MUHABI LUNGU: OPPOSITION UNITY OR NATIONAL PERIL
By Brian Matambo – Lusaka, Zambia
When Muhabi Lungu, the newly elected Secretary General of the Zambia We Want Party, sat down with Ambassador Emmanuel Mwamba, his message was as stark as it was urgent: unity in the opposition is no longer a political option, it is an existential necessity for Zambia’s democracy.
Lungu argued that the stakes in the 2026 elections transcend ordinary partisan contests. According to him, the ruling UPND has “divided us like no other administration,” and unless the opposition presents a coherent, united front, Zambia risks sliding deeper into authoritarianism.
STRUCTURED UNITY, NOT SLOGANS
Unlike past attempts at ad hoc coalitions, Lungu outlined a structured framework already in motion. Opposition parties have formed thematic groups with clear mandates:
• Manifesto harmonization: consolidating the best ideas from each party into a joint minimum program.
• Social contract drafting: creating a binding document of 10 to 15 measurable priorities, complete with timeframes, which the eventual flag bearer must sign and publicly commit to.
• Flag bearer selection: designing a transparent mechanism, open even to non-party figures, to ensure the best possible candidate emerges.
“This will not be about who shouts the loudest,” Lungu said. “It will be about who Zambians can trust to deliver, held accountable by a contract signed in black and white.”
LEARNING FROM MALAWI
Lungu pointed to Malawi as a cautionary but hopeful parallel. There, courts have boldly nullified elections and insisted on manual counting to protect integrity. “There is a symbiosis between Zambia and Malawi,” he observed, “what happens there often mirrors here. We must insist on the same boldness from our institutions.”
The lesson, he said, is that Zambia cannot afford blind trust in the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ), whose credibility has been eroded by years of controversy. Demands for independent observers, transparent result transmission, and open verification processes will form a cornerstone of the opposition’s agenda.
VOTER REGISTRATION AND BILL 7
Beyond institutional reforms, Lungu stressed practical mobilization: ensuring citizens obtain NRCs and register to vote. “If people do not register, the struggle is lost before it begins,” he warned, calling for a mass grassroots exercise to drive voter readiness.
He also placed Bill 7 at the center of Zambia’s political peril, describing it as a direct assault on free elections and balanced governance. “If Bill 7 passes, we may as well hand the country to dictatorship. It must be stopped in its tracks,” he declared.
A VISION BEYOND POLITICS
Yet Lungu’s message was not only about the mechanics of elections. It was also about healing and vision. He pledged that any government formed under his watch would be a government of national unity, inclusive of all regions and all tribes.
Drawing on his own family ties to Southern Province, he made a personal appeal against the politics of exclusion. “One Zambia, One Nation must not be a slogan. It must be lived in appointments, policies, and attitudes,” he said.
THE QUIET POWER OF ZAMBIANS
Finally, he reminded viewers of Zambia’s unique political culture. Unlike South Africans who take to the streets, Zambians often organize quietly and speak loudly only at the ballot box. “Silence is not weakness,” Lungu said. “It is the calm before the storm. In 2026, Zambians will show their strength in the only way they know best, through the vote.”
THE ROAD AHEAD
For Muhabi Lungu, the road to 2026 is clear: unite the opposition, protect the vote, sign a binding social contract, stop Bill 7, and restore the spirit of One Zambia, One Nation. Anything less, he argued, would betray the Zambian people.
“We are not just fighting for power,” he concluded. “We are fighting for the soul of our country.”
The opposition is inherently weak. This has nothing to do with the ruling party but rather the character of the leadership in the opposition. PF tried to destabilise MMD using Mr. Nakachinda and they largely succeeded and Mr. Nakachinda was later rewarded with a ministerial position in Mr. Lungu’s PF government.
In a similar vein, PF tried to destabilise UPND and the defection of Mr. Charles Kakoma in the period leading to the 2021 election is qa good example. There were other defections. Dr. Canisius Banda, GBM and others. So for UPND to succeed in destabilising the opposition, it means that the opposition comprises of people with weak character whose god is their stomach. If the opposition was made up of people of noble character, any destabilisation attemps would lamentably fail.
You have people like Mr. Sean Tembo who by nature is quarrelsome and impulsive. Or Dr. M’membe who is arrogant and unaccommodating. If the opposition is looking to make headway with such in their midst, then they are kidding themselves. Of course there are also those who are very maleable like Mr. Msoni who will do anything to ride on the coat tails of the big guys.
Each party should focus on growing its membership and strengthening the basic party structures and contesting the elections as individual parties. If peradventure the opposition was to unite and, God forbid, win the elections, what would follow would be an acrimonious scramble for positions and the total collapse of the coalition. We don’t want that.
Listening to Muhabi sounds like we shall have a good democracy for all
Mathematics is very simple.
Zero plus zero will always be zero.
No matter how many zeros unite, the result is zero.
If the only agenda the fragmented opposition have is to unseat an incumbent, this will inevitably fail.
The current opposition have no executable plan to better the lives of Zambians. All they want is access to the national treasury so they can loot it at will. This will never happen. Days of kasaka ka ndalama are gone.
Muhabi Lungu sound to me reasonable. All I can say is let him learn the politics as they are now. He does not carry a baggage of toxic politics so far and has not been associated with corruption even at a micro level. He must in time transform from being a technocrat to a politician. He can articulate issues and well spoken. Keep it up Muhabi you are being noticed.