⛔ EXCLUSIVE | Chawama, Emotion & Politics of Hope
Chawama is voting again. On January 15, residents of the densely populated Lusaka constituency return to the polls following the vacancy left by former MP Tasila Lungu. While the by-election is procedurally routine, its political meaning is not. It is unfolding as a test of expectation, credibility, and how far political language can stretch in a community shaped by deep poverty and long-standing neglect.
On the campaign trail, UPND candidate Morgan Muunda has dominated attention with a highly emotive style. His engagements are intimate and dramatic. At different moments he sits among residents, recounts his personal journey, becomes visibly emotional, and presents himself as the embodiment of possibility.
The message is simple and direct: Chawama can be transformed if it places its trust in him and the governing party.
“I am a big machine,” Muunda told supporters. “The one who built Apex University, isn’t it me? Believe me, I will change Chawama.”
He has pointed to the increase in Constituency Development Fund allocations to K40 million as a decisive tool for rapid development, assuring voters that with full backing from President Hakainde Hichilema, the constituency would become “the envy of the country.”
He has also spoken of employment opportunities for local youths in public institutions, framing his potential election as a gateway to jobs and visibility.
The reception to this message has been enthusiastic. In a constituency where unemployment is high, housing is fragile, drainage is poor, and flooding is recurrent, the language of immediacy resonates. Chawama’s politics is not abstract. It is lived daily in overcrowded homes, informal trading spaces, and disrupted livelihoods.
But the distance between campaign promise and institutional authority remains significant. Members of Parliament do not control recruitment into public broadcasters or the defence forces. CDF, while expanded and more decentralised than before, operates under guidelines that prioritise community infrastructure and social projects rather than individual employment guarantees.
These realities do not negate the appeal of Muunda’s message, but they place it within a narrower operational frame than the rallies suggest.
Beyond the theatre, the by-election is also taking place against a backdrop of policy shifts that have altered the ground in low-income constituencies. Free education has reduced household pressure. Expanded social cash transfers have provided limited but vital support to the poorest families. Increased CDF allocations have brought decision-making closer to communities that were previously peripheral to national development planning.
These changes are incremental, often invisible on campaign stages, but they shape daily life more consistently than slogans.
Chawama’s contest therefore becomes less about personality and more about expectations. Voters are weighing emotional connection against practical delivery, aspiration against institutional constraint. In a community long accustomed to being promised transformation, credibility carries its own weight.
As the January 15 poll approaches, the crowds, chants, and imagery will continue. The campaign language will remain expansive. But once the ballots are cast, the work of governance begins, measured not by the scale of promises but by the slow, unglamorous mechanics of delivery.
That is the choice before Chawama.
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