In our political discourse which is always never short of drama; one of the highlights of the previous week is obviously the ‘transition’ of former Catholic priest, Frank Bwalya from his brief retirement from politics to the ruling, United Party for National Development. This occurred during the official opening of the party’s National Secretariat graced by no other than the Republican president, Hakainde Hichilema!
Although this latest development has been warmly welcomed by some within and outside the party, others haven’t been so kind in describing his next political expedition. “Njala yamunyokola! He’s a political prostitute! This man used to disparage the president not so long ago….” You hear them complain to the heavens!
What do we make of this?
Bane….. it’s not said politics creates strange bedfellows for nothing. There’re no permanent friends or enemies in politics, they say. Only an armature in politics would choose to completely insulate themselves from this reality!
There are always a few lessons that those misguided individuals making noise in the blogs can learn from this. During the time of MMD in power, Willie Nsanda, a hefty individual with gigantic hands, once stormed Radio Icengelo where opposition Patriotic Front party leader, Micheal Sata, was featuring on a live interview, roughed him up and tore up his woolen jacket……not some cheap cotton material from Kamwala!
What followed next? In a matter of time, Nsanda ended up not only being a closest confidant of the King Cobra, but one of the ‘gate keepers’ at State House as well! We can cite another interesting example. If we may give another example; when Sata was breathing heavily on President Rupiah Banda neck on his quest to take over from him, his Home Affairs Minister, Lameck Mangani, assured him he had gathered enough evidence Sata was a foreigner and that the police would be arresting him soon. Of course, that was just a question of hot air as Mangani would eventually fell out of favour with his boss. What happened next? He ended up being one of the party stalwarts in Sata’s party and a Minister for that matter!
Why are we saying all this?
Ignore Bwalya at your own peril as the ex priest is a warrior……a mover and shaker, an effective mobiliser, a great communicator, spin doctor at heart…..a frontline person! Which political party wouldn’t want to have such an asset within their ranks? Ba UPND, please embrace Bwalya.
At a time when the opposition has gone full throttle spewing propaganda aimed at painting a negative image of the President and his government; UPND urgently needs someone with the calibre of Bwalya not only to quench off the fire or diffuse propaganda, but mobilising party support as well.
Bwalya says he’s joining UPND to work; this is the man who is not afraid to feature on live or phone-in programmes; deploy him to the Copperbelt and the Northern regions to explain party policies, let him venture into the shanties to mobilise support. One other added advantage is that the former priest has been a PF member and has also briefly flirted with the Socialist party before; he therefore knows their weaknesses and where to hit them where it hurts the most!
Welcome aboard a Walya, as the Easterners would say.
Prince Bill M. Kaping’a
Political/Social Analyst
Ba Prince, no amount of reasoning will justify putting up a show in welcoming chaff like Mr. Frank Bwalya into UPND.
You talk of Mr. Willie Nsanda, what calibre was he? Was he someone you would want to associate with? You rightly say he was a thug (he tore Mr. Sata’s jacket at Chengelo Radio Station by your own admission) and he brought this violent conduct from MMD into PF.
If you feel comfortable with defectors, then be prepared for UPND acquiring the character of the same defectors. MMD was destroyed by defectors and so was PF. If defections are the measure of the UPND SG’s success, then the ruling party will soon lose its identity.
Unprincipled defectors must not be regarded as heroes. I have more respect for Mr. Kampyongo than Mr. Bwalya. Inspite of being such a disagreeable and abnoxious man, he has remained loyal to the notorious PF. That is what a gentleman does.
Mr. Bwalya is a spineless worm whose god is his stomach. Next, UPND will be welcoming Mr. Kambwili into its ranks.
It is not just about numbers, quality also matters.
JMC, I agree with you 100%. Bwalya has tasted a bit of power. Therefore, he wants to worm his way into power again.
If you said an unstable warrior who moves with the wind, I would probably agree.
UPND must be very careful with some of these defectors. It is possible that some of them are being planted by their parties to spy on the activities of the UPND. In the same way that UPND planted Kambwili in PF. Finally, why was Shelyne Musonda’s defection turned down by UPND only to accept that of the worse Frank Bwalya?
Voice of America said it to his face. Father Bwalya practices politics of the stomach because he is hungry and jobless. He may have been right about the Socialist Party, when he realised that Party is centered around one man(aka Animal Farm).
He should just leave his wife and go back to the Celibacy of the Catholic Church, as he has failed at everything he has attempted thereafter.
Vakanga vamuchalo….one doesnt have to go into every party to know that some of these parties are not going anywhere. In 2021 he didnt know that UPND had the best options for Zambians?
Frank Bwalya is a confirmed lunatic. Your boy friend Mm’embe had no use for you.
Bwalya is a nincompoop and we will embrace him as such.