HH Is deploying non-democratic schemes to attack opposition – Harry Kalaba
Opposition leader and former foreign minister Harry Kalaba has denounced alleged efforts by President Hakainde Hichilema to interfere with the Democratic Party and use the ‘authoritarian playbook’ against the opposition with impunity.
Kalaba says that the ploy to frustrate him out of the political arena has only made his resolve stronger and energised supporters.
A conspiratorial scheme deployed against Kalaba and the DP was exposed recently through a leaked conversation between President Hichilema’s special advisor for politics Levy Ngoma and home affairs permanent secretary Joseph Akafumba.
Ngoma and Akafumba were captured discussing plans to frustrate Kalaba using expelled DP vice-president Judith Kabemba.
Kabemba, who is being represented by one of President Hichilema’s many private lawyers Muna Sikaulu, has since challenged Kalaba’s position as DP president in court.
Kalaba says President Hichilema’s pre-occupation should not be to destroy the opposition at all cost but rather channel his energy towards fulfilling the numerous promises he made before being given a resounding mandate in the August 12, 2021 polls.
Kalaba expressed shock that less than six months on the job, President Hichilema’s priority was to decapitate all opposition, using unlawful and nondemocratic schemes, particularly against those he perceived had the potential to give him a good run in the governance of the country.
The former foreign affairs minister added that it was sad President Hichilema has instead opted to spend his productive time and effort on the DP and its leadership.
“Abuse is abuse regardless of which party the perpetrator belongs to. And if an act was wrong under the PF, it still remains wrong under the UPND,” Kalaba said in an interview. “I will continue to flag issues of abuse, corruption, tribalism and regionalism – and especially these intolerant abuses of power aimed at strangling our civil rights.”
“If President Hakainde and his agents feel that by disenfranchising the DP, they will be able to silence me, they are wrong as my values are not driven by a Party but a greater conviction for a fair and more humane Zambia, an equitable Zambian that protects the welfare of its citizens,” Kalaba said.
And Democratic Party spokesperson Mwanawina Kwibisa says President Hichilema was not being sincere with the way he has been approaching the issues with the opposition party.
“It is his finger behind the two DP expelled officials Judith and Justin. He is afraid of the DP and wants it detabilised before the elections in 2026,” he said.
Meanwhile, DP National Committee and losing Member of Parliament for Mansa Central Mwape Mwelwa says President Hichilema is pretending to be ignorant of what is happening in the opposition party when he and his ruling party are fully behind the confusion.
“It is President HH sponsoring the interference in the Democratic Party. Why has he continued to keep Levy Ngoma his political adviser and Joseph Akafumba (Permanent Secretary Home Affaires) after they were exposed of trying to undermine the institutions of governance by trying to block the DP from participating in the Kabwata by elections?
The President has no respect for the rule of law and let alone the institutions of government. Let him stop hiding behind his officials and come out in the open. His links with the expelled duo is evident,” said Mwelwa.
In late January this year, an audio capturing a conversation between Ngoma and Akafumba plotting to continue fanning confusion in DP was leaked with police moving to summon a KBN TV journalist whose broadcast station first published the expose.
President Hichilema and the ruling party UPND have refused to comment on the audio claiming.