Long Court Process Forces Harry Kalaba to resigns from the Party he founded to Form a New Political Party

Opposition Democratic Party (DP) President Harry Kalaba has resigned from the party. Mr. Kalaba said that this is due to the delayed court process over the fight for the party’s Presidency.

Mr Kalaba said that he will register a new political party himself with the Registrar of Societies and launch it soon, adding that the launch of the new political party will ensure it lays ground ahead of the 2026 General election.

Speaking during a media briefing at his residence in Lusaka today, Mr Kalaba said the party will also be open to new membership.

Below is the full statement of his announcement

Introduction:

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for taking the time to attend todays’ Press briefing that has been long overdue. As you all know, five years ago, I made a decision to take my fight for humanity to the next level as I felt that life could not be good for me if it was not good for the majority of citizens.

I have every conviction that what makes Zambia lag behind her peers is its failure to pursue a pro poor agenda that is predicated on raising the standard of living of the majority of Zambians. When President Michael Chilufya Sata called me to join the PF, I saw in him a genuine passion and desire to liberate the people of Zambia.without any hesitation, I joined him in his pursuit to ushering in a Pro-poor movement that culminated in the PF winning elections in 2011 and ushering in a pro-poor government. Following President Sata’s election as the country’s 5th President, we did not just embark on delivering unprecedented infrastructure development but also made adjustements to the Pay As You Earn to ensure that it was more accommodating to the poor and less priviledged. His stand on corruption and abuse of office, made MCS not just an attractive leader to work with but also helped Zambia to be a preferred country to invest especially from those who sought to make a difference in peoples lives. The evidence of what we set off to do under MCS’s leadership can be seen today by the number of schools and health posts and hospitals that where built over a 10 year period. Traveling across provinces and countries is easier today because we ushered in a pro poor government that got down to work and addressed the needs of the majority poor in Zambia.

Ten years later, the UPND government was ushered into office and what was their first AGENDA:
i. “Handover the Nation to the Rich and Powerful”
ii. Develop a system that makes the rich richer and the poor poorer
iii. Give concessions to mining houses so that the nation become more dependent on foreign interest
iv. Ignore conventional wisdom and follow what the rich tell you no matter how much it affects the citizens
v. Take away subsidies from the citizens and give it to foreign firms
vi. Take the credit for all good things and blame all the bad things on PF

The challenges the country has had to contend with over the last ten (10) months has given me great conviction that we need to start making the necessary preparations to build a coalition of people and parties that share the passion for a prospersous Zambia that is concerned about the welfare of Zambians. Now is the time to start building linkages that will in 2026 rid this nation of a self serving leadership that prides in making the poor poorer and the rich richer. Now is the time to start the process of giving back the nation to the majority Zambians who were deceived in 2021 and settled for a fraud.
Rule of Law

Whereas the President would like us to believe that he is the best thing that ever happened to this country and that he has levelled the political playing field, his fear of the ineveitable in 2026 has made him so apprehensive to the point that he is even scared of his own shadow. When we last held a Press Briefing and told the nation that the President was the sponsor of the infighting in the DP, people turned up against us and asked us to provide evidence of the same. As fate would have it, KBN Televison made their scoup public in the form of a recording of two senior government officials – the Special Assistant to the President for Politics Mr. Levy Ngoma and the Premanent Secretary for Home Affairs and Internal Security Mr. Josephs Akafumba. That reveletion alone was enough to vindicate us and to show the world that indeed the President has been meddling in the internal affairs of opposition parties. When we engaged the international community over the revelation, they could not help but liken it to the Watergate Scandal but the President opted for total silence knowing very well that the incriminating words that where uttered by his Special Assistance were uttered with his permission.

