It’s now time to fix the fixer, says KBF
By Fanny Kalonda
IT’S now time to fix the fixer, said Kelvin Fube Bwalya as he launched his Zambia Must Prosper party yesterday at Mulungushi International Conference Centre.
He said the UPND Alliance is dead.
Bwalya, popularly known as KBF, had message to President Hakainde Hichilema: “Let me say this very clearly to my good friend the President of this country, Zambia Must Prosper, is now born.”
“And I heard from those dark corner meetings, you were saying that ‘KBF just talks, he doesn’t have followers. I will show you,” he declared. “After the last elections, the UPND Alliance got 2.8 million votes. And then they began to sing that those votes, were theirs alone. We have grown up and we don’t have time to waste. If a person is ungrateful, you show him that we also can play the ball. Therefore, from here, go and tell everybody – remember this: It is now time to fix the fixer.
Now that we have decided that we are going to start a journey alone, it’s time for Zambia’s prosperity to begin. We refuse to believe and accept that the bank of prosperity is bankrupt or empty. We refuse to accept that we should leave majority of our Zambian people in the back channels of this country. Now is the time for change.”
Bwalya said it’s wrong to govern free citizens the same way “you run your business operations”.
He said republics are not business corporations.
“And the President must not own the republic. Even citizens know that the chief aim of a business corporation is to make profits, money for the company. But the chief aim of the nation is one – to defend and protect the Constitution. Number two, to defend national security and preserve our rights, liberty and our dignity. To ensure that we elevate the poor from their social and economic poverty. These are very difference aims. But when the President goes into office, and he begins to think that the country is there to make a profit, let him go back to business,” he said. “It is plain and clear that currently we have a very serious leadership deficit. This is why majority of our citizens are tired and confused by the levels of the current toxic politics. The former ruling party, the Patriotic Front, was caught up in a serious ideological conflict. It claimed to be pro-poor but it governed as liberal capitalists. PF was living in a fake reality. PF lacked fresh injection of ideas. PF was lost on good governance. And in the end PF lost direction on how to make progress and how to hand over power. But this is also true, the UPND has no clear philosophy on job creation. The UPND has no plan for the informal sector – taxi driver, minibus driver, marketeers, the UPND have no plans for you.”
Bwalya said the UPND has no clear youth agenda or policy on creation of jobs for the youths.
“In fact UPND has no leadership strategy and no clear economic manifesto. Everything revolves around one man. One man. Both the PF and the UPND have only produced poverty and the lack of a proper, credible leadership. Both these parties are lost,” he said. “We need to realign our political space. The major political players are not helping in breaking the yoke of poverty, the fight of ignorance, disease, hunger, corruption and exploitation of man by man. While the PF came to realign our economic reality, the UPND has failed to provide a clear economic alternative plan. The truth is this. Our nation is in a hurry for prosperity. Too many of our people are living hand to mouth. We cannot continue like this. No. in Zambia Must Prosper we shall ensure that economic justice prevails. Our people will not be deprived of decent housing, decent health care, decent quality education, decent cultural development and decent opportunities to develop their God given talents based on merit. As a nation we must not waste our time whispering in the dark like lost sheep, or headless chickens.”
He called for a fresh start.
“We need a new political party that already has a clear vision. We in Zambia Must Prosper can no longer remain in the UPND Alliance. As Zambian Must Prosper, we have decided not to live a lie. In our humble view, the UPND Alliance is dead. And we shall not continue to pretend that exists. I have been there, I know. We shall therefore, as a political party, henceforth pursue a new course, a new direction, on our own. Let me say this very clearly to my good friend the President of this country, Zambia Must Prosper, is now born,” said Bwalya. “I am aware that there have been a lot of transfers in the civil service. I have been advised on good information that the civil service is now being plundered and changed to benefit only one region in this country. That is not going to happen. Now is the time to improve every sector of our economy.”