KWACHA-LESS BONANZA; THE CASE OF BEING FOREWARNED
By Veteran Journalist GEORGE CHOMBA
Listening to former Foreign Affairs Minister Joseph Malanji boast about retaining Kwacha Parliamentary seat without campaigning reminds some of us of the English fantasy story of the race between the Rabbit and the Tortoise.
For the uninterested in politics and are unaware of what has happened to the man popularly known as Bonanza, Mr Malanji is no longer a law maker, or simply Kwacha-less of the constituency.
The Constitutional Court has upheld the High Court ruling that Mr Malanji lacks a Grade 12 certificate, which is one of the qualifications required to contest a Parliamentary election.
But like in the aftermath of High Court ruling, the former Kwacha law maker has maintained that he possesses the academic qualification and he is assured of being picked as the candidate on the Patriotic Front ticket.
This therefore brings to the fore debate on how the bench arrived at its judgement of Mr Malanji lacking the vital document.
And the controversial debate is not about to end soon as the date of final judgement will be on the appointed day of filing nomination papers within the coming 90 days.
If Mr Malanji will finally make it on the ballot paper, then students of law and other political stakeholders will forever have a laugh at the majority verdict in court without falling in the ditch of contempt of court.
But as stated, the warning shots are about Mr Malanji taking for granted the English fantasy story of the Rabbit and the Tortoise.
For the uninitiated, one day the Rabbit and the Tortoise decided to race from the chosen starting point to the finish line.
The boastful Rabbit ran very fast leaving the Tortoise far behind.
The Rabbit knew that the Tortoise was a slow walker and decided to rest under a tree and complete the race later.
The resting resulted into the sleep which produced a race result in favour of the slow walking Tortoise.
Indeed, Mr Malanji is not known Bonanza for nothing and he boasts of having the support of the electorate in Kwacha such that he will not need even a poster. `
The Zambians electoral process allows Mr Malanji or any other contestant to campaign as they wise as long as thry are within the law.
But not too long ago, former President Edgar Lungu was boasting in the August 2021 general election that he would hand over power to himself because the unprecedented infrastructure planted by the Patriotic Front had already campaigned for him.
The rest is history as the Tortoise in the name of the UPND is now commissioning the unprecedented infrastructure project much to the displeasure of the Patriotic Front.
Moreover, the UPND as the ruling party appears to be curving themselves a record of implementing that which the PF considered unimportant when it is important to the electorate.
Time will tell whether Mr Malanji will retain Kwacha without campaigning.