Feudal Leadership

As a politician, I have sought to drive equity, level the playing field and pursue a non violent political discourse. It is therefore unacceptable for me and indeed well meaning citizens to sit back and watch the very things we condemned in the Past government taking root under the New Dawn government. Under this government that claims to uphold the rule of law, we have seen people being arrested for expressing their freedom of speech. We have seen Hon. Mumbi Phiri being locked up for over 140 days without being taken to court. We have seen Hon. Nakachinda, Mr. Chilufya Tayali and many more suffer at the hands of a government that claims to be a pioneer of freedom of movement and association. While on the one hand Zambians are struggling and can hardly make ends meet, the New Dawn government is being supported by a strong international PR functionary that is aimed at projecting it as the government of the people when in fact it is a feudal leadership, a woolf seeking to squeeze itself in a sheep’s skin.

A leadership that is kin on creating deals through its offshore linkages as opposed to dealing with the inadequacy in the country’s social services. A leadership that does not understand that the value of a leader is in his ability to honor his or her word.

Ladies and Gentlemen;

I want to serve warning to those who seek to exploit Zambia’s resources through the imposition of a puppet government. Enough is enough. It is a shame for former statesmen to hide behind foundations while they facilitate the pillaging of African resources. I want to call upon those former African leaders who are being used as urgents of confusion on the continent of Africa to desist from such devisive activities. While you pretend to be supporting democracy on the continent, the puppet master you have put in office is busy seeking to destroy internal democracy. How do you explain a President who appoints Joesphs Akafumba a man who become prominent after creating confusion in the NDC to be a Permanent Secretary and even giving him the Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Security? A sensitive ministry for a traitor. How does a President who believes in democracy make it his preoccupation to destroy opposition leaders and their parties?

How does a President who believes in internal democracy send the police after a television station for exposing an audio recording of his Permanent Secretary and Special Assistant planning to frustrate and stiffle an opposition leader? Is this the Democracy their Foundation seeks to promote or may be it is just a façade that is used as a basis of siphoning mineral wealth from unsuspecting Africans?

Ladys and Gentlemen

I will not stand by and watch while things deteriorate in Zambia neither will I stand by and let the lengthy and protracted legal process stand in the way of my pursuing a cause for a better Zambia. It is clear that they are forces at play seeking to frustrate our cause for the economic emancipation of Zambia. Theirs is an agenda to keep us perpertually dependent on foreign interests even for things that we can handle internally.

Therefore, after serious reflection and prayerful introspection, I have made a decision to resign my position as President of the Democratic Party and indeed from the Democratic Party itself. A party that I have over the past five years helped to build having lifted it from a dormant state to participating in the 2021 General Elections and fielding candidates across all the 10 provinces. Subsequent to my resignation, from the DP, we are now proceeding to lodge in an application for the formation of another party.

As you may be aware, this decision has been necessitated by the delay in the disposal of the ongoing case in the Courts of Law. While I am optimistic about the future of our Judiciary, I am concerned by the manner in which our case has been handled and for this reason I have decided to step out and start the task of preparing to participate in the 2026 General Election. Allow me to serve notice to our detractors. There’s No Stopping Us Now!!! This train is moving in full motion. For those who believe in the cause of a Zambia that represents the need of Zambians, to you who believe that we were lied to last year and therefore need to put an end to the lies in 2026, to you the youths who believe that Zambia deserves to be an economic hub of the region going by the many natural resources the country is endowed with, I urge you to join me and lets start working together so that we build a movement that will take back power from self-serving imperialists.

Join me as we embark on this journey to transform Zambia. A journey that seeks to give back Zambia to the Zambians and not the rich who want to pilage the wealth of the nation and shelve it in their offshore accounts in some tax havens.

To my friends and family I want to say thank you.

Finally, let me also appreciate you the Fourth Estate for standing by the truth. I trust as we embark on this journey we will provide you with information to share with the nation and the international community. More importantly, we ask you to be a part of the cause for a better and prosperous Zambia.

God Bless You and God Bless Zambia
Harry Kalaba
2026 Presidential Candidate