By Anonymous
Fred feared an HH presidency shatters his presidential dream and wanted to knock out UPND Presidential candidate Hakainde Hichilema in the 2021 elections in order to stand the best chance of defeating the PF in 2026, reeling from a huge split over the successor to Edgar Lungu both as party and eventually republican president.
Throughout the election cycle, Dr M’membe and the Mast newspaper which reflects the political thinking of his Socialist Party boasted that the Socialists would spring a huge surprise on Zambians on a scale only parrallled to the movement in France which swept Emmanuel Macro to power. They were joined by former UNZA lecturer, Dr Sishuwa Sishuwa who predicted a strong showing for the Socialists in Dr M’ M’embe’s maternal homeland ( Western Province) and in few constituencies in Lusaka, by implication , Kanyama and Kabwata ( Dr Sishuwa did not predict a M’membe presidential victory).
It was against this background that Dr M’membe anchored his 2026 election campaign. On billboards, in the print and electronic media, Dr M’embe’s unresonating message was : ” Don’t vote for a 5 times loser, don’t vote for a businessman, the poor should vote to rule themselves, so on and so forth. This was a big blunder because it underestimated the masses’ thirsty for change of government and their conviction that only HH had demonstrated capacity to uproot President Lungu and the PF, having come within the striking range of doing so in 2015 and 2016. M’embe also failed or pretended not to understand that most Zambians were convinced that HH’s victorues in 2015 and 2016 were stolen by the PF and hence their resolve to turn out in large numbers to vote to pre- empty any cheating.
Even the top structure of PF party shows it was designed to stamp out the UPND in Barotseland: M’membe himself, his first vice president Dr Cosmas Musumali and his second deputy vice President Dr Ngenda are all from Barotseland. This is a similar strategy then then Opposition UNIP President used to counteract Humphey Mulemba’s National Party in Barotseland in the period 1994- 1998. Since Mulemba’s vice president and National Chairman, Daniel Lisulo and Arthur Wina were Lozi, Kaunda also appointed Senior Chief Inyambo Yeta and General Malimba Masheke as UNIP vice- President and National Chairman, respectively. The rest is history, despite huge resources mobilised from socialist and communist countries and parties, M’membe lost.
Below: Fred Mmembe wails at First President Dr Kenneth Kaunda’s funeral.