By Patson Chilemba
Miles Sampa is willing to talk, please talk to him, says suspended PF national Chairman Davies Chama.
And Chama said former president Edgar Lungu made pronouncements that he was coming to save the party, but nothing concrete has been done one month after he made that announcement.
Speaking with Daily Revelation, Chama said he has been engaging Sampa before and after he held his convention, and that he was a sane human being who could be talked to.
He said he was “constrained” on whether to describe the Miles Sampa convention as illegal or legal.
But others in PF have said Chama supported Sampa’s ‘election’ and urged him to go that route, something Chama described as false and deceitful.
He said he had an opportunity to discuss matters with Jean Kapata and Professor Nkandu Luo, who visited him at his house when he was still national chairman, saying he indicated to them that Sampa had reached out to him as national chairman.
Chama said he was an open minded person who did not take into account that Sampa had active court cases against the party, believing that matters should be discussed. He said as he was engaging him, other members of parliament in the party were also engaging him.
“And he started warming up and if you remember he even withdrew some matters before court as an indication of goodwill that we can resolve these matters out of court,” Chama said, adding that he and Sampa have continued engaging. “Even after (his convention). The engagement has been ongoing. Even after, the engagement has been ongoing. Even after that conference they had he came to my house, someone brought him and we talked. And he knows my position on a number of things.”
But asked if Sampa indicated willingness to take his advice on board, Chama said Sampa was open minded, saying this was someone who served as deputy minister before, mayor, member of parliament and has been a director in the bank.
“So you do not think that he has no brains. He has the brains. He’s sane. He can be engaged. He can be talked to. And people who are willing to be talked to please talk to them,” Chama said. “As a leader if you have a mindset that I don’t want to talk to this one, I don’t even want to see him, then you have a problem yourself. Not the other people.”
Asked then if his view was that while Sampa was trying to talk, it was the Edgar Lungu camp which did not want to talk, Chama said instead of initiating engagements, people were now hardening their positions, saying he has heard that some people don’t even want to see him.
“So people are hardening positions, even to people who mean well. People like us. If you can suspend a national chairman just like that, my brother, I don’t even know how to say it. I don’t want to be seen like I am defending myself through this interview, no, no!” Chama said, stressing that someone told him that Lungu needed to be given time after announcing his return to resolve matters, but one month on, he has not heard of any strategy to resolve matters apart from the matters being in court.
Chama said before this confusion started everything was moving along smoothly, even accommodating presidential candidates who were not in the central committee into the party’s highest organ, but things went off the rails the moment Raphael Nakachinda was appointed secretary general in the midst of harmonising matters in the party.
He said the October 28, 2023 announcement by Lungu could therefore not have been a coincidence that he was coming to save the party, because ‘alebwelelapo’ was already been talked about leading up to that announcement.
On Chishimba Kambwili’s urge for opposition leaders to set aside their presidential ambitions by uniting as one against President Hakainde Hichilema, Chama said he did not have an answer to the question because when people come on the plate there was so much insincerity, dishonesty and therefore the whole thing became a different ball game.
“To be honest with you I have interacted with a lot of politicians. I have been in politics for quite some time. When you hear people talking and they are saying certain things in private, and in public there is no connection,” Chama said. “And for me I find that to be a challenge and maybe that’s why some of us sometimes we find it difficult to be understood. I want to deal with people who are sincere, people who are honest. That way it becomes far much easier to deal with the people … Even when you want to rule the people, you want to be a leader and you are dishonest to the core, it’s very, very dangerous to the Zambian people. I am trying to find a day when I will pour out what I feel about certain characters and their behavior and how they operate.”
Chama said he failed to figure out the correct position with Lungu coming back into active politics as those in his circles were saying that he was back just to reorganize things yet others were saying he was back to compete for the presidency in 2026.
“I don’t know because I haven’t talked to him for quite some time,” said Chama.
