Kasenengwa parliamentary by-election in Chipata
The events of the past two weeks in Zambian politics make it impossible to resist commenting on. Before the end of January 2015, Zambia must yet again go to another Presidential Bye Election and naturally as a conscious citizen, I’m just as interested as the next person to know who will take up the leadership mantle and propel our believed country to greater heights.
There are many contenders but of particular academic interest is the United Party for National Development UPND’s Hikainde Hichilema because in the ‘pecking order’, many believed that it should be automatic that he should be Zambia’s sixth President but to the contrary. While people should have been automatically pointing to him as the next President, many people that I have interacted with have their misgivings; there is just something about him that doesn’t seem plausible.
This should not come as a surprise because of a systematic propaganda campaign that HH has been subjected to in the last five years that has branded him as a ‘bitter man, merchant of death, selfish man and an under-five politician’. This has been very clever and it has worked. Secondly the UPND also has a somewhat bizarre PR approach that actually helps to enhance their opponent’s accusations.
Leading to the 2006 and 2008 elections I wrote a series of articles that were meant to be an eye opener to various Presidential contenders giving a snapshot check of an ordinary voter’s perceptions. In the next three months, I will add a youthful view to the happenings on the political landscape of the nation with the hope of giving an objective and fresh perspective as the drama unfolds.
Starting with Hikainde Hichilema, below are two fold submissions that can help change his image in their eyes of the urban voter;
Message
I know, as do many people that the UPND stands for better economic management, good health and a sound education system (Obviously). That’s nothing new or special because just about every other political party including the PF stand for the same. So nothing new there and nothing to write home about.
There has been a critical failure by the UPND to propagate their message because their stance on several issues such as Mineral Taxes, Street Vending, taxes, Foreign Policy is interwoven in a detailed and long manifesto, which voters have no time read. No one knows for sure that HH stands for, his message too complicated for the common man.
Even the PF had the same problem until they took the advice to break it down to ‘Lower taxes, better jobs and more money in your pocket’, see? That’s a simple message that everyone is able to catch. More importantly the message is able to resonate with the common man i.e. taxi driver, bus driver, marketer and street vender.
As a Politician, HH needs to be abreast with the heartbeat on the street, know what people want and tell them what they need to hear – its politics.
Therefore my submission to HH’s camp is that they change their message to ‘Vote HH for nshima on the table’ along with a ridiculous promise to bring down the price of meali meal to K20.00 within 30 days of taking office, BOOM!!!
As the adage goes, a ‘hungry person is an angry person’, and to be frank, at the end of the day, every family/household should at least to able to put nshima on the table and the rest will sort itself.
‘Nshima on the table’ becomes the axis of HH’s messaging that answers all the other problems. When your stomach is full, it keeps the doctor away, you will work harder, less corruption, less crime and violence, kids will focus in schools and we will have happy faces – people don’t ask for so much really.
Now you can see how this message coupled with selling his youthful traits ‘Pali Umwachie/Mwanike/Munyamata’ and use of ‘Donchi Kubeba’ in reverse psychology (I don’t think its not patented) would change the tides.
‘Zambia Forward’ to where? Its not working!
Political Constituency
It’s a game of numbers, the PF won the last lections because they increased their numbers in provinces such as Western province, Eastern province and parts of North Western province. This was the game changer because they knew that they always had Lusaka and Copperbelt where MMD always lost to the opposition and of course they had the traditional Luapula and Northern provinces so no worries there.
In my humble view, Eastern (Where RB lost votes when Mpezeni endorsed PF) and Western Province (Where ridiculous promises were made culminating in an unprecedented PF votes from Loziland) were the ‘swing states’. They decided the shift in power because their where no collateral changes in the voting pattern in Luapula, Northern, Lusaka and Copperbelt.
HH now has to work and focus on gaining back all of Mazoka’s votes in Sourthern Province (Find a way of diffusing the Mukombwe factor), Western Province (Evade or minimize the anticipated voter apathy), North Western, Central Province and EASTERN PROVINCE.
