It’s a Blow to Democracy—Harry Kalaba
…as Moses Moyo expels 9 MP´s from Zambia parley
4th July 2024
Mr. Harry Kalaba, the president of Citizen´s First has expressed ´shock and concern´ at the decision by house deputy speaker Moses Moyo to expel nine opposition legislators from the Zambian parliament while their matters are before the courts of law.
Mr. Kalaba, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs said in one blow, Moyo has taken Zambia decades back in pre-civilisation times when laws never existed.
“I was shocked to see that decision which in fact does not fit anywhere in jurisprudence of our country,” Mr. Kalaba said, “what Moyo did is a direct assault on the democracy of our country and taints our image abroad and locally.”
He said Moyo has set in motion, a train of ´illegalities and injustice´ that must be fought by all opposition in Zambia and ordinary citizens because it affects everyone in the long run, harms democracy.
“Today it is PF under fire but tomorrow it maybe Citizen’s First, New Heritage Party or any other opposition party or civil society group so it must be fought before our democracy dies,” Mr Kalaba said.
The CF President said, “our democracy is only as strong as our opposition is because for democracy to survive, we need checks and balances, and such checks can only be provided by a strong opposition which Moyo is in the process of killing.”
Mr. Kalaba was speaking during a special interview hosted by KBNTV in Lusaka which also featured author and analyst Ambassador Anthony Mukwita.
Mr. Kalaba, a founding UKA member said, “even for UKA, we need a strong PF and other parties for UKA to be a strong force. I thought the current UPND administration should have prioritised poverty reduction above creating expensive divisive by elections.”
Conversely, Ambassador Mukwita said, “predictions are that nine parliamentary by elections could sink a US$10 million hole in the national treasury so why create such an expense when seven million Zambians face starvation according to OXFAM? It makes no sense at all.”
Ambassador Mukwita said efforts must be made to stop the ´expulsion´ of the legislators which infact is illegal in Zambia and concentrate on bringing down the cost of living and run-away double-digit inflation.
Mr. Kalaba appealed to all opposition parties to fight for the restoration of the nine expelled lawmakers, “because if you don’t fight for your friend’s cause, no one will fight for yours. Let’s fight to save the democracy of Zambia which is currently under a severe threat and brink of collapsing.”
Source: KBNTV