President Michael Sata sacrificed last Friday in his state to address the nation and officially open Parliament, says Chishimba Kambwili.
Briefing the press at his residence in Luanshya on Sunday, Kambwili said the people of Zambia could tell that President Sata’s voice was not strong.
“…let me appeal to my big brother Nevers Mumba, that you know as a man of God, you should be the first person to stop being hypocritical. He should not be a hypocrite in public domain. It is the same Nevers Mumba and his friends who were saying ‘we cannot see the President’, that the President is sick and accused the Patriotic Front of all sorts of things.
“The President sacrificed on Friday in his state to come and address the nation and officially open parliament, the same Nevers Mumba says the Patriotic Front should allow the president to rest,” he said in his comments on the MMD president’s advice that the ruling party should allow the Head of State to rest.
“I mean, if this country has to go forward, we should stop being hypocritical…people of Zambia must know that President Sata loves them so much because they saw for themselves that despite the man…the voice was not, ehh, so strong. He still had to sacrifice to come to Parliament and officially open the House. I think what we need from the people of Zambia is encouragement and appreciate the President’s commitment to develop this country, other than start condemning him for coming to Parliament… So let Nevers Mumba not attack Mr Sata because anybody who is going to attack Mr Sata is going to face us the lieutenants because our job is to defend the President and the Constitution of Zambia.”
Kambwili said President Sata stood for the people of Zambia owing to the unprecedented development the country was witnessing in the three years he has been at the helm of government.
Asked to comment on the widespread attacks on him by fellow PF members of parliament and provincial leaders on his alleged presidential ambitions, Kambwili refused to comment on the matter and instead quoted a Bemba adage.
“The only thing I can say is that where I come from in Bemba we say, Uulelila tabamuceba ku kanwa, meaning ‘do not look at the mourner’s mouth’. That’s what I can say, thank you,” he said.
Kambwili called the briefing to comment on the Confederation of African Football’s decision to award the rights to host the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations to Cameroon. Zambia had also been bidding to host the tournament.
CAF further awarded the hosting rights of the 2021 and 2023 editions to Ivory Coast and Guinea respectively.
“I am sure the country will agree with me that this is favouritism of the worst kind that has ever happened in the football circles. Imagine three consecutive AfCONs to be staged in one region. That is West Africa, it is unacceptable. Our bid was perfect, we had put in a lot of work in the bid. We have the infrastructure that is required to host the tournament,” said Kambwili. “But CAF in its own wisdom…because we are aware that most of the people that sit on the CAF executive are from West Africa that they can award three consecutive AfCONs to be staged in that region which is bad for Africa and I can say a dark cloud has befallen the continent of Africa in as far as AfCON is concerned and let me make it very clear that if we had an option, if we had an option as Zambia, the best would have been to pull out of CAF but we have no option because it is the only continental mother body of football. This is extremely unacceptable…One of the reasons they gave in the rejection of our bid is that the AfCON was staged in South Africa just in 2013, but they go ahead to award three consecutive AfCONs to West Africa.”