PF, the Unburied Ghost & Final Collapse

🇿🇲 EDITORIAL | PF, the Unburied Ghost & Final Collapse

There is no polite way to say this anymore. The Patriotic Front is no longer an opposition party. It is either paralysed, absorbed, or quietly working for the re-election of UPND in 2026. Treating PF as a serious challenger is a waste of national attention.

The conclave called by party elders has collapsed. Not paused. Not delayed. Collapsed. What followed was predictable: disciplinary letters, counter-accusations, tribal insults, witchcraft claims, and open warfare between camps. A party that has failed to resolve its leadership crisis for over three years cannot suddenly find unity months before a general election.

At the centre of PF’s psychological crisis is the unburied figure of Edgar Chagwa Lungu. In PF belief systems, rituals matter. The party itself has repeatedly said the current President wants Lungu’s body for rituals. No evidence has been produced. The real question is simpler and more troubling: how did PF arrive at that conclusion? This language does not emerge from legal strategy. It comes from fear, superstition, and a belief that unseen forces are at play.

Culturally, succession without burial is not neutral. It is disorder. PF knows this. That is why the language of ghosts, rituals, curses, and spiritual sabotage now circulates freely within the party. Edgar Lungu’s ghost is not at rest in PF. Seven months later, the party behaves like a movement haunted by an unresolved transition. You cannot replace a leader you have not buried. This belief is deeply held, whether outsiders accept it or not.

While one PF faction fights spirits, another holds papers. Given Lubinda is no longer the centre of gravity. Chabinga is. He is the legal holder of PF certificates. He controls who stands and who does not. Without his signature, no PF candidate exists. Those papers will not be released easily. Many MPs already understand this. That is why voting patterns in Parliament now align PF with UPND. The record is public.

This is why the claim that PF will “bounce back” is fantasy. One faction has legality but no political independence. The other has noise but no authority. The Lubinda-Kambwili-Mundubile axis cannot even agree among themselves, let alone organise a convention. There will be no meaningful convention. Not because of UPND. Because PF cannot agree on who is PF.

Inside PF platforms, paranoia has replaced planning. Hichilema is accused of buying candidates, infiltrating elders, controlling courts, and manipulating spirits. These claims flourish when a party has lost internal trust. Every defeat becomes external sabotage. Every disagreement becomes treason. This is not opposition politics. It is collapse.

The arithmetic is unforgiving. PF MPs are drifting. Many want re-adoption. Some want UPND. Others are waiting for Chabinga. Either way, PF’s numbers no longer translate into opposition strength. One plus one remains two. Two PF factions working against each other still equal advantage for UPND.

The conclusion is uncomfortable but necessary. PF is functionally part of UPND’s 2026 victory path. Whether by legal capture, indecision, superstition, or internal sabotage, PF is not stopping anything. Any opposition leader still betting on PF is betting on confusion.

If PF believes in rituals, then tradition demands one thing first: bury the man. Until Edgar Chagwa Lungu is laid to rest, PF will continue to fight shadows, accuse ghosts, and burn itself from within. Politics does not reward haunted parties. It rewards organisation, clarity, and discipline.

Right now, PF has none of the three.

© The People’s Brief | Editor-in-Chief