To achieve this, HH will have to reshape his shadow cabinet, for starters, Dr. C. Banda, a good man, but a serious political liability who doesn’t bring any numbers to the table. Being a town mouse, he has no grounding and is not seen as a legitimate representative in the eastern province later on one that can swing some votes UPND’s way.
Seeing as a pact with MMD is far fetched, HH will need to surround himself with torchbearers from all the provinces so that they can help him swing things his way or look like he has national appeal. Power is a game of perceptions. If he can get Father Frank Bwalya, Enock Kavindele, Sakwiba Sikota, Peter Magande, Daniel Munkombwe Dora Siliya and get an endorsement from Maureen Mwanawasa, we could be onto something. (Good luck!)
Finally on this chapter, GET RID of or hide from cameras; UNIP era William Banda, he aligns you to old political gimmicks and as such a PR liability.
Cosmetic Changes to the Brand
The following are quick fix cosmetic measures that will make HH a little more appealing;
1. Rebrand, Stop using RED
Red is danger, fire and blood. Change it to something more PR friendly, an appealing color. The color is too harsh and doesn’t help with his image. In fact the red color in the UPND brand enhances all the misconceptions about HH.
2. Put him in a suit
I don’t recall the last we saw HH in a suit, but he quickly needs to get back in one. He has to be seen as presidential and as a statesman and not as a renegade lone political figure without a necktie (Going against the norm)
3. Change of hair cut
A change in hair cut will also go a long way in giving the impression that there is now something different about the man. People need to perceive him as a ‘mature politician’, a new man!
Should HH choose not to wallow in over confidence and listen to other views besides those from people around him and also focus on getting his electoral constituency back, then perhaps he can take advantage of the imminent in-fighting in the PF and become Zambia’s sixth (Or is it seventh) President!
By Mingeli Palata
With this Advise any listening politician can make it to the Presidency in there lifetimes, What a brilliant advise!! but unfortunately some politicians will never listen will they?
I can start my own party tomorrow by using the above article and Boooom…I become Zambia’s president with your help that is. Great Article if only HH can use it….but we know he wont.
I wanted to shoot your article down but on close look, you have some very valid points in there. This article is not written to be read from top to bottom only otherwise you may find it overwhelming and somewhat boring. Try bottom up and you will see what I mean. Please take note, I don’t mean it literary – see Mushota trying lol.
Red is for blood because he is a freemason and they thrive on the dead,green for bitterness, as for hair cut forget it ,that is the real JUJU.
Ati nshima on the table ,the man is selfish !!!
This statement ;‘bitter man, merchant of death, selfish man and an under-five politician’ is NOT an accurate characterisation of HH but of the late Michael Sata.
The only reason why PF won under Sata is because they lies with its 90 days mantra no Mmembe ‘s concoction of lies.
Sata was a bitter man. Look at how he mocked of Mwanawasa et al during their sickness. He was a selfish man, who wanted every thing done his way and when it went wrong blame others. He was a selfish man who stole more money in UNIP(Merzaf project) MMD(presidential slush fund) in PF (RDA in state house)
To me this article has been written by a disgruntled PF cadre who is so disappointed with PF such that he has no where to run and is confused because HH has a very good chance of winning the presidential by elections in the absence of massive rigging.
There is a lot of evidence out there to suggest that Sata was a indeed a very bitter man, and PF as whole are merchants of death. More people have died in road accidents than before PF came to power due to lack of regulation. PF cadres are hacking each other to death with impunity. Sick people are dying needlessly in hospitals due lack of medicine as a result of PF ‘s poor planning. Student commiting suicide
To add salt to the injury, Farmers in chipata were duped by Scott that they will be paid within two weeks of selling maize to…
All people who speak ill of HH politically are tribalists them selves who have been duped and brain washed by Mmembe ‘s concoction of false hood.
Mmembe dislikes HH because HH does not like cutting corners and will not let Mmembe get away with not paying Tax due to ZRA.
Many PF cadres on LT hate HH because they know he is straight forward and will not allow deals you see under PF where people are busy stealing government money openly with impunity. HH does not like lying to get his way.
I feel the only reason HH might make it to state house is if Zambians have come embrace the culture of lying with impunity as prudent politics. Otherwise, if Zambia feel they have been taken for a f00l enough and lied to so many times then UPND and HH are the answer.
