Harry Kalaba Apologises To Guy Scott and Discusses Tribalism

Prior to the January 2015 presidential election that ushered Edgar Lungu into the presidency, Kalaba massively criticised Dr Scott, who was acting President.

Dr Scott was seemingly against Lungu’s presidency while Kalaba was profoundly in favour.

“Dr Guy Scott is a man I love and respect. [But] in all fairness, he did something that was not in his powers – he wanted to insist on something that wasn’t for the good of the party. But even though he was trying to do that, I don’t think I had the right to act and react in the manner I did. I tendered in [an apology] unreservedly that I didn’t have the right…I apologised the very next day; he was acting President. I take time to do an introspection and I realised that I didn’t act honourably and the first thing I did in the morning, I picked up a phone and called Dr Scott and told him ‘sir, I think I wasn’t right, even as much as you also weren’t right, I was not right to react to you in the manner I did.’ He said ‘Ah! Harry, come on! Forget it, it has passed.’ That is Dr Scott,”

And Kalaba wondered why tribalism now seemed to be highly projected in Zambia when the country was built on values of unity across tribes.

“We are not as divided as our politics suggest. This is a country where we saw it happen that Fines Bulawayo would be sent to a province where he did not come from, Azwell Mwale would also go to another province where he didn’t come from. Why are we encouraging tribalism [now]? Does it even matter where I come from? Everything in this country is boiling down to politics. Let us begin insisting on what brings us together rather than what it divides us,”.

Kalaba said Zambia wouldn’t be independent today had it been built on tribal lines.

“If this country was built on those values [of tribalism], we would never have gotten our independence. In this country we rise and fall as one people. Zambia will only develop if other parts of the country are developing…In the Constitution, there is always the provision of nominated ministers and members of parliament to Parliament – it is to balance that [tribal] divide and not to balance my insecurity. It is to balance the tribal divide so that each one of us feels represented in Cabinet,” said Kalaba.