WITHOUT PF STRUCTURES, POLITICAL AMBITIONS COLLAPSE

WITHOUT PF STRUCTURES, POLITICAL AMBITIONS COLLAPSE

By Michael Zephaniah Phiri Political Activist

The Muchinda Ward by-election has brutally exposed a political experiment built on shortcuts, borrowed identity, and misplaced confidence. Those who believed they could weaken the Patriotic Front (PF), discard its leadership, and still inherit its grassroots strength have now been confronted by reality.

When Brian Mundubile, together with his allies, chose confrontation over cohesion, they assumed that expelling PF-aligned leaders under Given Lubinda would automatically translate into political relevance elsewhere. The BM8 campaign team and the so-called Dunumis Movement were presented as new forces ready to command the opposition space.

The ballot has rejected that narrative.

Results from the Muchinda Ward by-election are unambiguous. The United Party for National Development (UPND) emerged with 844 votes. The United Prosperous and Peaceful Zambia (UPPZ) followed with 679 votes. Meanwhile, the Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) , used as a special purpose political vehicle by Mundubile’s camp, managed a humiliating 271 votes, just 5%.

This was not a loss; it was a collapse.

Using FDD as a temporary platform, reportedly driven by questionable motives, has failed to convince voters. Even more telling was the campaign’s symbolism. Instead of proudly projecting FDD’s own identity and leadership under Edith Nawakwi, campaign materials were dominated by painted and drawn images of PF’s founding fathers , Michael Chilufya Sata and Edgar Chagwa Lungu.

That was not strategy. That was desperation.

You cannot attack PF structures while clinging to PF symbols. You cannot reject PF leadership while exploiting PF heritage. The contradiction is glaring, and voters saw through it

PF is not a slogan, a colour, or a portrait on a campaign poster. PF is an institution built on ward structures, constituency mobilisation, and a loyal grassroots base cultivated over decades. Those structures do not migrate because of press statements or internal power struggles.

The Muchinda by-election confirms a hard political truth: without PF structures, there is no PF vote. And without PF identity, borrowed legacies offer no rescue.

The message is now clear stay away from PF and its founding fathers if you cannot respect its structures, leadership, and history. Political ambition without organisational legitimacy is not bravery; it is self-destruction.

The ballot has spoken. And it has been unforgiving.