Only tribalist hate HH.
That is how HH is bitter, tribal etc we’re are not going to vote for him. It will be PF again regardless of who will be the Presidential candidate wether Bemba or easterner
Why should I vote for UPND? If I have no option I would rather voter for NAREP. Every rational person nows that UPND or MMD has no numbers in parliament to make laws. Therefore not suitable for Presidency. It’s PF chabe. Otherwise you will be wasting your vote. That is reality anyway
So NAREP has these numbers that you are talking about? You see why we say you PF cadres are dunderheads? Just be honest and say you cannot vote for HH because he is Tonga and not that nonsense.
All those deficiencies in UPND no wonder they won’t form government.
But pf is still ok right? Shame on you
SPOT ON! however you are just hitting a brick wall. i would advice hh to ask his minions to climb down from cloud 9, his supporters think that they are very educated and intelligent, they call whoever is not up and down supporter a dunderhead, a kaponya or illiterate and yet the the same kaponyaz are in the majority. we all know that upnd sympthesizers are usually .drowz,bakumunzi and generaly not townwise, but we dont talk about it because we need their votesgood advice though.
Campaigns should be a collective responsibility, all of us that see upnd as the only hope to bring real change have the responsibility to work towards changing the way people perceive our party. Let us mobilize ourselves and conduct door to door campaigns to ensure people understand what we stand for.
We know what UPND stands for(tribalism ) and when conducting your so called door to door campaigns please by pass my house or else I will charge you for tresspass
So Daka in your tiny little brain, if HH was tribal, why did he attempt to go see Chitimukulu to offer him support and only failed because he was blocked by PF cadres? Does your small brain understand what tribalism is? What does your ka microscopic brain think about the 90% composition of the PF govt coming from Northern and Luapula provinces? You have to admit that you’re an id!ot and you urgently need to revisit your thinking process.
Clarence you are right on. Coupled with our blogging I think the door to door strategy is the way to pick up some votes in the Northern circuit, that is, Luapula, Muchinga and Northrn Provinces. I am from Luapula and it is true voters shun HH because he is a Tonga. I asked a group of women drawing water around a borehole in Chembe to vote for HH this time around,the answer was and emphatic ‘ awe umu Tonga’. The brainwashing against the tribes is really deep and we have a lot of work to convince people to look at HH as a Zambian and not thru the tribe glasses. Please let us get on the ground and do a house to house campaign. HH consolidate on gains in Southern, Western and North Western Provinces and reach out to the voters in other where our popularity is very low
ok.HH for zambia.no bemba
I thought this was going to be a good advise but it turned out to be a so personal hatred. You sound so much at pain even as you are trying to explain your hate towards the man. Look here sir, the person without timing is you. People this time around are so much interested in what is happening in the Pf. Instead of trying to advise the Pf, you waste time to talk to someone whose problem wont affect you. Ask yourself why there should be such changes in UPND than pf.
Uhuru in Kenya was all red, but won. All your points are very valid except for color
It is PF all the way,wait and see. We are not going to vote for a bantustan. PF has the numbers to make laws. How can UPND concern when they only have 37 MPS? It is even a joke to say HH will win.
shameful tribalist. If you monkeys have the numbers in parliament how come you haven’t passed any meaningful laws. You are pathetic losers keen on plunder. Mwanya Guy will sort you out.hahahhaahah
Theory. Intellectual report. Please think through what you right. It’s too shallow if not childish
Theory. Intellectual report. Please think through what you write. It’s too shallow if not childish
UPND should come up with two distinct messages.One for the Urban areas and another one Rural areas.
Urban Message..
1. High light PF ‘s lies and fake promises, a no brainer.
2. Highlight party’s priorities such as;
– Job creation, through manufacturing to cut import and
strengthen the currency. Implementation of proportional pay
structure where lowest paid gets 8.5% of CEO.
– Food and energy prices to be lowered and stabilised through
targeted subsidies.
– Health and hospitals reduce fees to affordable levels and equip
hospitals with modern equipment and well trained , well paid
staff. Avoid shortage of medicine.
