By SIMON MUNTEMBA
CHISHIMBA Kambwili is the right person to take over the PF presidency from President Edgar Lungu because he is more popular on the ground, PF Northern Province chairperson, Chomba Chipili has said.
And Mr Chipili has commended PF acting Secretary-General, Nickson Chilangwa for having called for a special consultative meeting with the four known presidential hopefuls to chart the way forward to foster unity and to resolve other issues.
In an interview, Mr Chipili said PF members in the province were behind the candidature of Mr Kambwili and believed that he could revive the party and lead it to victory in 2026.
“Speaking on behalf of my province, the members here want someone who is popular on the ground and they only mention one name, these other names, yes, you can hear about them in one or two districts but CK (Chishimba Kambwili) is everywhere.
“This means that if the province was given each aspiring candidate percentages in terms of popularity, CK can get 85 percent. This automatically means that in our province CK is the favourite in terms of popularity on the ground,” Mr Chipili said.
Mr Chipili however called for free participation of all aspiring candidates in the process to elect a new president of the party for the sake of intra party democracy.
Meanwhile, Mr Chipili said he was happy that Mr Chilangwa showed leadership by calling for a special consultative meeting to chart the way forward in fostering unity of purpose and to resolve other issues.
He said there was need for unity if PF was to bounce back in power.
“I am commending the acting Secretary-General, he showed leadership and love for the party. Calling for such meetings is the only way PF can bounce back to power in 2026. Without unity of purpose and unresolved issues, we should forget about 2026,” he said.
On Sunday, Mr Chilangwa held a meeting with the four known presidential hopefuls, who included PF vice president Given Lubinda, Mr Kambwili, Mr Brian Mundubile and Mr Emmanuel Mwamba to chart the way forward and promote unity in the party
Mr Chilangwa directed all members, including aspiring presidential candidates to prioritise unity of the party and must participate in the upcoming Kabwata Parliamentary-by election.
PF NORTH ENDORSE KAMBWILI
