By Patson Chilemba
I’m still PF national chairman, says Davies Chama
Speaking with Daily Revelation, Chama he is still PF national chairman, saying he considered the suspension from the “other people” as an illegality as they did not follow what the party constitution states.
He said the same people who were accusing others of abusing the party constitution were the first ones to abuse the same constitution.
“So for me ba (the Miles Sampa faction secretary general Morgan) Ng’ona is just now maybe trying to sanitise the problem within the party. Or he’s seen to be sanitizing the problem within the party. So for me I am the national chairman as stated by the party that so-called suspended me illegally,” Chama said. “It’s only that I wanted to give them time. You know, people made a decision and I wanted to give them time to see how these things will work out and how they will be able to resolve these matters as far as the party is concerned. But it looks like there is nothing they are doing to resolve matters.”
Chama said since former president Edgar Lungu came back to active politics he has not called for any central committee meeting.
“He claims he’s a president of the party, of course that is also contentious. But he has never even called a central committee meeting so everything is very confusing,” Chama said. “That’s why probably Mr Ngona is now providing the necessary leadership. Where there is a vacuum someone takes the opportunity to fill in the vacuum.”
Chama said the issue about having Ng’ona lift his suspension had nothing to do with him agreeing or not, but had everything to do with the party operating outside the party constitution when they suspended him.
He said he had seen the letter on social media but had not received the hard copy of the same, saying it seemed both camps in PF had an interest in him as one of them suspended him while another one has lifted his suspension.
“Now I am at the centre of the two factions. One faction suspends you, the other faction says your suspension has been lifted,” Chama said. “To put it in simple terms these matters are in court. There are these forces where they are fighting over the party and my prayer is that people should be able to sober up. People, if they love the party as they claim to they should be able to sit down as members of the family and talk about these matters, and all contentious appointments must be reversed so that you create a platform.”
He said the contentious appointment he was referring to was that of Raphael Nakachinda as secretary general of the party.
Chama even the issues of Miles Sampa having initially taken the party to court were addressed in the central committee and that he apologized but Given Lubinda “evoked” his own powers and suspended him.
He said he would not be surprised to hear that the letter from Morgan Ng’ona purportedly lifting his suspension will be stumped as “fake” by PF chairperson for information and publicity Emmanuel Mwamba.
“So this is what you get when people had no foresight. Balanda ati ifikokola filonaika (If you hold on to something for too long it will get damaged). And we were preparing nicely to have a conference and that never happened, now that is water under the bridge. What has happened has happened and now there are two factions,” Chama said.
He said after he was suspended from the position of national chairman, there has never been any word from the “other camp” over the “so-called” suspension which he said did not conform to the party constitution and the disciplinary code of conduct.
Chama said when they were suspending him they said the matter was urgent and within one month they would review the decision they made, saying if he was like the others he would have put the party in a very awkward situation through a court process.
He said he had a meeting with the “council of elders”, which consists of former vice-president Inonge Wina, Samuel Mukupa, Ngosa Simbyakula Wanchinga and others Nakachinda was appointed party secretary general, and that he and Given Lubinda attended and that during that meeting he registered his misgivings about the appointment of Nakachinda.
Chama said during the same meeting he requested for an urgent meeting with former president Edgar Lungu, and what emerged were fillers that some people in the party did not even want to see him.
“I was surprised that you (journalist) had information that tallied with my request some days back,” he said.
Chama accused his party leadership of having allowed matters to worsen.
“And that’s why I don’t buy into the notion that somebody else is to blame for what we have on our hands as a party. No one should blame anybody. We should just blame ourselves because we have been very arrogant. We have been very stubborn and we don’t want to listen, we don’t want to talk,” said Chama. “And this is where the problem is. And even if I was to get back to my suspension itself, you know there are certain positions, I don’t want to appear that I am bigger than anyone else. But can you not even call a person that you are accusing falsely? Can we sit down and talk? Where you can’t even engage someone about the allegations. You just go ahead and you suspend without reason, without exculpation. So what was the intention?”
