Malanji rubbishes Kambwili’s claims
CHISHIMBA Kambwili is lying as there is no Zambian diplomat who has not been paid salaries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said.
Foreign Affairs Minister Joe Malanji challenged Mr Kambwili, in an interview with the Daily Nation yesterday, to provide proof to support his claims. The minister asked Mr Kambwili to name the diplomats he claimed had not been paid their salaries because Government was paying all the envoys accordingly. “I don’t know which diplomats he is talking about because as far as we are concerned, the salaries are disbursed accordingly,” Mr. Malanji said. Mr. Kambwili claimed yesterday that Zambian diplomats had not been paid for the past three months because “the treasury is in red”. Mr Kambwili said it made no logic for the government to maintain a bloated diplomatic service when the country did not have money to pay the envoys.
He described the alleged government failure to pay diplomats their salaries as the worst form of cruelty. “The best Government can do is to recall the diplomats instead of subjecting them to embarrassment,” Mr Kambwili said. But Mr. Malanji described Mr Kambwili’s claims as unfounded and added that “this is why we don’t usually comment on such statements because it would be giving them credence.” Meanwhile, PF youths in Kasama have described Mr Kambwili as a desperate politician who specialised in spreading falsehood with the hope of gaining political mileage. Kasama PF Youth deputy chairperson, Aaron Zimba, said Mr. Kambwili would have made a good opposition politician if he had concentrated on debating national issues from a factual point of view. Mr Zimba warned Mr Kambwili that his style of politicking would not take him anywhere. He said that Mr. Kambwili was slowly losing it as he had misconstrued ideas about how to conduct himself as a politician. “Mr. Kambwili has been spreading falsehoods from the time he left the PF with the hope of bringing the ruling party and Government down but no politician can thrive on lies and manage to make it because Zambians are not gullible,” said Mr Zimba. “Since he claims he has the facts, let him substantiate his claims by providing undisputable evidence that the diplomats are working without pay. If he fails to do so, he must just keep quiet and concentrate on his party leadership battles,” he said.