DEMOCRATIC Party (DP) president Harry Kalaba says President Edgar Lungu has forgotten the importance of putting his citizens forward that is why he is wining and dining with outsiders.

And Kalaba says artists should get the K30 million which will be provided by the government and compose songs against them.

Speaking when he featured on Live Radio’s live issues, Thursday, Kalaba said Zambians were spectators in their own country.

“If the President takes interest in wining and dining with outsiders the way we saw in today’s (Thursday) News Diggers Newspaper, then he forgets the importance of having his own people go forward. That is why you find that most of these contractors in this country are coming from outside and our own people are just spectators. In the scheme of things that is where the problem is. We don’t have our people, especially the youths doing these projects. When I resigned, people said I was playing politics. They said Kalaba is just power hungry, tell us who is corrupt, today we have seen that our own President is dining wining with contractors if that is not corruption, I don’t know what you can call it,” Kalaba said.

And Kalaba wondered why it was difficult for President Lungu to fire Minister of Health Chitalu Chilufya.

“Today, we have our own Minister of Health appearing before the Anti-corruption Commission with four counts to deal with if that is not corruption, what is it? Previously, just a while ago we had honorable (Ronald) Chitotela appearing before the ACC. I hear he has an acquittal. We are yet to authenticate that acquittal in future. There are several other officials in PF they can’t resign because they have got their hands all over the show, so they can’t. I am not going to point at anybody and that is the stance that I have taken but time has got a way of equalizing issues, time talks and time heals a lot of things. For me, time has vindicated me because those who were saying that there is no corruption… My sister (Emerine) Kabanshi two weeks later was chucked out because of the social cash transfer money,” Kalaba said.

“Kabanshi was fired when they were issues of misapplication at the Ministry of Community Development she was dropped but Chinese Zambia Air Force commander even before the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) complain the President said he was corrupt but the president dropped him even before the DEC moved in but now you have Dr Chitalu Chilufya arrested by the ACC and the president issued a letter that according to an article he is innocent until proven guilty. Why didn’t he use the same method on Chimese and Kabanshi? But these people you were comfortable to fire them. What’s so difficult about firing this person? My colleagues in the PF should learn that our president will do anything to make himself survive politically and he will use anybody as a scapegoat.”

Kalaba said Dr Chilufya had embarrassed himself.

“Dr Chilufya’s name is dented. Even if you put an acquittal. And he has gone in the annals of history that he is the first health minister who was arrested while sitting in that office, it’s a shame. He has embarrassed himself and a lot of people,” he said.

Meanwhile, Kalaba said that the love of the youths by the government was fake.

“The love for the youths is fake. Today government hears the youths are talking, they host meetings at government complex to give youths money and now they say ‘we have K30 million which we are giving the youths’ they have not told us how the youths will access that money, they have not told us what skill they are looking for go fund the youths, they have not told us how provinces will access that money. So for artists, get that money, compose songs against them so that they can learn that these jokes they are trying to advance, time is gone. Because you cannot be taking youths for granted. And this time Zambians have realized that they have been played for too long, what people want is to have an agenda that is going to be pro-youths. The youth themselves want to craft their own agenda because if they craft their own agenda it will be easy,” said Kalaba.

“I was taken aback and realized that the agenda of the youths was no longer there. What is there is an agenda for the foreigners, it is the Chinese that the PF are so interested in, look at the people doing business in this country it is the outsiders, the Lebanese. The ordinary youths themselves do not have anything with the development of this country. I am saying when we form government, we will make sure that the local people, women and youths take the center stage.”