DEMOCRATIC Party leader Harry Kalaba says those who are inside government never feel the wind of change because they are always in the comfort zone. Disagreeing with PF officials who say there is no wind of change, Mr Kalaba, who is former Minister of Foreign Affairs, says it is not those who are in office who can determine whether there is a wind of change or not.

KALABA: “People are very annoyed! People are not only hungry, they are also angry! Even MMD had the same argument. If you remember in 2011, MMD didn’t feel the wind of change, but it is the people who decide the wind of change. It is not you who is in office who can determine whether there is wind of change or not. In 1990, 1991, Dr Kaunda and my own father, who were UNIP leaders, didn’t feel the wind of change because they were right inside, but the people felt the wind of change! It is the people who determine that there should be change. If that guy (Mukupa), whatever you call him, said, ‘there is no wind of change,’ let him wait for 12th August. People want change and there will be change this year. There will be change of government this year.”

Firstly, it must be observed that, just like the wind of change cannot be decided by those who are in the ruling party, it cannot also be decided by those who are in the opposition. When an opposition leader says there will be change of government this year, it is not different from a PF official saying there is no wind of change. Both are interested parties who speak from a point of personal interest. The wind of change can only be caused by the ordinary voters on the streets. And that is where the problem lies.

It is folly for anyone to rule out the PF’s chances of winning the next elections, be it with the ineligible candidate who is currently in State House or any other person the party may adopt. It is our considered view that there is a bit of work that still needs to be done before anyone can say we will not be seeing the thugs in green manning bus stations and markets. Wishing for the PF to lose is different from having them lose.

Why are we saying this? The strange truth about the voting pattern in Zambia is that the most vulnerable people are the ones that still vote for the party in power. Those who survive on social cash transfer and those who cannot afford three square meals a day are the ones who vote along with the corrupt and tenderpreneurs. The youths who are jobless and have given their lives to carderism, are the ones who vote for money and material stuff. This is why you see the ruling party continues to win by-elections.

We are not here to insult the integrity of the suffering masses, we are only stating facts as they are. Our people have lost hope, they don’t believe in decent politics, politics of ideology anymore. They don’t believe so much in making wise electoral choices, they don’t believe in promises. All they want is instant satisfaction, instant gratification. They want to eat something at least. This is why some of our voters have already sold their voters cards.

Meanwhile, the corrupt and their accomplices are going in overdrive mobilising funds to maintain their hold on power. They are going out of their way to make sure that they don’t give the opposition any chance to campaign or to do the same things they are doing. Everyone in the ruling party is working to preserve their interest.

But we are not seeing too much of the same effort from the opposition. Most of our opposition leaders are working with faith and hope. When they look at the number of negative comments on Facebook targeted at PF, they get the satisfaction that there is a wind of change – meanwhile they are losing by-elections.

In our view, there is a lot of work that needs to be done in order to see regime change in August. Unless the opposition comes up with good strategies that can outsmart the PF, unless the opposition leaders realise that the people of Zambia don’t care about good or bad politicians anymore, unless they hit the ground now, there will be no regime change.