3.Education/Fees ; free upto secondary school. Bursaries to be
given to all deserving candidates who meet the educational…
continued
4. Affordable housing – talk about building high rise flats in shanty
towns to provide cheap housing units so that the poor can keep
more of their income.
5.Road /Railway construction – commend PF for embarking on
road
construction. But rebuke PF for poorly planned, poorly funded
construction projects and for finishing the projects on time.
Condemn the contractor payment delays.
6. Constitution/Rule of lawlessness – assure the people that the
constitution will be delivered within 6 months of being in
power. Condemn PF’s panga fighting and killings, selective
justice and lawlessness perpetrated by the PF.
Rural Message ;
7. Agriculture – Assure the people that all farmers will be given title deeds for them to use as…
I meant to say condemn the PF for not finishing construction projects on time.
Agriculture.
Give all the farming community title deeds so the use their land ownership to borrow money from banks to fund their porductiion and slowly win them off government support.
Only UPND can solve Zambia’s problems with sanity.
So lusakatimes is UPND. Now I know lol. Prayers for mother Zambia. PF is winning. LT muchinge Zambia is not UPND but logical people.
let HH convince the people of copperbelt northern and luapula province that he can be a good president then
he has a chance of winning look at the 2011 general elections results
REBRAND OR NOT this time is UPND.pf has no leader. Sata died with PF
UPND died with Mazoka my friend. No wonder HH can NEVER win.
Legalize, we are winning- Green Part, Peter Sinkamba for President you shallow thinking chaps
Is it a question of wining an election or delivering development to Zambia? That is why your UPND can’t win an election. This article is rubbish! Talking about development that we saw during the three years under the Leadership of Micheal Chilufya Sata (MHSRIP)is what people want to hear. PF
FROM THE TIME UPND LOST IN 2011 ELECTION,THE PARTY HAS NOT GROWN AT ALL.THEY ARE JUST GOOD AT HALLUCINATING THAT THEY WILL WIN.HOW DO YOU WIN AN ELECTION WHEN YOU ARE JUST POPULAR IN 3 PROVINCES.SOUTHERN,NORTHWESTERN,AND PARTS OF WESTERN.
As long as the Bemba hate message on the blogs and in the Sky FM continue from UPDN Cadres, they will never taste victory. HH has to inspire confidence among northerners that he will take care of them. Messages such as “PF development is going to Chinsali” can never win you votes. Lack of credible representation among prominent NEC members is always a set back for UPND. Messages such as reducing the price of mealie meal to K20 are not realistic and only the gullible can belive in such. He should smile a lot, show us his family and promise to continue the aggressive Sata infrastructure drive.
Spot on bro. UPND always blame Bembas for HH faliure to ascend to the precidency.
But do you think they will listen? Even the strategy of insulting Sata all the way to his grave has not helped at all. Just that I will not be voting; but all the people I know who supported Sata have been very hurt by the insults such that they will not consider voting for UPND. Lesson: even as you have differences in opinions, learn to argue with humility. We shall never forget how the Zambian-watchdog insulted Sata; and that unfortunately will translate in no support for HH. If he wins, we would give him all the support and not insults. So good luck
The writer focusses on HH alone…PF thrived on lies and exorbitant promises.u know for sure that PF have failed on several occasions but Zambians being the country where education means nothing will continue to wallow in poverty..
May commend this article.Any advice is well come.It is up to HH to sieve through I know as an intelligent leader is going to get some and leave some which is not applicable to the current scenario.I want to warn all those who are underrating HH and UPND that they will be in a ruled shock because 2015 presidential Bye election will be different.The patern of voting will change and iam seeing many people voting to stop wage freeze,tribalism and debt trap forced on us by PF.HH will certainly maximize his votes from 568,000 he got in 2011 to over 1000,000 votes.Who ever will win UPND or PF the margin will be extremely small to a tune of 2%.If it will be PF then it will surely loose in 2016.But if its UPND then it will surely win again in 2016.HH will never give up because he is conviced he is
some people feel friehgtened at the mention of UPND and HH. For goodness sake . its a Zambian Political party with a Zambian citizen leading it. cheer up all of you who have been fed with wrong messages about HH, he is a good person, if you think am cheating just VOTE FOR HIM and see the good in the man. you wont regret 100%.
