By KETRA KALUNGA
LOCAL Government and Rural Development Minister, Gary Nkombo should be forgiven because he was ignorant of his actions, Economic Front Party President, Wynter Kabimba, has said.
Mr. Kabimba has also urged ministers to understand their roles to avoid making decisions that would expose them to public ridicule and embarrassment.
He said in an interview that ministers should learn a lesson from Mr. Nkombo’s embarrassing situation by ensuring that they don’t do a job which under the law was not their responsibility.
Mr. Kabimba said it was not Mr. Nkombo’s job to go round checking who was engaging in illegal distilling of Kachasu in communities because that was the responsibility of the local authority under the Public Health Act.
He said because of not understanding his job description, Mr. Nkombo has ended up in an embarrassing and scandalous situation and therefore he should be forgiven for having been ignorant of his actions.
“For me, I would actually forgive him as an ignorant man. I would actually exercise that kind of restraint that the man is ignorant and I hope he has learnt a lesson and many of his colleagues have learnt a lesson from thescandal,” he said.
Mr. Kabimba said if Mr. Nkombo had left the responsibility to public health officers from Lusaka City Council, they would not have forced the woman and her children to drink Kachasu because they know it is illegal under the law.
And New Congress Party President, Peter Chanda and National Democratic Congress secretary general, Charles Kabwita commended Mr. Nkombo for having apologised to the victims and the nation over his actions and urged Zambians not to judge him harshly because to err was human.
The Patriotic Front (PF) has however, insisted that Mr Nkombo should resign and rejected his apology.
PF Secretary General, Nickson Chilangwa, said what Mr Nkombo did was criminal and he should resign to atone for that.
