ECZ Suspends Kambwili Over Tribalist Comments

The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) has indefinitely suspended Patriotic Front member Chishimba Kambwili from participating in all campaign activities after the former minister repeatedly made tribalistic comments on the campaign trail.

Speaking at a virtual press briefing in Lusaka, ECZ Chief Electoral Officer Patrick Nshindano said Mr Kambwili had breached the electoral code of conduct by using hate speech as well as by holding campaign rallies despite the recent ban due to Covid-19. 

The main source of controversy surrounds Kambwili’s comments at a PF rally in Chilalabombwe, during which the veteran campaigner said Tonga people ‘belong’ to the United Party for National Development and that they had no place in the Patriotic Front. 

Mr Nshindano has condemned Kambwili’s actions and said his continued holding of rallies was undermining the country’s general efforts to prevent the spread of Covid-19. He called on all parties to refrain from using hate speech of any kind.

Kambwili’s suspension follows calls from the UPND Alliance for the PF firebrand to be reprimanded for his tribalist comments. On Monday, UPND Alliance media director Thabo Kawana urged the ECZ to intervene, stating that Kambwili’s comments were not only deeply divisive but against the law.

“Inciting tribal hatred against anyone for the purpose of an election is a criminal offence that carries a prison sentence of one year. What the Patriotic Front are doing through the horrible sentiments coming from Chishimba Kambwili is not only unfair, but is tribal… and it is against the law,” he said. 

Members of both the Patriotic Front and Kamwbili’s former party the National Democratic Alliance joined in calls for him to be penalised. On Wednesday, PF party member Victor Kalesha wrote to President Edgar Lungu urging the head of state to reign in his attack dog. This echoed the message of NDC media director Emmanuel Malite, who accused his former boss of going on a “rampage crusade of tribal remarks”.

President Lungu, however, seems prepared to stick by his man and has refrained from publicly condemning Kambwili’s actions. Meanwhile. Mr Malite has been arrested by police in Luanshya for suggesting that the president drop Kambwili from his campaign. 

All this comes in the wake of the infamous report by Amnesty International, accusing President Lungu’s government of facilitating “an increasingly brutal crackdown on human rights”. The NGO accuses the PF government of using fear and intimidation tactics in order to secure re-election at August’s polls.