By CHILA NAMAIKO –
FORMER Southern Province Minister Daniel Munkombwe has said he will not attend any disciplinary hearing over his matter because he is no longer a member of the ruling Patriotic Front (PF).
PF secretary general Davies Chama recently said that Mr Munkombwe would be summoned before a disciplinary committee to answer charges over his conduct prior to the 2015 presidential election.
But Mr Munkombwe, who is also former PF provincial chairperson, told journalists during a briefing at his farm in Choma that there was nothing criminal about his support for United Party for National Development (UPND) leader Hakainde Hichilema in the election.

. Munkombwe

“I am no longer with PF,” Mr Munkombwe said. “How can I attend this disciplinary committee when I am not their member, I have joined UPND and I want Mr Hichilema to use me if he wants.”
Mr Munkombwe said he had resigned from the PF because he could not agree with some decisions which he claimed undermined him as a veteran politician.
He said his decision to join PF was necessitated by late President Michael Sata but his death resulted into the formation of parallel structures.
Mr Munkombwe said President Edgar Lungu was right to drop him because it was his fundamental decision to constitute a new Cabinet to work with him.
“I am also now fully supporting Mr Hichilema and I will continue to support this man because even when late President Sata lost elections, he didn’t give up until he won,” he said.
Mr Munkombwe wondered why some people criticised him when he endorsed Mr Hichilema but remained silent when former president Rupiah Banda endorsed the candidature of President Lungu during campaigns in Eastern Province.
He appealed for protection from the Government, saying he would peacefully settle at his farm and would this week hand over his office to new provincial Minister Nathaniel Mubukwanu.