The Mudolo Question Inside PF

⬆️ BUILD-UP | The Mudolo Question Inside PF

The Patriotic Front is in freefall, searching for a centre of gravity after Edgar Lungu’s death. Factions have split, alliances have cracked, and loyalty letters are being written like court summons. But amid the chaos, one name has begun to circulate in hushed tones: Willah Joseph Mudolo.

Mudolo is not a career politician. He is not from the circle of recycled names who have lived off politics for decades. He is an entrepreneur, strategist, and philanthropist with credentials stretching from Muchinga to global boardrooms. His name does not carry the baggage of Chiluba’s MCCs or the scars of Lungu’s court battles. For some within PF’s northern bloc, that is precisely his appeal.

The resistance, however, is fierce. Raphael Nakacinda and Given Lubinda, the men holding PF’s acting structures together, are openly hostile to any suggestion of Mudolo’s ascension. Their fear is not hard to read. He is not from their networks. He is not dependent on their gatekeeping. A Mudolo candidacy would immediately shift the balance of power away from the old guard.

What PF insiders whisper is more intriguing. Before his death on June 5, Edgar Lungu had begun exploring the possibility of grooming an outsider as a successor. The calculations were clear. After the Constitutional Court ruled him ineligible to stand again, PF needed fresh blood, someone untouched by internal wrangles, yet credible enough to carry the flag in 2026. Mudolo’s name surfaced in those private discussions. That project froze with Lungu’s passing, but the fragments remain.

The past weeks have seen aggressive manoeuvres. Davies Mwila’s trip to South Africa, cut short by Nakacinda’s disciplinary hammer, was not just about fundraising. It was about meeting figures who could package Mudolo as PF’s comeback face. The firestorm that followed shows how sensitive this conversation has become. PF leaders from the north, who have traditionally provided the party’s electoral engine, are said to be plotting to eject Nakacinda and Lubinda, accusing them of clinging to power while failing to reposition the party.

For PF, the stakes could not be higher. The party remains the largest opposition bloc, but disunity is eating away at its claim to credibility. Mudolo represents both hope and risk. Hope, because he offers a new story to sell to an electorate weary of the same politicians. Risk, because his lack of political experience leaves him vulnerable in a brutal electoral field. PF strategists privately admit that without a fresh face, the party risks becoming a relic by 2026.

Mudolo’s profile is formidable outside politics. He is Co-Founder and President of Global Operations at ADF Group, steering projects in mining, energy, real estate, and finance. Through his W.J. Mudolo Foundation, he has championed education, healthcare, clean water, and climate resilience. He holds advanced degrees in finance and sustainability from institutions in the UK and has mobilised millions in private capital for governments and infrastructure. His worldview is one of building and problem-solving, not endless factional fights.

Yet politics is not corporate finance. Zambia’s voters will not judge him on his MBA credentials, but on whether he can connect with their frustrations over food prices, power cuts, and jobs. The PF machine will have to decide whether it is ready to gamble on a technocrat in a populist arena.

The truth is brutal. PF is locked in a fight between survival and irrelevance. If it clings to old faces, it risks sinking with them. If it dares to gamble on Mudolo, it faces the challenge of making a newcomer resonate in a country where name recognition is political currency. Either way, the battle lines inside PF are now sharper than ever.

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