By Daily Revelation Correspondent
I will disappoint many who think this election is a two-horse race, says Citizens First (CF) leader Harry Kalaba.
And Kalaba said he wanted to teach competitors clean politics against the “jokes” people saw in Western Province – referring to the violence involving UPND and Tonse – in that area.
In remarks made during a radio appearance on Mafken Radio and rally in Lufwanyama, Kalaba said people also underestimated current President of the Democratic Republic of Congo Felix Tshisekedi during his first election. He said Tshisekedi was not among the top two contenders for that election according to the projection of most voters, but he pulled a surprise on them by winning that poll.
He said that was why he was campaigning to win the election.
“When you call it a two horse race you will be disappointed,” Kalaba said. “Those underrating Harry Kalaba let them wait. Those underrating Fred M’membe let them wait. Don’t underate anybody. This is an election, even 10 hours is enough to change opinions.”
Kalaba said the country needed to choose a person that would help the country as opposed to one who was playing “radio the most or one saying salt sana.”
He said his competitors would continue engaging in fights and retributions against the other if either were elected, at the cost of Zambia’s time.
Kalaba said if people made the mistake of voting for his competitors and started complaining of skyrocketing prices afterwards because they prioritised music rather than focussing on ones ability, he would be referring them to go and listen to the same campaign songs to provide them solutions.
He said most presidential candidates were fond of promising things they would not do, saying President Hakainde Hichilema was not promising too much now because he had failed to perform on the promises he made in 2021.
“In 2021 I was telling you that HH lilofwa (he’s a non-performer), but you were saying he’s the one who has been there for a long time. For HH it was a job on training and today you are saying nafilwa aleya (he’s going because he’s failed),” Kalaba said. “I told you to pay attention. Let’s be careful how we elect leaders. You say ‘this is a hit song’, but will the same song address the high cost of living?”
Kalaba insisted that he took the painful decision to resign as Foreign Affairs minister in 2017 necause he did not agree with the trajectory the governance of the country had taken following the death of president Hichilema Sata, as ministers prioritised acquiring public contracts at the expense of serving Zambians.
“Those who have come with songs, and we say we want change because they have congregated musicians, let’s elect someone who is capable,” Kalaba said. “Shortly after you vote unwisely, you will see prices going up and I will say ‘bring the musicians and dance.'”
He said a town that mines tonnes of copper daily like Mufulira cannot be having poorly paid miners, saying he will take keen interest into addressing the issue of elected.
He also said he would remove the Emoluments Commission if elected.
Kalaba said if elected he would make it a priority for every Zambian to own land as that is what citizenship entailed. He said when he served as minister of Lands he raised the number of people who had title deeds from around 200,000 to over 1.8 million. He said no foreigner would own land, but they would only rent it.
During the same radio programme, Kalaba endorsed the candidature of Kankoyo independent MP aspirant Bishop Eddie Chomba.
And in Lufwanyama, Kalaba decried the deplorable road in the area and how people had been made to live in such squalor that they had to use the same bad roads to get their sick patients to the main district hospital, about two hours drive.
During the rally, residents told him that they often keep their dead relatives in the homes for days due to challenges of health centres.
They also complained about lack of mobile phone connectivity in their areas, and the aspect of having to share the fertilizer in medas.
