names as most could be coming from parents who originate from different regions, saying he supported the President for appointing people on merit and did not expect Zambians to have quarrels with that.
“It doesn’t matter what rank Bwalya comes to, whether 2 or 3 so long as he has a role to play in the governance of this country. When you are on top Comrade no matter what you do somebody will complain,” said Col Panji. “If he is appointing people based on the regions they come from, we don’t know the state of his heart…but a tribe is not important, it’s what you are going to do.”
He said people like this journalist he was talking to must look at the many positive things happening, including the fact that the President was now accessible to members of the media like himself.
