Friday, March 29, 2024

Pride without Honor: Why President HH is Petitioning PF Parliamentary Seats

Share

By Kapya Kaoma

The UPND’s decision to petition seats lost to the PF is its democratic right, only that it robs President HH of moral capital and human decency. That Lungu didn’t petition the results, but conceded to HH is in itself disempowering to the President’s moral judgment. The UPND legal committee Chair, Jack Mwiimbu’s claim that the Party does not have a say in these petitions is another example of the cancerous trend of perfidious falsehoods from the truth-allergic “Bally will fix it” Bally worshiper; the President is personally behind these petitions. Sadly, we have to live with the UPND definition of Zambian democracy–unless the result favors HH and his UPND, the election is stolen. This Trump doctrine is detrimental and toxic to Zambian democracy–it is one thing to do so in opposition, but another thing when you’re in power. As we count to 2026, would HH and his MPs accept defeat should Zambians vote them out?

The lunacy of those who drafted, and passed Zambia’s “Copy and Paste” illogical, unkempt and scruffy Constitution are particularly to blame. How can the Presidential election results be upheld, and the President sworn, when his own Party does not accept the results from half of the country? If Parliamentary results are unfair or tainted, the Presidential results cannot be declared otherwise. In short, it’s illogical and senseless to count one as varied, and disqualify the other; it is just common sense. The nullification of Parliamentary results should also mean the nullification of Presidential results. Doesn’t this question the declaration of President HH as the winner of the August 12 election? Until this foolishness is addressed, we will continue to see fallacious petitions at taxpayers’ backs.

Kenyan African Union Commission, High Representative for Infrastructure Development, Raila Odinga’s call on HH not to destroy the opposition is laughable. If President HH has to prove himself, he has to rule with as little opposition as possible. Opposition interests do not matter; he has the interests of the UPND. Should he run unopposed in 2026, that would be his Christmas. Asking him to protect the opposition is simply cuckoo. If the opposition fails to compete with the UPND and dies, it’s not HH’s fault; it is competitive politics for God’s sake. So the PF and other opposition parties must counter President HH’s strategic move or risk eternal death in Zambian politics.

President Hichilema’s dream is to have the UPND majority in Parliament if he has to drive his Capitalist agenda; an almost evenly divided Parliament would block most of his policies. Partially, this is Bally’s own making. As opposition leader, President HH policy was obstruct and obstruct–never work with the PF. This obstructionist agenda killed a number of PF driven policies and Bills; today the tables have turned. Can he rule without the support of the PF? This puts him in a fix, but “Bally will fix it.”

Bally is aware of the ongoing wrangles in the PF camp; the boat is crumbling. Aside from dealing with the shame of losing, it’s financial base is crippled, and most of the “MPs elect” are in the red. With thuggish Kashimba Kambwili, GBM, Nawakwi and Davies Mwila put to rest, and the corrupt adoption of Parliamentary candidates speared by Mwila haunting the PF, Bally is set to sink the captainless Boat.

Politics has no permanent enemies, but common interests. Should these seats be nullified, independents who contested elections, but supported Lungu are the best targets to adopt for by-elections. Most of them are likely to reach a deal with team HH–either join UPND, and be adopted to run on its ticket, or partner with the UPND by supporting its candidates in exchange for government jobs. With this, HH has an opportunity to flip a number of seats, which would likely give him a majority.

Another strategic move is to divide the PF–after all didn’t Lungu do the same? Zambian political parties are not ideologically different, but organized around personal cults. Thus politicians can switch like car gears or sex workers; always looking for who pays. Since HH has the purse, a number of PF politicians are up for taking. And just as Lungu campaigned for PF candidates, HH would do the same–of course on our backs. There’s nothing wrong with this; getting a majority in Parliament is good strategy to President HH’s re-election chances.

But there is also a danger. If the results are upheld, and those MPs are seated, the UPND will have to live with the shame of losing twice. Those MPs would become a pain in the neck for the UPND. Besides, early by-elections in his baby Presidency will cost Zambians millions. For a president who is promising fiscal responsibility, these elections would prove wasteful to masses. They may also force some voters to protest against HH–mostly those who are very unhappy with his victory. Generally, pain, anger and shame drive voters to the polls. This could work against the UPND given that many of these seats are in areas favorable to the PF.

