ARREST UPND CADRES WHO ATTACKED KALABA – KBF

ARREST UPND CADRES WHO ATTACKED KALABA – KBF

…. the continued harassment of opposition political parties is unacceptable and must stop

Lusaka, Friday, November 24, 2023

The disturbing video doing the rounds on social media showing UPND cadres physically harassing Citizens First (CF) president Harry Kalaba and his entourage in Nsama district in Northern Province is evidence of the shrinking democratic space in Zambia, says Zambia Must Prosper President Kelvin Bwalya Fube.

Mr Fube has strongly condemned the attack on Mr Kalaba by the red-shirted thugs and call upon the police to arrest the assailants, who can be clearly seen in UPND regalia in the video.

Mr Fube has also condemned the arrest of Patriots for Economic Prosperity party (PeP) president Sean Tembo for merely presenting his party’s alternative national budget to the media.

“These are the consequences of the recent reckless utterances by President Hakainde Hichilema publicly instigating the persecution of opposition political party leaders. It is disappointing that the attack on Hon Kalaba and arrest of Mr Tembo come barely days after church mother bodies, the civil society and key western foreign missions that have been Mr Hichilema’s staunch defenders castigated him and his regime for clamping down on human rights and for massive official corruption,” he said.

“The continued harassment of opposition political parties is unacceptable and must stop. Instead of attacking political rivals the UPND must direct its anger on the high cost of living, collapsing economy and dying kwacha whose rate is now racing towards a record K24 to a United States dollar. I repeat the warning I issued when I featured on United Voice Radio on Wednesday that ZMP will soon begin taking legal action against blatant human rights abuses and plunder of national resources by the UPND government.”

He disclosed that his party is compiling evidence and will soon begin presenting it before the courts of law to hold this dictatorial and corrupt regime to account.

“Those excited UPND cadres who followed and attacked Hon Kalaba’s convoy in Nsama district are well known thugs who must be immediately arrested. If the UPND leadership did not send those thugs let them publicly condemn them and order their arrest, which is unlikely to happen. Let them know that they may be protected now, but their time of reckoning will soon come.”

Mr Fube said the UPND must know that the opposition parties are more united now than ever before.

“We will continue to tell Zambians that the UPND government has failed to rule the country, that it must be booted out of government in 2026 without fear because this is a democratic country,” he conclude