HH IS NOT STRAIGHT…he’s not real, ministers tell us is the stumbling block – Kalaba
By Fanny Kalonda
CITIZENS First leader Harry Kalaba says damage the UPND government have done is huge.
He also says he sympathises with Vice-President Mutale Nalumango.
“I sympathise with her because she is not part of the inner circle. She’s not part of them. Even from the answers she was giving there (Diamond TV interview on Sunday), you could tell that she knows very little about what is happening in government,” Kalaba charges.
He accuses President Hakainde Hichilema of being the biggest problem and that even the West have lost confidence in him.
“President Hakainde Hichilema is the biggest problem that we have in this country. He is a stumbling block in many things even the things his own ministers would want to do because they tell us, we talk to them. I have talked to at least four of his ministers whom am close to and they have told me that that man, they use the same language, he’s a one-man lone ranger. I don’t know how his minsters are operating, that’s why things have gone bad. Everything has just gone weird. It’s like the book by Chinua Achebe, ‘Things Fall Apart’,” he said. “The damage they have done is huge. Don’t tell me that the fuel price is going to come down to K20. Don’t tell me that the mealie meal prices are going to come down to K50. Don’t you ever tell me that we are going to have fuel costing K6 per litre. It’s not going to work. Fertiliser will not come down to K200. It’s not going to work. The cost of living continues going high because first of all, he’s not even taken time to understand how subsidies can be used. How they can be applied, in what areas and what measure you can apply these subsidies. He has not taken time to do that.”
Kalaba said it is a pity that after coming in with 63 per cent of the votes, President Hichilema will be “booted out in 2026”.
“So they think governance is cheap and people don’t know? So we don’t see anything coming out of the UPND in the last two years? We don’t see that? Because everything, even the international community, the West especially, they have lost confidence in him. You have seen the statements being released by the American Embassy, you have seen that they are saying…Then he told them, you should be talking to us [not through the media]. He has got that behaviour… So that is him and that is where he has failed. And it’s a pity that he came in with 63 per cent of the vote and he will be booted out in 2026,” Kalaba said. “We can’t give him time. They have finished three years these people and they are telling you that story of saying that give us more time. We are not going to give them more time. So Zambians, smell the coffee. The UPND is not taking us anywhere. The best we can do is to kick them out and bring in a new leadership in this country. And we are praying that it should not just be a Citizens First leadership they will bring. They will bring a UKA government in place which will be all inclusive.”
Kalaba wondered how the country could be in the champions league with austerity measures.
“He is living in utopia, he is an enclave. Mr Hakainde Hichilema is a not a straightforward person and no wonder most of the things that he promised have not come to fruition. He is not real. He is not real because what he gives you is not what he intends to. A picture he creates even when he knows that Zambia is in a crisis, he knows that Zambia has got debt before other community of nations he still tells you [that] you are in the champions league. How can you be in a champions league with austerity measures? Because when you have got debt it means there will be austerity measures. That’s how it goes. But he tells you we are in a champions league. He speaks superfluous, fabulous things, sweet nothings and then people begin believing, no, hes going to do it. He is still in the old school of thought where he thinks politics is just to say anything as long as it is sweet people will like it and go ahead. He went ahead to tell you and I that when I become president, you will see the kind of cabinet I will create, just wait. He was not even ashamed to tell us what kind of cabinet he will create. He has the cabinet there, what is there for us to be telling us just wait, see what I will bring, there nothing,” he explained. “Almost everything he spoke about never saw the day of light. The economy the way it is, the country the way it is moving, if we allow it to go on again after 2026 like this, Zambia will be in doldrums.”
And Kalaba said Vice-President Mutale Nalumango is not part of the inner circle hence knowing very little about what is happening in government.
“She was waffling, I saw her also. First of all, I have to tell Madam Mutale Nalumango, I sympathise with her. I sympathise with her because she is not part of the inner circle. She’s not part of them. Even from the answers she was giving there, you could tell that she knows very little about what is happening in government. And you know, she’s a reverend. She’s a woman that loves God to be treated the way she’s being treated by President Hakainde Hichilema is very sad,” he added.
Kalaba also urged President Hichilema to take time and understand the importance of foreign policy.
“President Hakainde Hichilema has never really taken time to understand the importance of foreign policy. He does not understand, unless he is going to declare himself as foreign affairs minister. That is also fine because he can be foreign minister and then we will understand. But to leave it vacant the way he has done and he has continued to perform roles of a foreign affairs minister is just not on,” he said. “[Mulambo] Haimbe won’t commit Zambia. It’s so critical, but he has not understood how important that office is. Remember that for any minister going for any meetings outside the boundaries of Zambia they need the foreign minister to agree. So now President Hakainde Hichilema is now himself signing that because the Vienna Convention only recognises the foreign minister and the President to do those roles. Why has he left the office vacant for such a long time. There are MPs like is it Edgar Sing’ombe who has been in UPND for a very long time, I don’t understand why that guy cannot be a minister with his experience. He has been in that parliament, I found him in parliament. [I] spent almost 10 years in that parliament and I left him there and he is still there. And he still does not merit the attention of the republican President! This is just showing that he does not have confidence in his colleagues. He doesn’t believe in them because it cannot take two weeks. But this man, you can even tell from the policies, the inconsistencies.”
Meanwhile, Kalaba said the United Kwacha Alliance is not a PF project.
“This is not about the PF. We are not dumb.
If it was a PF agenda, I would not even be part of it. If it was an Edgar Lungu agenda, I would not be part of it. This is a national agenda,” he said. “But this man he has come to the presidency with a very narrow agenda. It’s an agenda to pursue, he’s arresting people even before they investigate them. He’s seizing property from people even before he does his homework. He’s doing this before he does that just to show that he is in charge. You don’t do that. He has created a very bad culture for our country and is giving us problems, those of us who are coming after him to clean the mess that he has created.”
Kalaba said a former president is a reservoir of huge knowledge and connections which should be taken advantage of.
“I get surprised why there is tendency in this country of always seeing a former president as a target. Just why? I pray I become president, I will demonstrate to this country that leaders are to be respected including Mr Hakainde Hichilema. I would not be happy to see him going at pains. I think if anything the law provides that there is anything that he did wrong, it would not because I have a hand in it but also those who are pursuing the former president must ask themselves is what they are doing going to benefit the nation much more than the rift they will create? At some point, even President Hakainde Hichilema will have to leave that office and we are praying that it is in 2026. When he leaves that office, he doesn’t want to be treated unfairly or harshly. We would want him to rest peacefully, let him pursue his interests. President Lungu now should be busy, there are issues happening. The man ruled your country for seven years, whether you like him or you don’t like him, he should now be busy even on the issue of Israel and Palestine. Remember it was under his reign that an embassy in Israel, I opened the embassy in Israel, under his authority. So he has got some hand on talking to Isreal. He can go to Isreal and talk to the Isrealites,” said Kalaba. “He has got a very good relationship with China. The Russia-Ukriane thing, he has a good relationship with Russia. The reason why the Americans use former diplomats, have protocol officers at the airports, and they use retired diplomats, they are the ones they use as protocol officers at the airports, it’s because they know the language. They know how to handle the VIP…You cannot just get people and pack them. A former president is a reservoir of huge knowledge, huge connections. Why would you want not to use him? We don’t know how to become big in this country. We don’t know. All we do is we are going to pursue him, he will dance to the music, which music? Shame on you. We should allow former leaders to rest in peace.”-The Mast