I won’t quit as MP - Kalaba
I HAVE no intentions of relinquishing my position as Bahati Member of Parliament because the people in my constituency have not asked me to resign, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Harry Kalaba has said.
Patriotic Front (PF) Luapula Province women have asked Mr Kalaba to quit as Bahati MP because he is an absentee MP who has failed to develop the constituency.
And Luapula PF provincial women’s chairlady Mary Nkandu said Mr Kalaba’s resignation will not in any way shake the party because he wielded no influence.
Speaking on behalf of other PF women in the province, Ms Nkandu told the former minister to resign, alleging that the “absentee MP’ was spending more time on petty issues at the expense of developing the constituency.
Ms Nkandu, who is one of the longest serving provincial women leaders in Zambia and resident of Bahati constituency, said Mr Kalaba’s resignation as minister was not enough since he was still MP.
However, Mr Kalaba said the people of Bahati were the ones who voted for him in 2016 and that his term of offices ends in 2021.
In an interview, Mr Kalaba said that the Zambia constitution was amended in 2015 to avoid any unnecessary expenditure of resources on issues that could be avoided.
“As for Bahati constituency, I was elected in 2016 to serve the people of Bahati up to 2021 and when the constitution was amended it was to avoid any unnecessary expenditure of resources on issues,” he said.
The former minister said he remained indebted to President Lungu for giving him an oppor- tunity to serve as Foreign Affairs minister a position that was so special in several aspects.
“This is the position I cherished and honoured but there comes a time in the life of a person that the greater good supersedes the individual persuasions,” he said.
Meanwhile special assistant to the president for press and public relations Amos Chanda has confirmed receiving Mr Kalaba’s letter of resignation and that it was delivered at 19:48 hours on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Ms Nkandu, who was elected to her current position in 2006 has assured the PF Central Committee that the party was intact and supported President Lungu.
She explained that Mr Kalaba’s resignation had not in any way shaken the party in the Province because he (Kalaba) wielded no influence.
Ms Nkandu said the party in the area had resolved to rally behind President Lungu’s leadership ahead of the party convention.
“We are 100 percent behind President Lungu. He has done a lot for Luapula and even our women here are so happy. We are unshaken by Kalaba’s resignation. It’s nothing and has no impact on anybody including Bahati,” she said.
Mr Kalaba was, however, not available for a comment as his mobile phone was off.
And Luapula province PF secretary Francis Musunga has charged that there is no leadership vacuum left by Harry Kalaba because he had no respect for party work.
Mr Musunga said Kalaba’s uncalled for behaviour led to his removal from the position of provincial information and publicity secretary in October last year.
He said Mr Kalaba was a perpetual absentee from party work so his resignation as Foreign Affairs minister on Tuesday was not a blow on PF.