UPND will lose and they know it. Just 2 months ago they were defeated in their own backyard ( Zambezi – West ) as if the place had no incumbent MP. In Kasenengwa they only managed to get about 2% of the popular vote.
Bo Palata, you are really funny. So you know why HH is not voted? For sure you are spot on. Those are the attributes of egocentric HH. Even this time around , HH is losing coz he does not appeal to Zambians. He is so puffed up to the core and he lives in his own world. HH is not a politician but a manager that’s why he has no message for Zambians. He always talks about increasing the GDP , really can a common Zambian know what animal GDP is ? I think I am wasting my time talking about a failure HH.
Peace and Prosperity to Mother Zambia.
Zambians must remember that its consistence that made sata win.He started with 1 MP and very few presidential votes in 2001.It was the death of Mazoka that assisted sata to increase the his votes and labeling of HH as a tribalist by Mumembe.2.Mwanawasa also contributed to the decline of UPND when he was rejected by Bembas after arresting Chiluba and os he forecast his energies towards mazoka’s territories to survive.He managed to beat Sata by winnig in UPND strongholds.The death of Mwanawasa also brought sata close to victory even if he lost to banda who still got sympathy votes from mwanawasa/UPND strongholds.RB lost because he lost the sympathy votes from these territories,especially western which helped Sata patch up and won.Hh increased his catch in 2011 election and now that sata is…
A call to Zambians: vote PF. Don’t waist your vote on tribalist political parties, such as that of Icilema.
gone he will certainly win.All the former UPND territories are free to vote for HH including the youths through out Zambia as they did to Sata.Youths know no tribalism and they make 50% of voters.
Voting for UPND means forming a cabinet from one province.
@ Grand hahahahahaha that was funny.
So what PF has done with cabinet full of people from one province is okay?
People who hate HH are tribalist themselves, like Mmembe and the whole PF.
HH is best but the problem is numbers. And he has not been aggressive enough.
SATA was an aggressive talented politician and hence his political triumphs. But that was an end in itself.
MMD and UPND manifestos are almost similar. Let them team up together with HH as president
The rest will be history..otherwise we might as well go for Kambwili!!
WHO CARES ANYWAY..LET ME GO BACK TO MY PJ..AT LEAST I CAN HAVE FOOD ON MY TABLE UNLIKE THE MAJORITY OF VOTERS
Honestly speaking HH has no chance of winning. In a Christian nation, when he does not even declare his affiliation to God. lol.
certain things are hard to accept and one of them is UPND failure to win january’s election. The tribe tag and massive infrustructure which UPND opposed make it imposible for HH to be near state house. no normal human can leave hospital at window level and vote for HH
which infrastructure iwe…UNIVERSITY OF PALABANA…SOME OF YOU ZAMBIANS ARE REALLY WARPED IN YOUR THINKING…ANYWAY U WILL EAT infrastructure
After going through the comments,i have seen one thing from both PF n UPND cadres,its more of winning de election than how you wil win it.Let me say this, the article z abt hw the upnd can win the coming by election,so lets not just comment for the sake of,,,we all have different opnions but we are one nation and always remember home is home!.
How I look forward to the presidential by-election and see HH losing for the fourth time .
The advice in the article is good, do not ignore. UPND supporters should also listen to HH’s instructions- do not use insulting or negative campaign message on opponents, it will not win you votes, but rather plays in the hands of operatives recruited for hate marketing. Ignore tribal comments, the majority of people can see through such tricks. UPND needs a visibility approach that is tailored to assure inclusiveness in areas where the biggest doubts are.
HH can never be president of Zambia never in Zambian history.So just ke on dreaming.
The church is throwing its weight on HH this time around and will win.
Ultimately it is zambians that lose out when poor quality leader is elected as president. But for some people they care nothing about the country,except their tribe,put HH against their dog they will still vote for their tribal dog. It does not matter what hh does they will not vote for a Tonga,period.
You need to see his wife and children too. We need to see a happy family.
