KAMBWILI TOLD OFF
IT is nonsense for opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) political consultant Chishimba Kambwili to support street vending for the sake of gaining political mileage,” the Copperbelt Cross Border and Integrated Business Association (CBIBA) Information has charged.
CBIBA Publicity Secretary Chairperson Poster Jumbe said it was unacceptable behaviour for a person like Mr Kambwili who was aspiring for the office of republican Presidency to sink so low and support street vending to get the support of some disgruntled street vendors.
Mr Jumbe, who is also AntiVoter Apathy Project (AVAP) Copperbelt provincial Coordinator, was reacting to media reports indicating that the embattled Roan MP told a press briefing that his opposition party was of the view that street vendors were being used as scapegoat for the garbage in Lusaka that is fueling the Cholera pandemic.
But, the CBIBA Chief said Mr Kambwili and other opposition leaders should not try to gain political mileage by supporting wrong or illegal things because by doing so, they would end up decampaigning themselves.
"We cannot have opposition leaders who want to take advantage of every situation to gain political mileage to the extent of supporting wrong or illegal things, you may end up decampaigning yourself because of careless utterances, “Mr Jumbe said.
Mr Jumbe said irresponsible utterances from some opposition politicians were contributing to the breaking down of law and order in some sections of society by supporting wrong things and inciting people to riot over issues which can be resolved through dialogue. He said it was disappointing that some opposition leaders had become so desperate and irresponsible to the level of trying to gain political mileage by supporting wrong things and inciting people to riot over measures put up to combat the outbreak of Cholera.
"Some politicians in this country are not objective. They do not give credit where it is due. You will find that, those in the opposition are not objective, because their interest is to fight the ruling party.
“So, in this case, because they want to fight the ruling party, they will support even wrong things being done by vendors.
"As leaders, we expect these opposition leaders to support good things and to condemn wrong things, but the situation is something else. If the ruling party wants to bring order, the opposition will try to gain mileage by saying the government is insensitive to the plight of the poor." Mr Jumbe said.
He said, even the issue of street vending could be resolved amicably by dialogue, but if people choose to take the law into their own hands, then it would be difficult to resolve matters amicably. "Surely, we cannot allow such a situation. If we allow people to break the law with impunity just because they voted for politicians in the ruling party, they will start defecating on the middle of the road just because they voted for the ruling party. This is a breakdown of law and order which we cannot allow," he said.