The CF President said poverty largely contributed to the spectacular loss of the recent by election in Petauke by the UPND even after deploying huge amounts of state financial resources to silence the opposition.

“What happened to Mr. Hichilema’s UPND in Petauke is a classic case of citizens saying ‘we are hungry we can’t vote for you anymore’ it exposes huge cracks in the ruling party and those cracks are based on poverty which is endemic in Zambia today and dissolving the Eastern Province executive will not resolve anything as it will not reduce the cost of mealie meal nor will it help address the fake promises that the UPND and its leader made to the people of Zambia in 2021, said Kalaba.

More than 60pc of Zambian’s are going to bed on empty stomach’s because mealie meal prices are too high, as are prices of fuel and other essential commodities.
“There’s a general hopelessness amongst our people that feel duped by “Mr Bally will Fix it” as he fails to fix anything…Bally has failed, people are waking up, Petauke is the litmus test,” Kalaba said.

The CF President said what will sink Mr Hichilema even faster is his deep desire for vengeance that keeps him from tackling growing poverty which can’t be reduced within a year.

He called on all opposition parties to learn from Petauke, bury personal differences and make a collective decision to bury UPND next year and save Zambians from poverty.