Let political beneficiaries of Kambwili’s falsehoods apologize too

Dear editor,

As we reflect on the apology rendered by the betrayed National Democratic Congress leader Chishimba Kambwili, we are reminded by the famous quote from South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu who once said, “Forgiveness is not only to the forgiver, but the forgiven and the parties around the disputant parties.”

Going by that we find it a route worthy taking in the peace building process that Mr Kambwili had been obedient to his conscious and swallowed his pride and paraded himself before the nation and rendered an apology to the Republican President Edgar Chagwa Lungu and Lusaka businessman Vauden Findlay over the remarks made in 2019. It was not so politically attractive to make admission that Mr Kambwili once upon a time told a lie but it is a prudent decision that as a matter of necessity has to be made.

We are very well informed on the crowds that used to surround Mr Kambwili and cheered nearly every word that he said. We may give them a benefit of doubt, maybe they innocently cheered under a mistaken belief that it had stains of truth but we will hold the crowd that surrounded him accountable if they do not do the responsible thing by following what their leader has done.

With all due fairness, at that material time, Mr Kambwili was the apparent Vice president of the alliance and his outrageous misguided statement was never disowned by the alliance. By implication, the alliance had shown endorsement of the allegation that President Lungu was using the Presidential plane together with Mr Findlay to traffic the drugs. In our view, if the UPND alliance didn’t support the statement, considering the gravity of the allegations, should have proactively disowned Mr Kambwili.

We can suggest that the UPND alliance politically benefitted from Mr Kambwili’s falsehoods as their success depends on painting President Lungu darker than the color black.

It is not a secret that the UPND alliance escorted Mr Kambwili during the timeline from arrest to attendance of the criminal proceedings. They showed Mr Kambwili open sympathy and he was their darling.

There are also some Civil Society Organizations aligned to the defunct UPND alliance that used Mr Kambwili’s libel prosecution to accuse the Government of undermining freedom of expression and shrinking the political space. Now that the author of the statement they passionately defended has retracted it, we know how they are walking out with shame with the sense of disbelief that their partisan veil has been unmasked.

Now that the principal author of the statement regarding President Lungu’s nonexistent drug trafficking has apologized, we expect the beneficiaries of the statement, the UPND alliance in particular, to apologize to President Lungu for not distancing themselves from the statement by their former ally.