By Kamuti Muyambela
We are now going on the ground to be an effective opposition that will keep the ruling UPND on its toes, says Democratic Party (DP) leader Harry Kalaba.
And Kalaba says as opposed to the decision by President Hakainde Hichilema to pick a Covid-19 advisor, he would have properly utilised public funds by having an advisor on youth unemployment.
Meanwhile, Kalaba justified why he claims his party is now the biggest opposition in the country, saying the PF has parliamentarians now on account of the previous elections, in the same manner UNIP had after 1991 and MMD in 2011, but they both don’t have representation in the house now.
Featuring on Radio Phoenix’s Let the People talk programme this morning, Kalaba said people knew that those in the UPND had never been in government before when they were voting for them, saying they should be allowed to settle, even as the DP itself was reorganising to be an effective opposition to the UPND, but that that settlement should not be in perpetuity.
Asked on some of the issues people feel were being muddied in uncertainty, such as the sell of the presidential jet and free education as promised to the masses by UPND, Kalaba said as opposed to those promises, he was not speaking from a blanket sheet, saying he was sure that what the DP was seeing, even those in the ruling party were seeing it.
He said with regards to issues like the presidential jet, as president he instantly would have known that he would be surrounded by military leaders who would be telling him about the dos and dons, and how he himself would suggest that the matter be handled because he has been there before.
Kalaba said as opposed to having a Covid-19 advisor he would instead have someone to advise him on youth unemployment on things like “youths have woken up in Kalingalinga and have gone to drink kachasu again, what should we do?”
“What Zambians will expect from DP is you can trust us because we are going to be very effective…we will be very effective that we will keep the ruling party in government on its toes,” Kalaba said during a radio programme monitored by Daily Revelation. “We want to see how that Covid advisor will help us, given there is already a minister of Health…(and PS Dr Kennedy) Malama has been trying to do a commendable job. I am sure that is why he is still PS.”
Responding to a caller who advised him to get on the ground early enough as opposed to what he did towards the 2021 elections, Kalaba said “we are going on the ground…we will be talking less and doing more on the ground.”
He said he may have expected more votes, especially in areas like Lusaka, but results were what they were maybe because of the politics that were at play.
“We know in 2026 it will be a different ball game altogether,” said Kalaba.
On the investigations being announced by the investigating wings into various corruption scandals, Kalaba said the wings must not be like toothless bulldogs, saying the public was more interested in the results of those investigations, especially that now they had the political will which they did not have under the PF government.
He said he hoped ministers and other officials would operate differently in the UPND, as opposed to those in the PF who became contractors for public works.
Asked if he regretted not joining the UPND alliance, Kalaba said he was proud he did not join so as not be swallowed by the UPND as people would not have known what they stood for.
He said his party was growing organically now with the people, saying five years was not a long time from now.
On his claims that his party was now the biggest opposition in the country, which the PF have disputed, Kalaba said when UNIP lost in 1991 they emerged from that election with members of parliament, but did not have any after 1996 having boycotted those elections, and the same happened with the MMD who emerged with around 56 parliamentarians when they lost to PF in 2011, but however remained with four after the 2016 elections. He said from the 2021 elections, both UNIP and MMD did not have parliamentary representation.
He said he likened his rise to that of Michael Sata who on the first time of contesting emerged with only one member of parliament in 2001 but had grown the numbers to 43 by the 2006 elections.
Kalaba argued that the PF were comforting themselves with late Kamuzu Banda’s party in Malawi which bounced back to power through Dr Lazarus Chakwera last year, having lost power in 1993, but that they will have to follow protocol to achieve that, meaning UNIP will have to first bounce back, followed by MMD and then PF by chance, of course hoping that people will have forgotten about the fire tenders, pangas and inflated costs on projects.
He challenged those in PF to also go and feature on radio Phoenix and hear for themselves if people were with them, in the same manner those who had called in were speaking good of him.
“You can’t rebrand before you repent. They did a lot of damage to this country…the damage will take Zambia another 50 years to recover,” Kalaba said, adding that PF structures were tumbling fast to the DP.
Asked if he would welcome members from the PF, including the questionable ones, Kalaba said he had no problem doing that, but the only difference was that responsibilities would not be given to those with questionable characters, saying most PF members at lower levels were good people who had been let down by their corrupt leaders. He said even the ruling UPND were receiving defectors from PF.
On assertions that he resigned from government after learning that he was going to be fired by former president Edgar Lungu, Kalaba said he wrote his resignation letter to the president months before he resigned, saying that his public statement was made after noticing that they were sitting on his letter.
He wondered why then special assistant to the president Amos Chanda came out with a statement disputing news of Kalaba’s resignation if indeed they wanted to fire him.
Kalaba said he also confronted president Lungu about his intentions to run for a third term, saying his two election wins of 2015 and 2016 were merely the hand of God, but if he went ahead to force matters as he did for 2021, things were not going to end well for him.
He said his party wanted to introduce new politics to the country, adding that he attended President Hichilema’s inauguration, and had also received visitation from his fellow opposition leaders, Highvie Hamududu and Chishala Kateka, as well as exchanging phone calls with Fred M’membe and others, and that he agreed with the President on certain matters when they were both in the opposition.
