KAMBWILI SHOULD HAVE GOT LONGER SENTENCE - TAYALI

IAM happy with the conviction of Chishimba Kambwili over the crimes he committed but expected him to have been given more years, Chilufya Tayali has said.

Meanwhile, Mr Tayali who is Equity and Economic Party (EEP) president said the UPND president, Hakainde Hichilema should not be allowed to be republican President because he has caused a lot of suffering to Zambians through privatization.

He said this at a media briefing in Lusaka yesterday in reaction to the jailing of NDC leader Chishimba Kambwili, who yesterday started serving his 12 months with hard labour. Mr Tayali who welcomed the conviction said he expected Kambwili to have been jailed for more years.

“I am happy with the way Lusaka Principal Resident Magistrate David Simusamba handled the case. But I was expecting more years on ba Kambwili not the 12 months jail sentence,” Mr Tayali said.

Mr Tayali had reported Kambwili to police for registering Mwamona Engineering Company using a fake name.

He observed that if the convict was remorseful, he might not have been jailed, but allegedly continued intimidating and insulting people for his personal aggrandizement.

He warned that he could get even three years if he would appeal a straightforward matter that had concrete evidence against him.

“Kambwili will not succeed with his appeal. The case is straight forward. It is water tight. Even if HH was a judge, he would not have acquitted Kambwili because the evidence was very solid,” he said.

Mr Tayali clarified that he was not sponsored by the ruling party to take Kambwili to court, but that he did it to fight corruption after getting a tip from the people the convict was threatening.He said the ruling party had nothing to do with Kambwili’s case and added that: “People should actually congratulate me for exposing Kambwili's wrongs with evidence.”

“I started this case when he was in Government but no progress was made till he was fired. This has been my legal battle to make leaders accountable and I will continue. In fact, there are two ministers on my list of those currently serving, I will pounce on them whenever they will be out, especially when I will be President,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Tayali said Mr Hichilema was a wrong person and should not be allowed to go to State House because of his involvement in the sale of State assets.