Democratic Party president Harry Kalaba says President Edgar Lungu has sunk Zambia to an all-time low in terms of leadership.

And Kalaba says the PF is like a nightmare for the country and Zambians can even lynch anyone who speaks in support of the ruling party.

Speaking when he featured on Zambezi FM in Livingstone, Sunday, Kalaba, who was flanked by Southern Province DP chairlady Gloria Mapani and Livingstone chairlady Lisa Siasumo, lamented that Zambia had sunk to its lowest point in terms of leadership standards under President Lungu’s Presidency.

Kalaba, a former Foreign Affairs Minister, said he could have become PF party president if he decided to bootlick to remain in the party.

“I am not a politician, I am a leader. A politician lives for the next election, while a leader lives for the next generation. If it was about politics, I would have remained in the PF government, politicking and bootlicking. Because you see, it is easy to bootlick and truth be told, I would have bootlicked nicely and ended up president of the PF. I would have bootlicked left, right and centre, but at whose expense? I don’t do those politics. Like now, the PF are planning on how they are going to win the next election, but they are not telling us why they want to win another election,” Kalaba said.

“So, when I see someone masquerading and chanting ‘PF, PF’ I feel sorry. Look at how we have gone down as a country! This is the first time that we have sunk so low in terms of leadership in this country; we are at an all-time low! Look at how Kaunda elevated leadership; look at how Mwanawasa elevated leadership; look at how Chiluba elevated leadership; look at how RB elevated leadership? Now, look at how the leadership has collapsed! But Harry Kalaba has come; we are going to restore the dignity of this country.”

And Kalaba complained that the PF represented Zambia’s nightmare, adding that people would even lynch anyone speaking in support of the ruling party.

“The by-elections are meant to hoodwink people to think that the PF is still popular. But people have lost faith in the PF, I have gone around the country; the only ones talking about the PF are those eating with them! Anybody who knows that he is got children who are not going to school; anybody who has a child who has completed studies, but cannot find a job, they are not interested in PF! It’s like a nightmare! In fact, yesterday, when I was in Sesheke, one of our party officials told me that ‘bo president be careful here, don’t even mention PF because people can even lynch you! They don’t want PF here! And I said: ‘it’s everywhere, they can lynch you, they don’t want this PF thing’,” Kalaba said.

He also labelled ZNBC as the ‘PF Broadcasting Corporation,’ pledging not to continuously be covered by the national broadcaster when he is elected Republican President.

“And that thing, the PFBC, it’s always about ‘the PF have done this, these have defected to PF.’ Come on! We are not in a communist state where you have to always feed us with propaganda! That’s why Prime TV was clamped down, because today I am speaking, Prime TV would have shown me and the whole Zambia would have watched me. But because of jealousy, they know that what Kalaba speaks is what people want to hear, they say ‘let’s clamp down Prime TV.’ Prime TV was closed because people watch Prime TV more than that PFBC! I will not allow my face to be on ZNBC every day because when we go in power, it will be Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation, now it is Patriotic Front Broadcasting Corporation!” he said.

He further dismissed government’s plan to send Zambians to the Gulf region to work as maids, drivers and security guards as a joke, cautioning that there were massive human rights abuses in that part of the world.

“Today, youths are fighting to become security guards! What I know are that in the past, being a security guard was for old people. But today, when they advertise, you see young people fighting to become a security guard! Then you know that the economy of the country has collapsed and you have a government that advertises that they are looking for maids; they are looking for drivers in the United Arab Emirates, those are jokes! Surely, is that all that Zambia can produce? You want to take a vulnerable demographic to a country where they will be taken advantage of and abused? Where other countries like Kenya are saying we have stopped doing that?” asked Kalaba.

“That’s what happens to a leadership that is in a platonic environment, they are no longer with us! They are living alone. And they can come to your residence and ask for water, when you say you don’t have cold water, they will say ‘what about wine?’ because for them, wine is like water, they can afford it, that’s how they live, they are so comfortable and they forget that 70 per cent of the youths are not employed; the women who are toiling have no access to capital, this country is in a crisis!”