Democratic president Harry Kalaba says the only way to stop the unprecedented levels of corruption being witnessed under the PF rule is to kick them out in 2021.

And Kalaba says government should take full responsibility of the acid spillage at Konkola Copper Mines which left about 40 employees and hundreds of people, including pupils, hospitalized after inhaling the toxic gas.

Speaking on Kariba FM in Siavonga, Friday, Kalaba said the PF had destroyed the country.

“Never in the history of this country have we seen corruption as it is now existing in the PF government. These ones I don’t even think in the future that there will be a regime that will beat this government in terms of being corrupt. These ones I give them a medal and I remove a hat for them. If you seen them insisting on something, then there is a kick back they are getting and they have destroyed our very moral fiber of this country. They have destroyed it completely! If we give them ideas, it will not work because they are not interested in those ideas. We need to baptize them, we need to remove that demon of corruption from the PF, but that demon, we can only remove it in 2021 once we kick out that demon from their heads and we bring DP then we will know that Zambia has a chance to develop,” Kalaba said.

“Right now if we make a mistake in 2021, if you make a mistake in 2021 of entertaining that nightmare of allowing the PF staying in government, let’s us not allow it. The youths, don’t allow it, the elders, don’t allow it, the women, don’t allow it. This is the time to hold hands and say ‘we have seen enough and we can’t go on’. Right now, it may seem that have the country on paper but we don’t have the country, we don’t have the leadership. That is the crisis of this generation. Zambians are fatigued with current regime and I think Zambians have the choice to try something new and that something new is in the Democratic Party. Then they would see the future with a lot of hope. We have had enough of violence in the country partly because of politics and it is high time we put an end to this violence. Under my leadership we will not tolerate cadres taking the role of the police. Corruption in the PF can only reduce if we kicked them out of power in 2021. We have seen the most expensive projects proceed in this government.”

And Kalaba said government should take full responsibility of the acid spillage at KCM.

“Very sad development KCM has released Sulphur dioxide and from what I have just read, over 200 people are affected. It is a very sad development. I think we will require government to take full responsibility of this matter. This are very serious issue! Over 45 children are affected, schools are getting closed. Suphlur dioxide is very toxic! It will go into our water, it will affect a lot of things. Is this why government was saying the want to liquidate because they knew they had this trick of doing a thing like that? It’s very sad. Whatever has happened is very retrogressive, we should not tolerate it at all. I feel for the people of Chingola; I feel for the houses around KCM that are affected with this catastrophic event that has taken place very sad development,” he said.

Meanwhile, speaking on Modern Voice Radio in Chirundu the same day, Kalaba lamented that PF officials were only interested in kickbacks.

“The President has done enough harm in the last years he has been President. He needs to give chance to people like Harry Kalaba. So corruption has continued to go high. You know that digital migration we should have only paid $50 million, Multichoice had offered $50 million; the government went to China and borrowed $270 million. Where have you seen that? Someone is selling you a bag of mealie meal at K50 and then you say ‘no I am going to borrow money from my neighbor K400 so that I can buy that expensive bag which is costing K350’, are we reading from the same page? There is something wrong there! Look at the refurbishing of the Maina Soko Hospital. The way we are using this money which we don’t have is not right,” said Kalaba.

“I need leaders of like mind to come together, I need leaders like me, people who are not after material wealth. I need leaders who are upright. So even if you give them ideas, these people (PF) they will still go and buy the Presidential Jet, especially when you show them where the money is. My job as Foreign Affairs Minister was to go and look for money so that it is distributed along the line ministry. What were they doing? They go and procure the jet, they are building an airport in Lusaka, before it is finished, you announce that you are building another one in Ndola. Even before you go finished that one, you are building another one in Mfuwe just because you want to get kickbacks.”