FIELDING in united opposition alliance candidates in the forthcoming Mwansabombwe and Lukashya by-elections is the right thing to do, NDC leader Chishimba Kambwili has said.
In an interview yesterday, Kambwili said the alliance was looking to support each other by fielding united alliance candidates unlike competing against each other.
He said the NDC vice-president Josephs Akafumba and national chairman Fr Richard Luonde were in talks with their counterparts on the idea of supporting each other as it was the right thing to do.
“This is what we are working on. There is a meeting today going on with our vice-president and national chairman and the President of UPND. As I speak to you, there is a meeting going on trying to see how we can work together as soon as the decision is made,” Kambwili said.
He said it was the only way to go, not to test the alliance but the only reasonable option available.
“It’s not that we are testing the alliance, but it is only the reasonable way to go. We are committed to have it work, so why would it not change the outcome? For us, we have gone to the UPND, we have called this meeting so that we can harmonise and see if they can field in one constituency and we also field in another so that we don’t compete among ourselves. I can confirm to you that the agenda of today’s meeting is to see if we can share the constituencies and not compete against each other. We can negotiate within ourselves that we don’t compete against each other,” said Kambwili.
Cross sections of stakeholders have said the Mwansabombwe and Lukashya by-elections should determine the future of the opposition alliance.
They say with the 2021 general elections fast approaching, it was time to showcase the opposition’s ingenuity, sincerity, faithfulness and effectiveness together.
Alliance member and leader of RPP James Lukuku said the two elections must serve as a litmus test and he appealed to the UPND and NDC to contests in one constituency each.
He said the alliance would emerge triumphant if supported single candidates in the by-elections.
Lukuku called for the implementation of the Roan strategy that saw the formation of the UPNDC and ‘Lopola’ formula implemented to defeat the PF.
“Let us not go into these elections as competitors on the same side of the opposition alliance,” pleaded Lukuku.
The Electoral Commission of Zambia has set September 17 as date for the by-elections that have been necessitated by the deaths last month of Mwansabombwe member of parliament Rodgers Mwewa and Lukashya’s Mwenya Munkonge.