GARRY NKOMBO’S POLITICS OF ENTITLEMENT:
Why Leadership Requires Gratitude and Service to the People, Not Ego
By WISEMAN HENRY ZULU
Garry Nkombo’s resignation from the UPND has exposed a political contradiction that the people of Mazabuka Central, and indeed many well-meaning Zambians, can no longer ignore.
His conduct suggests a preference for position over service and ambition over loyalty.
At the centre of the matter is a simple question: How does a leader who once pledged unwavering loyalty to President Hakainde Hichilema and the UPND turn against the very structure that sustained his political career for two decades simply because he failed to secure adoption as a parliamentary candidate?
After being removed as Minister of Local Government and Rural Development and later relieved of his position as UPND Chairman for Politics and Elections, Nkombo publicly thanked President Hichilema and pledged continued loyalty to both the President and the party. Today, that posture has shifted dramatically following his exclusion from the Mazabuka Central adoption list.
This sudden reversal has led many to conclude that his resignation is driven less by principle and more by personal political disappointment.
The people of Mazabuka have not changed. President Hakainde Hichilema has not changed. The UPND has not changed. What has changed is Garry Nkombo’s political position.
For 20 years, Nkombo presented himself as one of President Hichilema’s most loyal lieutenants. He preached party unity, defended the leadership, and projected himself as a committed servant of the UPND cause.
Yet his political record tells a different story.
Before joining the UPND, he lost elections under the MMD in 1998 and the FDD in 2001. His political breakthrough came only after joining the UPND in 2006, by which time President Hakainde Hichilema had already assumed leadership of the party.
The UPND adopted him four times, kept him in Parliament for two decades, elevated him into senior leadership positions, and entrusted him with Cabinet responsibilities.
These are not the actions of a party that neglected or rejected him. They are the actions of a party that repeatedly invested confidence and trust in him.
While Nkombo’s role in the 2021 election campaign is often highlighted, history must be placed in its proper context. The UPND’s victory was the result of collective effort by party members across the country and millions of Zambians who placed their trust in the leadership of President Hakainde Hichilema.
President Hichilema endured years of political persecution, arrests, and relentless opposition politics while building the UPND into a formidable national force.
To suggest that Garry Nkombo made Hakainde Hichilema politically relevant in 2021 is to distort that history.
The reality is quite the opposite:
The UPND made Garry Nkombo politically relevant.
That is why his current conduct has generated concern among many party members and supporters.
A clear pattern has emerged. Nkombo appears aligned and effective when in office but becomes oppositional when without a position in the party or government. Whether fair or unfair, that perception is increasingly shaping public opinion about his political character.
His conduct raises a deeper concern. A leader who functions only when occupying office risks placing personal ambition above public service.
His long-standing association with senior PF figures, including Kaizer Zulu and the late President Edgar Lungu, has further fuelled questions about his political consistency and long-term loyalties.
Some people in Mazabuka have alleged that Nkombo intends to hold a meeting at which UPND party regalia is expected to be publicly burnt.
While these claims remain unconfirmed, the allegations themselves reflect the intensity of the political fallout surrounding his departure and have reinforced perceptions among his critics of a leadership style driven more by ego, bitterness and resentment than party loyalty, discipline and service to the people of Zambia.
Should such actions occur, they would raise serious questions about respect for an organisation that sustained his political career for two decades.
In contrast, President Hakainde Hichilema has maintained restraint and party discipline, allowing democratic processes to take their course while demonstrating a leadership style grounded in loyalty, patience and institutional respect.
Ultimately, Garry Nkombo’s political legacy may not be defined by his role in the 2021 campaign. It may instead be defined by how he responded when the party that carried him for 20 years made a decision he did not like by denying him adoption for the 2026 parliamentary race.
By walking away at the very moment he was denied adoption, Nkombo has reinforced the perception that his commitment to the party was conditional on personal advancement.
Nkombo has now demonstrated to the UPND leadership and many Zambians that he cannot easily be trusted with greater responsibility.
His actions suggest a preference for position over service and ambition over loyalty. That is the real political test his journey now faces.
ENDS
07/06/2026
WISEMAN HENRY ZULU
Director – Digital Media
UPND Media/Presidential Support System
Sorry Mr. Wiseman, your analysis is not balanced. Hon Nkhombo was ditched before he ditched UPND. I am neither a UPND supporter nor Mr. Nkhombo’s surpoter, nor a supporter of any other party. I am just an ordinary voter. What I know is that over the 20 years to 2021 I knew 4 people who really worked for the UPND in parliament: Garry Nkhombo, Douglas Siakalima, Jack Mwimbu and Cornelius Mweetwa (not necessarily in that order). To suggest that Mr. Nkhombo was just nurtured, nurtured and nurtured by the UPND is not true. KK used to dump someone by giving them a very junior post in the party and allow them to rise again. The reaction of Mr. Nkhombo to the way he was dumped and stripped of everything (just because of voting against bill 10, a possible facilitator for a third term attempt) is a natural reaction of a normal human being under the circumstances. do not announce the burning of regalia, which burning is only in your head. This is a misuse of media, which is so rampant.