By Patson Chilemba
Hakainde Hichilema is scheming to have me arrested, says Chishimba Kambwili.
And Kambwili has challenged Inspector General of Police Lemmy Kajoba to also arrest Ackson Sejani for saying that only a Tonga could lead the UPND, Kafue mayor Buumba Malambo, Larry Mweetwa and Mulonde Muzungu for the tribal remarks.
Speaking with Daily Revelation, Kambwili said those plotting to arrest him would only be publicising him, saying there was nothing like bad publicity in politics.
He charged that President Hichilema should not be scheming what the other administration did to him, saying he and the president suffered together during their time in the opposition, having been arrested for offences they did no commit.
“I am so shocked that my brother and colleague President Hakainde Hichilema can be scheming to make me go through the same things he went through. Surely can you doubt that this is politically motivated? Can you doubt? Look at what Buumba Malambo said openly, and there is a video ‘iswe swe ba Tonga we vote for a Tonga President, we vote for our Tonga MP, Tonga councillors’,” Kambwili said. “No case has been opened against her, then for me just to compare ‘people in this region they vote for their own all these years, and in order for us to teach them that this is wrong we should also vote (the same way)’. And you say tribalism and you want to arrest me. Can you have any doubt that HH has got a hand in it, unless you are foolish. Every reasonable person will know that this is politically motivated. And the president is involved in it.”
Kambwili said the matter had been brought up on account that people were saying that he should be PF president, saying the President was trying to intimidate him and deter PF from “electing me to say, oh no he has got cases. That is what thy are working on.”
Asked if he felt former president Edgar Lungu was involved in his earlier court cases in the same manner he was accusing President Hichilema, Kambwili said: “I have no comment on that. I am only saying my arrests were politically motivated. And even this one is politically motivated. I cannot say president Edgar Lungu was involved, no. You see in life sometimes the leader may not know what the juniors are doing.”
However, Kambwili also consistently accused president Lungu of having been behind his cases during his NDC days.
“If he (President Hichilema) is going to allow it for me to be arrested then just know that he is involved. What I have gone through when I become president and people start doing the same I will tell them don’t do that,” Kambwili said. “Why do they want to target Chishimba Kambwili, they leave all these people like Sejani, Buumba? You want to arrest Chishimba Kambwili because you feel he’s a political threat. He’s a political opponent.”
Kambwili maintained that even if he did not like what he was suggesting, other regions must vote in the same manner as Southern Province, as they “must be taught other people can also do it if you don’t stop it.”
“I am actually helping this country to avoid regional or tribal voting…I can only tell my brother HH, what is wrong with you? Political power is not in perpetuity,” he said.
He said Kajoba, whom he accused of being a UPND cadre, wants to use his position to arrest him, saying it was only after the IG said he would arrest him that the UPND cadre reported the matter to police, which he said showed a glaring political hand by also copying the complaint to the ministers of Home Affairs and Justice.
“Surely how can you be arrested for three months, going into four months in prison, like HH and you also start arresting you political opponents as if you were admiring to come and revenge?” Kambwili asked. “Do you need to copy to a minister of justice? Immediately you start copying letters to the politicians then you know that there is a political hand.”
Kambwili said people voted for change, and President Hichilema should live up to his promise when he said that freedom had come for all Zambians on his inauguration.
“Surely look at the results that came from Southern Province on PF, after what PF has done; roads, hospitals clinics, kwena kutimwaya vota 49,000, umuntu (Lungu) mwamupela 200…there must be something wrong, it’s not about none performance or anything. There must be an underlying factor and when we question that underlying factor you say tribalism,” Kambwili said. “…our friends vote in Southern Province is not good, because you find in Northern Province, Eastern Province, other provinces the votes will tell you that each and every political party got something reasonable. But particularly from the southern region only one party, not even a councillor, no MP for any other political party.”
Kambwili urged the people he served with in the opposition alliance, like ministers Sylvia Masebo and Charles Milupi, whom he said he held discussions with and were committed not to repeat the PF mistakes, to rise to the occasion and condemn what was happening.
“But I can only tell them if they want to arrest me, let them arrest Sejani, let them arrest Buumba Malambo, let them arrest Larry Mweetwa. Larry Mweetwa said the big tribes were embarrassed by small tribes. There is no inquiry into Larry Mweetwa. Mulonde Muzungu was suggesting we are going to divide this country into two,” said Kambwili. “And the president is on record for saying ‘don’t worry about the MP, don’t worry about the councillor, what we need is a Tonga President’. It’s on record.”
