Talk of the government blocking the registration of the opposition grouping, United Kwacha Alliance (UKA) is nothing but hogwash, Ministry of Information and Media permanent secretary Thabo Kawana has stated.
Commenting on persistent assertions by some opposition politicians that the government was behind the alleged blocking of the alliance from being registered as a political grouping, Kawana claimed that UKA cannot register a solid alliance because of the confusion surrounding one of its members, the Patriotic Front (PF).
“UKA can’t register a solid alliance because the question will be which PF? And to run their loose alliance, which basically is a PF alliance, the same question will beg, which PF?”
Kawana added that “to register a solid alliance, you must list all political parties in that alliance just as to run a loose alliance, you must rally behind one party”.
The outspoken PS claimed that the drama surrounding UKA and its registration or not revolves around former President Edgar Lungu, whom he said the alliance wanted as a candidate to contest the presidency.
“All this talk of government blocking their registration is nothing but lies and hogwash. They, as UKA, have PF but which PF?”
Kawana was commenting on a statement attributed to UKA member Chishala Kateka where she is quoted to have said that the alliance cannot win without PF.
Currently, there are two PF factions: one led by Matero Member of Parliament Miles Sampa, which is not a member of UKA, and the other in which Lungu is considered a leader and is part of UKA.
He is a very senior civil servant.
But what has government got to do with individual opposition parties? So when Upnd is back in opposition and these things they are doing to the current opposition are done to them are they going to complain. And then being a regional party, that will be the end of Upnd, and will be buried next ANC, which was led by another Southerner, Harry Nkumbula! As a regional party their support base has even shrank, since the Westerners are now “cousins” to Bembas! So it’s not only the democratic space which has shrank in this country, even the support base for Upnd has shrank! So where they get the votes from 2026! Kaya!
Ba Mandanda, you have a fertile imagination. So to you, the pronouncement of tribal cousinship between the Bemba and Lozis automatically translates into a huge support base for your PF?
Ba Mandanda, wake up from your slumber. Even with the ongoing Barotse issue, HH will easily carry the Western Province vote with a land slide. Your PF is dead as a dodo.