NEW HERITAGE PARTY STATEMENT ON THE DISINGENUOUS CALL FOR DIALOGUE BY PRESIDENT HAKAINDE HICHILEMA
28/11/25
The New Heritage Party notes with dismay the opportunistic and cynical call for dialogue by President Hakainde Hichilema to the Catholic Church and Oasis Forum, following their announcement to protest against the contentious Bill No. 7. This move is a clear attempt to distract from the real issues at hand and to undermine the legitimate concerns of the Zambian people.
We recall that the President has consistently ignored calls from opposition political parties and individual citizens to engage in meaningful dialogue on critical national issues, including the forthcoming general elections and governance. It is therefore disingenuous for him to selectively reach out to friendly organizations while ignoring the genuine voices of dissent.
The scheduling of the meeting on the same day as the planned protest is a clear attempt to disrupt and create division among the people. The President’s actions suggest that he is more interested in maintaining power and pushing through his agenda than in genuinely engaging with the people.
This call to dialogue is comes at a time when the Oasis Forum and the Catholic Church called for a peaceful protest to State House and is a repeat of the President’s pattern of behavior, using high-profile moments to make hollow calls for dialogue while ignoring the real issues. We have not forgotten his commitment to meeting Opposition Political Parties shortly after Madam Edith Nawakwi’s burial. The ‘shortly after’ has still not happened and we are still waiting for the invitation to the meeting.
We as members of the Opposition, have resigned ourselves to the fact that the President is rather averse to real dialogue. Dialogue is meant for people with opposing views with the intent of discussing, debating and reaching a consensus on issues at hand. One does not have dialogue with those that are cheerleaders or those that may be seen as soft targets. The so-called dialogue then becomes a lecture or monologue. If the President was genuine, he would not have ignored the many calls to him to relook at his autocratic approach to Bill 7 and would have called the many stakeholders that spoke against the Bill and the process that was adopted.
The people of Zambia are not fooled by this charade. We demand that the President engages in genuine dialogue with all stakeholders, including opposition political parties and civil society, to address the concerns surrounding Bill No. 7 and other critical national issues.
We urge the Catholic Church and Oasis Forum to remain steadfast in their resolve to hold the government accountable and to continue to push for the voices of the people to be heard.
The struggle for genuine democracy and accountability continues.
CHISHALA KATEKA
President – New Heritage Party
Madame Kateka, protesting in the streets will achieve NOTHING. Be thankful for mature citizens who went to State House and exercised dialogue and their right to be heard. The conversation between the 2 is ongoing and will yield better results that walking aimlessly in the streets. Leave protests for the young one’s in colleges and universities – they have the energy to run. You can barely manage a brisk walk.
Funny but true
Ba Kateka, when did you have a convention that ushered you into office?
To me that position was like mama from heaven, cause we never heard of you in our political issues only to hear of a Kateka as new heritage party President.
Do you even have plans for this country?
Tell the nation what you have on the table for us.
Are you surely saying all HH has done for mother Zambia in the 4 years is rubbish?
Truth be told, for you all is rubbish and nothing is good.
Dialogue in the face of strong opposing views is a healthy sign and also speaks of maturity. You achieve nothing but destruction by being unreasonably antagonistic.
The Oasis Forum chose the road of dialogue over protest. Dialogue gives a chance to each side to be heard and their position on a certain matter appreciated even if there is no convergence of opinion after the meeting.
On the other hand with a protest, you are only speaking to yourself and insisting it is either my view or nothing and the end result is the extinguishing of one party or the other. Let us be willing to reach out to one another and keep the channels of communication open. As long as there is dialogue there is a good chance issues can be resolved amicably.