By Innocent Liambai
I will comment on the Spax, Kitwe Mayor Christopher Kang’ombe and former Kitwe District Commissioner Binwell Mpundu issues.
Spax has been warned and cautioned for murder at the time when there’s reckless gassing of people in the country and yes the home town of Spax Chingola being the epicenter of the gassing.
The natuba lamfye squads of some opposition political parties are having a field day on various forums and some highly compromised social media gorilla outlets mudslinging some senior and high ranking PF officials including the Republican President.
With some insinuating that Spax is the master mind or kingpin of the gassing we are experiencing in the country, at the behest of some PF high ranking officials.
This is tantamount to putting the cart before the horse. If this is the case, how can the ruling party detain, warn and caution its own operative with a capital offense how ironical.
I urge all well-meaning Zambians to stop being judgmental to a fellow citizen, let the law take its course.
In fact the PF government should be commended for taking such a bold step despite Spax being a staunch member and supporter of them.
The PF government has demonstrated that there are no sacred cows before the law.
Spax is a Zambian citizen who should not be judged by some politically inclined public kangaroo courts.
If tomorrow comes and yes Spax comes out unscathed and clean and decides to join any of these opposition parties which are vilifying him, together with their surrogates today. They will forget the past and embrace him with both hands and obviously reward him with a position within their ranks.
I have seen this happen before the desperation for plot one is now alarming in some of the opposition political parties, we have in this country.
Anything is possible even if it means dinning with the devil himself as the only option they have to get to plot one, these desperate opposition political parties will do it.
I have seen on this platform of how some people are being labeled of being on the payroll or pocket of Spax, when seen as siding with Spax, amid these allegations.
I want to put it on record that I am not on Spax’s payroll. Spax is a person I could not put a face to until when someone told me on this forum, that it was him firing a very powerful machine gun which nearly sent him down, during recoil whilst on rapid fire, in the video posted on this forum.
This was disclosed to me, when I asked who it was who was firing that powerful military grade machine gun.
Coming the mayor of Kitwe Christopher Kang’ombe and Mr Binwell Mpundu former DC of Kitwe. All political parties worth their salt world over have had drama be it in opposition or ruling, especially towards elections or succession times triggered by unforeseen circumstances like death of a leader.
I will start with the rise and fall of UNIP and MMD. At the time of Independence the founding father Kenneth Kaunda and his colleagues in UNIP had to make a lot of political maneuvers in order to attain the Independence of Zambia.
These maneuvers included the signing of the 1964 Barotse Agreement, which was later abrogated and getting into a coalition with the ANC of the veteran politician Harry Mwaanga Nkhumbula.
After he snubbed the white dominated party which bribed and offered him a lofty position which could have ended up of him being the Prime Minister in the independent state of Zambia.
Whilst the imperialists could have been the defector governors of Zambia with a lame duck indigenous Zambian at the helm. Whether these political maneuvers were done in good or bad faith, that’s a topic for another day.
But in due course KK and his minions imposed a one party dictatorship. In the process one great son of the soil Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe suffered a great deal at the hands of the leadership of his childhood friend KK, at one point Kapwepwe’s party won the Mufulira parliamentary seat whilst he was detained together with his colleagues.
The origins of the standoff between these two great sons of the soil i.e. KK and Kapwepwe still remains a mystery. Though legend has many stories. Fast forward to 1978 UNIP was going for an elective convention and yes were boasting of their democracy within their ranks saying that all positions were out for grabs including the presidency.
Meanwhile Kapwepwe had joined UNIP three years earlier, and a year later the old Harry Mwaanga Nkhumbula also joined UNIP. Kapwepwe announced that he was going to challenge KK at the elective UNIP convention, this announcement sent shivers within the ranks of the inner circles of UNIP’s politburo.
Days before the convention UNIP said that Kapwepwe needed at least one delegate to second his candidature. To the surprise of UNIP the old Harry Mwaanga Nkhumbula stood up as a delegate to do as prescribed.
Now this move derailed the then dictator KK and his minions in the inner circle to impose KK as the sole presidential candidate. KK’s minions lead by the senior lawyer Mainza Chona did the unthinkable i.e. changing the Constitution of UNIP overnight inserting a clause saying that one can only be eligible to stand for presidency after being a member of UNIP for a period not less than 5 years, that was how Kapwepwe was stopped.
That act was the genesis of UNIP’s down fall the rest is history. MMD came with a bang most of its senior members if not all, had a bone to chew with the UNIP regime in one way or another.
What kept them together in 1991 was the sole purpose of removing KK. The second elective MMD convention was in 1995. The then Republican President was challenged by his former Vice president Mwanawasa who earlier resigned from president FTJ’s government for fear of being fired.
His resignation was without drama. The then former Vice president Mwanawasa held on to government vehicles demanding compensation for injuries suffered in an accident whilst on official government duty.
The then former Vice president handed over the vehicles when government mate his demands. Towards the 2001 elections there was drama in the MMD, we saw the third term bid of president FTJ fail, cabinet being dissolved for the first time in Zambia, a total of 22 senior members being barred at the 2000 MMD’s elective convention they was drama at the convention itself were honorable Enoch Kavindele drove off after conceding defeat to the unwanted Paul Tembo by the powers that be for the position of Vice president , being called back to the convention to take victory which he won by a mysterious one vote after a recount.
We also heard of the waking up the late President Mwanawasa at midnight by one distinguished diplomat VJ to come and contest the Republican presidential election on the then ruling MMD as a cadre, which he won under very contentious circumstances. Which still boggles the minds of many unto today.
The drama in MMD resurfaced in the run-up to the 2005 elective convention. President Mwanawasa had to cancel the election for the position of Vice president, when it became evident, that his preferred candidate honorable Lupando Mwape stood no chance at the convention especially from the threat coming from the then flamboyant and wealthy businessman captain Austin Chewe. This move was the genesis of MMD’s downfall.
Coming to the Mayor of Kitwe Christopher Kang’ombe. Him and the current Copperbelt PF chairperson his Worship the mayor of Luanshya Nathan Bwalya Chanda surprised, many including themselves when they emerged victorious, at the heavily contested Copperbelt PF provincial elections, by grabbing the two top positions against all odds.
And both being young and coming from the youth wing this was unprecedented no political party in Zambia has achieved this in a democratic process. Kudos must be given to the PF.
When you look at the trajectory of the rise of his Worship Christopher Kang’ombe in PF it has never been short of drama.
I vividly remember two incidences his dramatic expulsion from the NDF and the episode with the first lady.
In conclusion his Worship Christopher Kang’ombe and Mr Binwell Mpundu are victims of collateral damage which characterizes power politics towards elections.
The UPND is no exception to this drama. They have had their moments of drama during the times I have mentioned i.e. before elections or succession times triggered by unforeseen circumstances.
My advice is that some decisions can either make or break a political party.
Extracts from TIO Politics WhatsApp forum. (The Independent Observer Political forum on WhatsApp).
