10.02.25
The most potent enemy President Hichilema has to deal with now is the rising chronic poverty levels, said CF President Harry Kalaba.
The CF President stated that poverty largely contributed to the UPND’s spectacular loss in the recent by-election in Petauke, even after deploying huge amounts of state financial resources to silence the opposition.
“What happened to Mr. Hichilema’s UPND in Petauke is a classic case of citizens saying, ‘We are hungry, we can’t vote for you anymore.’ It exposes huge cracks in the ruling party, and those cracks are based on poverty, which is endemic in Zambia today. Dissolving the Eastern Province executive will not resolve anything, as it will not reduce the cost of mealie meal, nor will it help address the fake promises that the UPND and its leader made to the people of Zambia in 2021,” said Kalaba.
More than 60% of Zambians are going to bed on empty stomachs because mealie meal prices are too high, as are the prices of fuel and other essential commodities.
“There’s a general hopelessness among our people who feel duped by ‘Mr. Bally will Fix it,’ as he fails to fix anything… Bally has failed, people are waking up. Petauke is the litmus test,” Kalaba said.
The CF President added that what will sink Mr. Hichilema even faster is his deep desire for vengeance, which keeps him from tackling growing poverty, a problem that cannot be reduced within a year.
He called on all opposition parties to learn from Petauke, bury personal differences, and make a collective decision to remove UPND from power next year to save Zambians from poverty.
The JCTR states that an average family of five in Lusaka needs at least K11,500 to survive on basics alone, yet many Zambians earn monthly wages well below K7,000.
“It’s time for HH and UPND to go,” said Kalaba.
Source: Harry Kalaba, CF President