YOU WERE ELECTED TO SERVE, NOT TO SPY ON OUR PEOPLE, KALABA TELLS OFF Hakainde Hichilema
“Zambians have seen you for who you really are, a turncoat —- you were elected to serve not to spy,” CF President Harry Kalaba blasts Hichilema
America’s sharp rebuke of Zambia’s new cyber surveillance law signals a turning point and potentially the beginning of the end of cordial relations between the United States and President Hakainde Hichilema’s government.
The law, signed quietly by President Hichilema on April 8, allows state security agencies to monitor citizens’ private communications and imposes shockingly harsh penalties of up to 25 years imprisonment.
What’s more chilling is the silence with which it was passed and the betrayal of promises made prior to 2021, when Mr. Hichilema himself loudly opposed such laws.
At Citizens First (CF), we are shocked but not surprised. We have always warned that Mr. Hichilema is two-faced, and now it is becoming clear, even to our American friends, that he bears the hallmarks of a power-hungry dictator.
How can a man who promised transparency and manna from heaven now reduce this country to a surveillance state where hunger stalks households and fear controls speech?
The Zambian citizens and indeed our cooperating partners ought not to worry; this will be a short-lived celebration by Mr. Hakainde Hichilema and his UPND Government. Citizens First under my leadership, promises to revoke this intrusive and retrogressive law next year when we form government after the August 2026 elections.
The recent warning by the U.S. State Department to its citizens regarding the law’s intrusive nature says it all: under Mr. Hichilema’s leadership, Zambia is being lumped together with rogue or war-torn states like Sudan and Somalia. That is a national shame.
Just two weeks ago, U.S. Ambassador Michael Gonzales publicly criticized the government for misappropriating $20 million in American relief funds to purchase overpriced maize from Tanzania at a 40% inflation over market value. Now, Washington has again raised the alarm this time over Zambia’s alarming drift toward authoritarianism.
What kind of President says one thing before elections and does the exact opposite in power? What kind of leader signs repressive laws in the dead of night and expects citizens to accept it silently?
Zambians have seen you for who you really are, a turncoat and ruthless dictator!
Mr. President, Zambia is not your Kingdom or Kraal. You were elected to serve not to spy. As a nation, we can’t continue on this dangerous path, Mr. Hichilema must be retired in August next year in national interest.
Let it be known: if citizens can now be jailed for 25 years simply for a WhatsApp message with Harry Kalaba or any other opposition leader, then we are all at risk. The 2026 elections are around the corner and Mr. Hichilema knows he has already lost the people. This new law is nothing but a desperate attempt to hold onto power. It’s this same desperation he wants to use to force a widely rejected constitution amendment.
As Citizens First President, I call on all Zambians, party members, civil society, the church, students, workers, and fellow political leaders to stand united and legally challenge this rogue decision.
If we don’t act now, we risk waking up in a Zambia where free speech is a crime and 25 years in prison is the price of dissent.
The judiciary, Police, Parliament, ECZ all institutions of democracy have already been captured by one man!. This must come to an end.
Let us rise in unity, before it’s too late.
Harry Kalaba
President
Citizens First