Kalaba Claims Mweetwa Sidelined From Future Dialogue
Opposition leader Harry Kalaba has claimed that President Hakainde Hichilema does not intend to include Information and Media Minister Cornelius Mweetwa in a proposed political parley next year, raising questions about the inclusiveness and purpose of planned dialogue initiatives.
Kalaba said any political engagement aimed at easing tensions and promoting national cohesion must involve all relevant actors. He said excluding certain figures undermines the credibility of dialogue processes and fuels suspicion about their intentions.
According to Kalaba, selective engagement risks reducing dialogue to a symbolic exercise rather than a meaningful platform for addressing national concerns. He said genuine dialogue should be broad-based and structured to allow for frank discussion among political leaders.
Kalaba said the country continues to experience political tension, which requires inclusive engagement to resolve. He said dialogue initiatives must be transparent in design and execution to build trust among stakeholders.
He also questioned the criteria being used to determine participation in the proposed talks. He said clarity was needed on who would be invited, the agenda to be discussed, and how outcomes would be implemented.
Kalaba said dialogue should not be used as a political tool to advance narrow interests. He said it should focus on national issues such as governance, economic management, and democratic accountability.
The opposition leader said past attempts at political dialogue have faltered due to lack of follow-through and perceived bias. He said lessons from those experiences should inform any future engagement.
Kalaba urged authorities to demonstrate commitment to inclusive dialogue by engaging a broad spectrum of political actors. He said this approach would help reduce political tensions and promote stability ahead of the 2026 general elections.
Government officials have previously stated that dialogue remains an important mechanism for addressing political differences. They have said efforts to engage stakeholders are ongoing and guided by national interest.
As debate continues over proposed dialogue initiatives, Kalaba said public confidence would depend on transparency, inclusiveness, and sincerity in implementation.
Ba Kalaba,I am from the opposition and I have never seen your summarised plan of what you would do to turn around our economic fortunes if given power. The same thing that you did when you were given a permit to hold a rally in Linda compound, talking about how ECL was mistreated instead of giving hope to Zambians who are in economic distress right now brought about by the non performing UPND
Celebrations all round when Mweetwa goes
Although he is not the only thorn in the flesh
I am not sorry for you Hon. Kalaba. It is not possible for a brave and intelligent Hon. Mweetwa to waste time arguing with your character, it’s not productive for our economy. The future in Zambian for you does not exist as you have chosen ignorance of reality. It is futile to try to enlighten you when you’re pretending to be knowledgeable.
This man with his CF with false confidence always says i came third in the last elections, but the third was 0.000000 something and even defeated by rejected votes. Work with your colleagues and drop your hopeless ego please
Kalaba has now completely lost his wits. How can he concentrate on talking about the the administration of other parties, instead of concentrating on selling the manifesto of his small party, and on campaigns in chawama constituency. We’re waiting to see how many votes kalaba’s party will get in chawama constituency.
Kalaba, please concentrate on your party not UPND. If anything its opposition parties like yours and PF-then ruling party that made Zambians to end up with a poor performing and always excuse seeking UPND party
People like honourable above are there to entertain us just like mulikeola he has no plan whatsoever to the problems Zambia is going through. Actually, the golden key is with us, the moment one day we wake from believing that having a doctorate degree paper does not solve anything at all and start believing that the real doctorate degree is the ability to solve complex problems Zambia is having the better. Look at the west most of the big names never even finished the college diplomas, why can’t we ask ourselves a simple question like why Zambia is failing even after having millions of graduates?