WHO LEADS THE OPPOSITION, THE BIG QUESTION DIVIDING ALLIANCE UNITY
A KBN TV EDITORIAL
Every political party leader started their journey with conviction that they have what it takes to lead the nation. It was never part of their manifesto to yield to any other party in their pursuit of national leadership.
However, politics is not an easy walk in the park. Nearly every opposition leader has come to terms with the fact that it’s daunting to traverse the length and breadth of this great nation of 20 million citizens canvassing for a vote. It’s expensive, challenging and frustrating.
It has dawned on many opposition political leaders that forming alliances could be one of the most effective pathways to voting the incumbent administration out of power. However, the challenge that the opposition faces today lies in their conflict of interest of wanting to be in an alliance, but not being ready to support one candidate. It seems everyone has been going into an alliance hoping the rest will support them and no one else.
This is where the problem lies and that’s the basis of the political rivalry that we have seen manifesting in various forms. We have said it before and we want to repeat it here that the opposition should agree to sit under a neutral body such as the three Church mother bodies to just oversee a transparent process to help them choose and agree on a single candidate.
We appreciate the coming of Akashambatwa Mbikusita Lewanika on the scene, a very credible and respected figure in Zambian politics. If he is the one going to oversee this solemn process, we hope his terms of reference, does not include a brief about the preferred candidate because that already becomes a rigged process.
As things stand, it’s not possible for political leaders, each with their personal ambitions to preside over an election in which they are personally conflicted. We saw it in UKA where because of vested interest, political leaders resisted endorsing ECL until he was forced to sponsor the formation of Tonse Alliance and left along with his support base.
Even when ECL, Peter Chanda, Danniel Pule, Sean Tembo and others left UKA, the Alliance under the leadership of SC, Sakwiba Sikota continued to hold endless meetings that couldn’t still help them arrive at a singular candidate. Such meetings have continued to this day except with new faces. Even cardinals in their numbers, it took them only two days to elect the new Pope. What would an alliance be discussing for over a year that they fail to identify a credible leader?
Previously, we authored editorials on the dangers that stalked both UKA and Tonse Alliances but some sections of the opposition took offence, not because our editorials were fictitious, but because of the truth and accuracy of our political analysis. Instead of appreciating and embracing the truth, some chose to be antagonistic, labeling us enemies of opposition party unity.
We could have chosen to take offence and keep quiet, but we realised our calling is higher; we are here to help the nation and if we can add our voice to national discourse, we would have done our job in national interest.
What we warned both UKA and Tonse about, is today’s reality. Therefore, anyone who cares about the outlook of the 2026 elections should save this editorial because they will need to refer back to it at an appropriate time. We have studied the political landscape and we can tell the trajectory to the point of cautiously predicting the out. Like Martin Luther King Jr, we have been to the mountain top.
The opposition is united on everything except on who should be the flag bearer. To refresh your memories, there was great expectation when some parties came together to form UKA but they broke camp over who should become the flag bearer.
To its credit, at least Tonse Alliance were decent enough to unanimously agree on a candidate before the unfair Constitutional Court ruling which disqualified ECL.
However, since this matter remains unsettled, the question of who takes the mantle to lead the opposition into an election continues to remain the biggest challenge facing the opposition today. We think that the essence of being in an alliance is to give up personal egos and be ready to support a single candidate who is clean and popular enough to secure an election.
The truth of the matter is that you don’t really have to like that person, he or she may not be your favourite candidate but if the ground seems to favour that person, you would have no choice but to rally behind such a candidate for the sake of progress.
If for example it’s Harry Kalaba who seems more likeable by the grassroots, the question of discounting him using his age is a lame excuse. We have singled Harry out because while he seems to be making serious political inroads, some of his peers claim he is young to be President, while others are unfairly accusing him of being a UPND project.
We are not his Spokesperson, but his party’s decision to recall him from UKA, should not be used against him or any other who chooses to leave an alliance if they feel it’s not living up to their party’s expectation.
Further, his party’s decision to field a candidate in Lumezi should not be demonised. Coming out of UKA, perhaps there is something he knows that’s not working that others could learn from before they get too heavily invested in a moribund alliance.
Alliances should not become a new form of prison that once you get in, you can’t come out because if you do, then you will be labelled a surrogate or sellout. That’s unfair and downright blackmail.
There should be more compelling reasons to label someone a surrogate and not because they got one or two police permits to hold a rally. The bar for politics should be higher than such low level of unsubstantiated assertions.
We have watched Kalaba’s press briefings and we have read his press statements which we think have been very ruthless in attacking President Hakainde Hichilema.
It’s therefore inconceivable that Kalaba can be so ungrateful to constantly attack his perceived pay master, unless there is a new level of political pretence and deceit.
These sentiments are pointing to the fact that until opposition leaders come to terms with the fact that there can only be one leader to represent their collective interest, this problem steeped in selfish interests will persist.
When on one hand Tonse is preaching opposition unity, they recently opted to admit to the Council of Leaders names such as Mutotwe Kafwaya, Mumbi Phiri and Davies Mwila, who are already in their corner, yet they are still mute about the Socialist Party’s application to join the Alliance. Hitherto, SP has not been admitted as a member of the Tonse Alliance.
This is despite the Chairperson lifting suspensions and revoking letters written by the Alliance spokesperson Sean Tembo.
We are aware of feelings of dissatisfaction within Tonse but the alliance must do everything possibe to secure the unity it has demonstrated. The absence of ECL as Chairperson should not be the reason for cracks to emerge.
These are matters that require introspection and deep reflection. They can’t be wished away. The weight of these simmering divisions goes beyond partisan interests; they affect an entire nation looking for alternative political leadership.
It’s for the reason above that Zambians were happy to see representatives of the Zambia We Want, Socialist Party and the UKA remnant getting into talks with the Tonse Alliance.
However, the situation doesn’t seem to be the same anymore. Yes, public statements have been made about fielding a single candidate in Lumezi, but that’s not the answer to underlying issues of unity or the lack of it.
Recent public appearances would suggest that Tonse Alliance have conveniently taken themselves out of the equation. For example, when a former PF member of parliament Maureen Mabonga was sentenced, people were distracted by the presence of Police confiscating placards from UKA, SP and ZWW officials without paying attention to the fact that Tonse Alliance and PF leaders in particular, were nowhere in sight to offer solidarity to its senior member at such a critical moment.
Did anyone sit-down to ask the question why PF were missing in that particular video at the magistrates’ courts?
Therefore, with the political heat reaching fever pitch going into an election year, the Lumezi parliamentary by-election and any other to follow becomes very critical. Lumezi is a mirror of the future political outlook going into 2026 and from what we can see, even though a few political parties will participate statistically, it seems the main actors in Lumezi will be Tonse Alliance, UPND and Citizens First.
Premised on the above Lumezi scenario and without prejudice against any player, it’s almost predictable that all things being equal, the 2026 elections will be a three horse race between UPND, Tonse Alliance and Citizens First.
The footnote though here is that should Tonse not admit SP into the alliance, we potentially can predict another alliance comprising UKA, Zambia We Want and SP.
