JACK Kalala says contrary to Lusaka Province minister Bowman Lusambo’s view that Zambians need to have their heads panel beaten to fix their mindset, it is PF leaders from top to bottom who need alignment to restore honour, dignity and integrity in leadership.
Kalala says political leaders are not masters but servants of the people who are the employers.
He said Lusambo, a person of disreputable personality, could afford to say Zambians need to have their heads panel beaten to fix their mindset, but people will even vote for him again to continue representing them in Parliament confirmed that Zambians were passive according to their view.
“In 1991, at a rally in Mufulira, president Frederick Chiluba said: ‘The problem with Zambians is that they are docile. If one steps on their toes, they would apologise to him’. I totally agree with him,” Kalala said. “It is not only Lusambo but also even President Lungu and other PF leaders can afford to insult Zambians with impunity and get away with it because the people of Zambia have proved to be passive in their view.”
Kalala, a former aide to late president Levy Mwanawasa, said PF leaders needed to be made to understand what national leadership was all about.
He said PF leaders should be made to understand that leadership was not about corruption and plundering of national resources to become instant millionaires.
Kalala said national leadership was not about shedding the blood of innocent citizens but protecting lives.
“Today the PF regime has purchased military equipment for the police to wage war against harmless and armless citizens. What have Zambians done to deserve to be killed like mad dogs by people they elected to lead them? Leaders need to understand that they were elected to provide effective leadership to develop the country and end the suffering of people,” he said. “It is not right that in a country with abundant minerals and other natural resources there should be so much poverty. It is absurd that a country with so much water and fertile soil should be the fourth hungriest nation in the world. Where is the problem? The problem is with the leadership, not with the people. Zambia has poor and mediocre leadership that has failed to inspire the nation and raise it to greatness.”
Kalala said it was important to understand and appreciate that quality and credible leadership was cardinal and fundamental to the development of a country.
“This fact is indisputable. Lusambo and his fellow PF leaders may blame Zambians. I do not agree. The PF leaders have failed Zambians in providing the necessary leadership,” he said.
Kalala said Zambia needs leaders to inspire people to give their best for the country.
He said the country needs knowledgeable and transformational leaders who would make critical decisions to transform the country with available resources.
“Zambia needs competent and visionary leaders to move the country from poverty to prosperity. Development will not happen by merely wishing for it or by prayers alone. There are countries that do not pray but they are highly developed and abundantly rich. There are also individuals who do not pray but who are exceedingly rich, and there are people who pray so much but who are extremely poor,” Kalala said.
He said at the helm, Zambia needs a visionary President with integrity and brain capacity to understand critical issues and make critical decisions to transform the country.
He said Zambia needs a President who should be able to put together a team of capable men and women of substance to help him transform the country and should lead from the front and not in plundering national resources, but in making a positive change.
“The greatest problem we have in Zambia is that people join politics to enrich themselves. Once elected or appointed, they become preoccupied with instant gratification, personal enrichment for future comfort. They steal to live better in future. Within a very short time they fatten their bank accounts, build mansions and buy cars for themselves while the people they lead and who voted for them continue to wallow in abject poverty. This is unacceptable and should not be allowed to continue,” he said.
Kalala said Zambians should put an end to being submissive and compliant to the whims of political leaders.
He counselled Zambians to learn to be assertive and demand transparency and accountability from political leaders they put in office.
“Political leaders are not masters but servants of the people who are the employers,” said Kalala.