Pali suit pena wakasa boi, The common man on the streets will start saying he dress like ba “some of us” that is bad for PR.Please learn from the way MCS and how he conducted himself among the kaponyas.
No matter how much you try HH is a product which can not be branded. It is just Hard to sell HH.
Exactly…this is what I commented on yesterday. Let HH and his team waste no time this time around. Change the language to what my little child can hear and understand. Set up teams within UPND. Assign them specific tasks such as: Bringing big fishes to UPND such as Namugala, Dora, Kaingu, Kavidnele, Fr. Bwalya and many more. Some should be there for image building. Others must concentrate on the minds of the people and come up with working strategies to convince people. Look at how Edgar cried in the stadium and it is paying off. Please listen to advise and things will work. If interested the secretariat should contact some of us for possible advice like the way my brother has done it above. This is the only medicine and not to the contrary.
Some good pointers but to be very honest with you, I don’t totally agree I mean look at Anderson Mazoka, the man’s approach was similar to HH yet his victory was rigged, every politician has his own angle and lying nor changing isn’t a solution. Look at people like Nelson Mandela, people naturally fell in love with him not because he promised to chase away the white man(lie) yet when he was brought into power the world fell in love with him at large not because he made a better South Africa economically but made a better South Africa only because he reconciled a torn nation. So if people have to vote HH in let them vote by what he stands for not by the same lies the PF had promised to bring in 90 days. Coming to the 90days yes it got the PF into office but what did it give the people…
In other ways the author is saying Zambian voters are trivial and immature
well written pilato. i never thought you are this intelligent
Very good advice except on the colour red. As an artist I ll tell you that Coca cola or Airtel are not stupid. Your brake lights are red for a purpose. Red is attention grabbing and is the color of action. It rushes forward to meet you unlike the receding blues ,greys or green. Having the longest wave length in the colour spectrum means the least refracted. I really would love to see him with short hair!!!
Mr. Boyd Hamusonde is upnd’s M.P. for Nangoma, what level of education did he attain, can the “educated” upnd enlighten us.
And consider stopping use of trendy, showy and childishmotor vehicles like Hummer if you are to look presidential. Last election at Manda Hill I heard people saying mwaba ona a “youthful” president with huge laughter. Come on, use a Toyota landcruiser or something on those lines baba. After all if you stand for the poor you are supposed to look the part, I dont mean looking hungry and emaciated NO but use a motor vehicle that everybody can relate to.
This Palata seems to suggest Zambians are Gullible…….meal prices down to K20 and all that political mantra should be a thing of the past.
We need straight talking politicians to take us forward; your choice!
I sure do know mine and I will do the little I can to sell my candidate.
The party in waiting.
Dabo h preached sata,s death n failure thinking that wen he dies he is going to be the automatic choice,you have wrong all the time we begged you during the pact to be the VP look now you where going to rule us now that sata is dead….it’s not going to be easy your loose this time will be the beginning of your downfall in politics.
HH is the more credible candidate so far among the field we know. I am not tonga but I have my vote ready for him and I think many others too. But my concern is that he and his handlers have taken a casual approach to the label of UPND as a tribal party. The potential votes are there but they will only materialise if this tag is addressed effectively. It can if the handlers do a good, but then if the handlers belueve that this is a tonga party then they cannot effectively do the required PR. In that case the potential votes remain just that, potential, and available to be grabbed by anyone else. It requires something more serious than the cismetics of appointing Cannssius Banda or Mutale Nalumango to “high” positions. Smell the coffee.
Advising HH to tell lies at this moment….. is evil… not possible at the moment to bring back a 25kg bag of unga…. at between 20 and 30 kwacha…. my fellow youth listen have civilized politics of our time and not the stone age politics advanced by Sata and his PF… time for lies ands with Sata…lets be truthfull… to the people of zamba and voters in particular, here are the reasons you should vote for HH….
1.he has shown maturity in the way he has organised and maintained his party the UPND…ccompared to PF and MMD of late.
2. he will lift the wage freeze
3. he will bring back the dismissed nurses
4. he will give us a road map for the constitution that will avoid such costly by elections
5. he will fight corruption and give a corruption free counrty
6. stregthen the…