CONTEXT | Mwila Opens New Front As PF Convention Tensions Mount
Internal tensions in the Patriotic Front have entered a new and dangerous phase. Former Secretary General Davies Mwila has rejected the appointment of Dr Chitalu Chilufya and Chanda Katotombwe as Members of the Central Committee, calling the move unconstitutional and accusing Acting President Given Lubinda of abusing his temporary authority.
The confrontation has exposed deeper fractures inside the party only days before the general conference where PF is expected to elect a new leader.
Mwila delivered his statement this morning with the force of a seasoned party enforcer. He reminded members that the PF constitution requires all MCC appointments to pass through the National Executive Committee before ratification by the Central Committee.
He said Lubinda bypassed these checks, rendering the appointments “null and void”. His tone carried a clear warning to Lubinda that the party is watching every move ahead of the leadership vote.
He also called on National Chairman Musonda Mpankata to “take charge” as mandated by the PF Constitution. Mwila said Mpankata must preside over all processes leading to the General Conference because the party cannot afford procedural breaches at a moment that will define its future.
Mwila demanded that all aspirants relinquish their positions to maintain a level playing field as required in internal elections.
The timing of this clash is not innocent. Mwila is a key figure inside the Mundubile camp, and the sentiment within that group is that Lubinda is using his acting role to tilt the internal chessboard.
Mundubile’s supporters believe Lubinda is quietly consolidating influence inside the Central Committee to soften the ground for his own candidacy. They see the Chilufya and Katotombwe appointments as part of that manoeuvre.
The friction reveals two long-standing PF weaknesses. First, the reliance on personality power rather than institutional discipline. Second, a tradition of factional politics where loyalty is often transactional.
PF has always operated with competing power blocs, but factions were managed when the party held state power. Once the party lost the 2021 election, those factions grew teeth. The current leadership vacuum has made them uncontrollable.
This crisis is also a reminder of PF’s political history. In 2011, when the party took power, it destabilised the MMD with speed and precision because it understood one rule: a defeated party must close ranks or perish. PF failed to follow that same rule after losing in 2021. Instead of immediately managing succession, they delayed. Instead of insulating the party from external infiltration, they opened cracks that opponents could exploit.
Today those cracks are wide enough to swallow the entire convention.
The Chabinga factor has also weakened the party. Last week he told PF MPs that if they refused to cooperate with him, they should “not cry next year” because adoption certificates would come from him and Morgan Ng’ona. He reminded them that his court order remains in force.
PF downplays him, but delegates know that Chabinga controls legal levers that can disrupt the convention, derail adoptions and throw the party into prolonged legal paralysis. It is not surprising that some PF members now believe UPND is using the Chabinga ruling as a political advantage.
Lubinda’s own warnings to UPND have raised eyebrows. On Monday, he told the ruling party to “fix the secretariat or face us”. But critics note the contradiction. PF often says the courts are compromised, yet it is the same courts they rush to each time a factional dispute emerges.
One of our politically sharp readers put it bluntly: “These cases will be adjourned until next year July.” It sounds like sarcasm, but the PF legal roadmap has been unpredictable for months. That possibility cannot be dismissed.
PF insiders admit that greed, bought loyalty and paid allegiances are dimming the party’s prospects. Delegates say everyone wants to be president. Others are rumoured to be planning to register their own parties if they lose at the convention.
These dynamics make the PF convention not just a leadership contest but a battlefield of personal ambitions. A divided PF is a gift to the ruling party. The longer the confusion continues, the easier it becomes for the UPND to dominate 2026.
The PF convention hangs in the balance. Procedures are disputed. Loyalties are shifting. Factions are sharpening their lines. Today’s clash between Mwila and Lubinda is not the last. It is only the latest tremor in a party struggling to define itself before voters define it for them.
If PF cannot restore order in its own house, how will it convince the country it is ready to govern again?
© The People’s Brief | CONTEXT