Kalaba has pointed out that Zambia had become an economic shell because “we are refusing to give a chance to our citizens”.
“What kind of a country is this which cannot have [an indigenous] billionaire? We are just good at eulogising other people…That’s why I say ‘Zambians, this is your country and you have to start rising up and reclaim it.’ I did my part and you can only do so much. Ine nalifye foreign affairs minister (I was a mere foreign affairs minister) and that is why when I realised that the position that I had was not helping to change certain positions, I resigned. I have always been pro-Zambia,” he said.
“People are saying Kalaba is doing this and that only for politics; the usual kind of talk in this country [where] somebody who wants to do things the right way [is demonised]. People start saying ‘no, he is just doing politics, he will not go far because his political career is ending,’ let it end! What is wrong with a political career ending? It’s okay.”
Meanwhile, Kalaba, who was accompanied to Kitwe by former deputy High Commissioner to Canada Nedson Nzowa and former presidential affairs minister in Levy Mwanawasa’s government Cecil Holmes, lamented that the current economic state of the Copperbelt was far below the thriving one that offered decent jobs to citizens years back.
“When you remember the old Copperbelt, everybody was dreaming of being on the Copperbelt. This was the place…We had people coming from Chipata, Western Province and everywhere you can think of, coming to work here because money was here on the Copperbelt. This was the heart and it has still remained the heart of this country. However, a lot of things have happened on the Copperbelt, partly because we have had politicians that have played a lot of politics instead of providing leadership. You find that now there is even outsourcing of labour in the mines. This is a big difference from how we have known the Copperbelt. The Copperbelt is now becoming a shell of itself – there has to be a new departure of how we should look at the Copperbelt; it needs to be transformed,” he said.
Kalaba further indicated that failure to entrust Zambian companies with contracts to deliver goods and services to mining firms in the province had worsened financial despondency among the people.
“When you talk about the mines themselves, who is supplying them with explosives today? Who is removing the water from the mines? We have taken foreigners to do those things for us and once you do that, the money is not remaining in this economy but it is being externalised. So, there must be a regulation around that framework to ensure that we have the right regulations in place to protect our people – that has not happened, unfortunately. We are forgetting that copper is a wasting asset. What is wrong with setting up industries here in Kitwe, which industries will add value to copper? What is wrong with setting up industries ku Chingola, ku Luanshya, which will add value to copper? If we could do that, despite the fact that copper is depleting, it could help the Copperbelt be the real old Copperbelt, unlike the shell it is today,” said Kalaba.
“What is happening now is that our people are losing employment everyday because the people we have given to run our mines have not come here for charity – they came here to make profits. When mine owners do not realise their projected millions of money, our people get retrenched and they go on the street and start suffering. If there is a place where people are dying because of depression nikuno ku Copperbelt (it’s here on the Copperbelt)! People are dying a lot because of stress – they are used to working!”
Read this article from the original source: Kalaba: Zambia Has Become An Economic Shell.