LUNGU CAN’T BE STOPPED FROM GOING ANYWHERE INCLUDING MARKETS, SAYS KAMBWILI

By Patson Chilemba

Chishimba Kambwili says President Edgar Lungu can’t be stopped from going anywhere, including markets, and crowds will inevitably be attracted in the process even in the midst of the Electoral directive during the Covid-19 pandemic.

And Kambwili says the problems facing Zambia are global, blaming global warming for the economic problems the country is facing.

Speaking with Daily Revelation, Kambwili said Democratic Party (DP) leader Harry Kalaba was playing to the gallery and politics by asking the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) to censure or disqualify President Lungu, for asserting that the President has abrogated the Electoral directive by gathering huge crowds in Mtendere and Bauleni, something the commission and police have stopped opposition leaders from doing.

“The President is protected by executive powers. You cannot choose when the President should go to the markets and when he should not go to the markets. And obviously when a President goes to the market you expect people to want to have a glimpse at him and really it’s a question of the constitution,” Kambwili said. “The constitution does not stop the president from going to the market during campaigns and when a President goes to the markets, what do you expect? People will gather.”

“But don’t you feel the President should act on his own word, if he’s discouraging others from gathering huge crowds?” The author asked, with Kambwili responding: “I don’t want to go to that. All I can tell you is that the political parties are having a meeting tomorrow with ECZ. My advice to them is just appeal to ECZ to open up the campaigns.”

Kambwili said he had argued from the very beginning that there could never be campaigns without public rallies and road shows and interfacing with the public, and that it was not yet too late to do that.

Asked if as a leader he should be seen to be more encouraging towards public safety regulations against Covid-19, Kambwili insisted that rallies and road shows should be reinstated.

“Go to the markets and see how the markets are congested, on that score myself I have never agreed. You know that. You you know that. You know my stance on this issue. Go to Soweto market today see how congested it is. Go to Mpatamatu market, go to Roan market go to all the markets,” Kambwili said. “So what’s the difference with people meeting? In fact in the markets they are there from morning up to evening but a rally is maximum two hours…for me that I will never budge you know that. That’s my stance. I will never budge.”

Kambwili said he was certain that PF would win the elections because of the confidence people had in President Lungu and the party.

On arguments that President Lungu was presiding over a poorly functioning economy and that that alone should count against him arguing for another term of office, Kambwili said the world economy had slumped by four percent, and that most economies, including African powerhouse South Africa had recorded a recession.

“This is a global problem because of Covid and global warming…and by the way our economy is even recording growth, it’s not yet in recession. There are a lot of countries that have gone in recession as a result of Covid and global warming. So to me that assertion is far fetched and it’s not something that should even be brought in,” said Kambwili.

Put across to him that the Zambian economy started receding even before Covid-19, Kambwili said “It is not only this economy, it’s all global economies that started going down as a result of global warming, you know that. Covid is just one of them. The main issue that has made economies to record recession is the global warming.”