REASONS WHY FORMER PRESIDENT LUNGU SHOULD RECONSIDER HIS PARTICIPATION IN ACTIVE POLITICS
By Patrick Samwimbila
Once upon a time Raphael Nakachinda said some wise words and I quote, “We cannot ask the former President to return to active politics unless we are very sure he can win back power”. This statement is very true, because subjecting the former President to another loss would be very damaging. ECL came back to active politics on the backdrop of reuniting the former ruling party (PF), “I will not allow the PF to die or have factions under my watch, therefore after careful and deep reflection, wide consultation and prayer, I have decided to come back to active politics” the Sixth Republican President said.
As things stand, we have continued seeing the PF slowly dying a natural death with UKA putting the final nail on its coffin. PF can only go into a ‘loose alliance’ (one which is not legally recognized), no alliance today can be registered by the Registrar of Societies with PF as part because PF is still in court. I strongly believe that the registration of UKA or indeed any other named political entity that incorporates PF as one of it’s alliance members, would be an error at law. It is like going to the bank to obtain a loan with collateral of a house whose ownership is being contested in court.
With this brief analysis, my question is on which ticket then will the former Head of State ride to appear on the ballot in 2026? And in case the other statement he likes saying is the consolation, “I am not returning to politics because I have ambitions to become President again as anyone among the opposition leaders can become President.” If this is something to go by, then the Former President will do well to revert back to his Statesman status because there is no one in that alliance worth sacrificing everything for. He would have even done better to sacrifice for Lubinda, Mundubile, Kafwaya, Monde etc than those surrounding him now.
At the moment, Zambia stands to benefit more from the wealth of his experience, wisdom, connections and influence as a statesman, an advisor to government and indeed as a symbol of national unity being the only surviving former Head of State. He should forget about bouncing back because the Kalabas and others will ride on his influence and the PF numbers to position themselves for 2026 and throw him out just before the elections. Remember the point in paragraph 2, PF in it’s current form can not form a legally binding alliance with anyone. And if there are plans to form a completely brand new political party then it makes matters even worse, how desperate will Zambians and indeed the world perceive the former President! Imagine, going across Zambia marketing ECL on a different party other than the PF, it will be laughable.
When I saw one newspaper headline where recently ECL said, “I MEAN WELL” I thought to myself that, he will surely mean well even more if he worked together with his young brother President HH especially in times like now when the Republican President has extended an olive branch to all opposition political parties to come on board and work with him.
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