KATELE BERATES SELFISH POLITICIANS

By KETRA KALUNGA POLITICAL leaders must not risk the lives of Zambians just to get into State House, says PF Luapula province campaign coordinator Katele Kalumba. He said political parties would not have to “walk over dead bodies” to ascend to power.Dr Kalumba said political leaders who did not care about the lives of other …

KATELE BERATES SELFISH POLITICIANS
By KETRA KALUNGA POLITICAL leaders must not risk the lives of Zambians just to get into State House, says PF Luapula province campaign coordinator Katele Kalumba. He said political parties would not have to “walk over dead bodies” to ascend to power.Dr Kalumba said political leaders who did not care about the lives of other people should not be given a chance to rule the country.The former finance minister said political leaders who had failed to campaign in small groups were not seasoned politicians because winning an election was not about holding public rallies but having a strategy.He described political leaders who had given a deaf ear to the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) guidance to avoid public rallies in the wake of COVID-19 as having a very statistical sense of power.Dr Kalunba said political leaders must understand that holding public rallies would not create a perception and evaluation of why a political leader stands on issues that concern the people.“It’s not about being in front of large numbers in a football field, that is a cannibal, that is not political, people come to be entertained. I can tell i never had a political rally for my tenure in parliament, but we always won because politics is about strategy,” he said.He urged political leaders to prioritize the lives of Zambians and take the COVID-19 pandemic seriously, especially that Zambia had already recorded the deadliest Indian variant.Dr. Kalumba urged Zambians to be wary of political leaders who have chosen to risk their lives by going against the ECZ guidance to avoid political rallies which are super-spreaders of the COVID-19 virus.“I have seen that President Edgar Lungu has tried as much as possible to avoid contact with people and rallies which is absolutely necessary, we have to learn to do politics in the New Normal,” he said.