By Staff Reporter
Chishimba Kambwili is speaking like that because he’s under pressure on account of being a convict, says opposition UPND deputy secretary general Patrick Mucheleka.
Reacting to Kambwili’s statement to Daily Revelation that opposition UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema does not deserve to be a politician but a tribal chief in Southern Province, Mucheleka said Kambwili was trying hard to appear relevant in order to make amends as a convict.
“Ena Kambwili ninshi takwata amenso, tamona ena ukweba ati abantu balefwaya ukuchinga (Does it mean that Kambwili doesn’t have eyes to see that people want change)? No one is paying attention to his blind remarks. People want to change because of the economy, people are suffering and it’s very clear that people are yearning for change and they are ready to effect change come the 12th of August,” Mucheleka said. “Kambwili is a convict so he can say anything. You know a convict can say anything. So how do people even pay attention to things that are being said by a convict? You know that he doesn’t even have a conviction over what he is saying. He’s speaking because he’s under pressure, he’s a convict.”
But reminded that when the UPND was working with him his conviction was a non-issue to them, Mucheleka said that still did not change the fact that Kambwili was a convict.
Mucheleka said Zambians will ensure that President Edgar Lungu did not get a third term of office, as stated by the constitutional court president.
He further talked about some of the challenges encountered in door to door campaigning, saying rural areas were mostly vast, and reaching as many people as possible was also time consuming and also in terms of resources.
“I am in Luwingu I wanted to have a road show but I have been stopped by the police,” he said, saying the opposition were campaigning under very difficult circumstances but was still confident of winning
Mucheleka said President Lungu was desperate, such that he was now taking desperate measures of even asking civil servants to campaign for the ruling party
“Who told him that civil servants should be PF? Those are none partisan that’s why even when we are campaigning the organs of the state continue operating,” he said, but reminded that President Lungu could have been referring to permanent secretaries and district commissioners, Mucheleka said: “Those are not civil servants. Those are PF cadres masquerading as civil servants.”
Mucheleka said the party had not come up with a position on what to do about the people he was referring to as masquerades, but that what they wanted was to bring professionalism to the civil service.
He also said that the UPND believed in family values and if elected would address the situation where spouses in the civil service were assigned to work in separate areas so that they could be in one place.
