Rejected politicians shouldn’t be part of rebranded PF – Kambwili

By GIDEON NYENDWAREJECTED politicians must not be part of the PF rebranding if the former ruling is to survive, PF member Chishimba Kambwili has said.Mr. Kambwili said party officials who were linked to the loss of the August 12 election must not be brought back into the top leadership of the party.He was reacting to sentiments by PF secretary general, Davies Mwila that old PF members should emulate him and party president Edgar Lungu following their stance that they would resign soon.Mr Kambwili however said that no one had a right to force people to retire simply because they felt that all the old members should step down to leave room for new faces.“Politics are about individual perspectives and the way the people perceive someone, so if someone feels they are tired and they want to retire, they can do so without anyone stopping them,” he said.Mr Kambwili said wrong people and those who had been rejected were the ones who needed to resign.He said rejected politicians must not be part of the PF rebranding if the former ruling party was to survive.“We need to respect each other’s positions because disregarding the other people’s opinions is the reason why there is too much conflict in Africa,” Mr Kambwili said.He said rebranding in politics does not mean removing the old people and replacing them with new ones, what rebranding means is removing wrong people and bringing in the right people.Mr. Kambwili said the reason why most western countries are developed is because of continuity and consistency.He said Zambia needs to learn from western countries where people enter politics when they are very young and only retire around the ages of 80 and above to ensure they keep the experience.“Imagine if we still had Edith Nawakwi in parliament and the kind of experience she would have brought to the table,” he said.He said the high turnover of MPs in Zambia is a drain on the resources by throwing away people when they are just gaining the experience is a loss for the country.“In Zambia today you see this MP and after five years there is another one, Zambia will never develop like that,” Mr Kambwili said.Ends.