In addition, mass by-elections would test the UPND public support. There is no doubt that the turnout won’t be as good as that of the General election, but with Lungu gone, would Bally voters be angry enough to turn up on election day? At the time people are awaiting the fulfillment of HH’s false promises, it would be a risky decision to return on a campaign trail.

The PF would love to fight HH with the apolitical Police Inspector, and without the UPND cadres. It would strategically capitalize on his campaign lies; politicize the schools and increase protests to test how far HH could go with his promise to respect human rights–the world will be watching. If the UPND wins these elections, the PF dies like UNIP and MMD. A loss, however, could be an embarrassing beginning to his presidency.

The good news for the UPND is, like the Police and Anti-Corruption Commission, the President defines what constitutes justice in the rotten judiciary. The PF and other parties should expect a number of seats to be declared vacant to appease His Excellency, the Law Definer, the President of Zambia, Bally the Savior. With no cost to petitioners, taxpayers shall spend hundreds of millions of Kwachas on nullified seats. Until the law requires petitioners to pay for the costs incurred in the court proceedings, and related damages to the original winner, this foolishness will continue to drain public coffers.

Bally, would the UPND ever learn to lose with honor? Pride without honor is foolishness.

32 COMMENTS

  1. Yawn! We will claim every legitimate vote cast for the upnd. Nothing immoral about this. Immoral is romanticizing the fallen PF criminal enterprise which has left Zambians with a huge debt while the fat cats disappear into the sunset to enjoy the loot. Don’t ever compare Lungu to HH who is only in power for 26 days.

    23
    7
  2. Indeed, we wait to see if the UPND petitions will go ahead and the party will have the youths backing them on the back of those fantastic promises to them of, among others, more jobs, the return of meal allowances at varsity level and the reduced cost of living. I was just listening to Radio Phoenix this morning and heard in one of the main news items Zambians complaining about why the cost of living was not reducing despite the Kwacha gaining strength against the dollar. Another main news item was a small scale farmers’ organisation challenging the new party in government to tell Zambians when the price of fertiliser was going to come down to K 250. Certainly, UPND cannot confidently go and contest PF held seats with these, and many other promises, remaining unfulfilled. The electorate…

    6
    1
  3. … may just fix Bally, if the UPND is not careful and fails to mobilise the youths to go and vote for them again in by-elections. Let drunkard Cornelius Mweetwa not cheat us that Bally is not supporting these petitions. He is backing them to the hilt in his quest to gain a parliamentary majority, as Rev. Kaoma points out. As for the opposition PF, any parliamentary by-election in their stronghold would present an opportunity to them to re-organise themselves fast and use by-elections to thank people for the opportunity they gave them to be in power and ask about whether the new UPND government was telling them about when and whether the promises made to them were going to be fulfilled, especially that they were rushing into running costly by-elections before fulfilling promises made to…

    3
    2
  4. I think Barry knows that once we discover his bluff, he will be escorted out of state house. This could be the reason why he wants to stay in his new Kasama house so that he can say, you can’t chase me from my own house. Some of these Youths will become Ballys in five years from now. No one will mess with that seat from now on, the people have discovered real power.

    7
    21
  5. Electoral malpractice did exist. It was worse at the parliamentary level than presidential. We should not allow electoral malpractice. Who says the UPND will win these seats again. These seats might go to independents or other political practices but for people to accept what we have seen in some videos where figures were been changed is not acceptable. If I was a candidate, I would not accept loss due to cheating after spending personal campaign money. Let them petition and let’s have clean candidates and no electoral malpractice.

    15
    2
  6. The president clearly discouraged petitions and advised only those that think they have legitimate claims to do so. I dont see how he is being pointed as the perpetrator of the petitions.

    15
    6
  7. The author states that one cannot win a Presidential election and have their MP candidates lose a parliamentary seat within the constituency, he uses this base and says it is an impossible occurrence, and as such, petitions are dishonest.
    That is flawed logic.
    Consider the case of Miles Sampa, who got more votes as MP for Matero than did either HH and EL, was the election unfair to either of those candidates?
    Consider also the case of Jay Banda for Petauke Central, who got more votes than EL, he stood as an independent who supported PF. With 30thousand votes for Banda and 10 thousand votes for PF’s Siliya. And 28 thousand votes for EL, would the author say the election is dishonest?

    14
    3
  8. The UPND MP Candidates in Chawama, Mandevu and Matero Constituencies believe the won their Seats and PF rigged the Elections. They have got Credible Evidence to prove this. So why should they be forced to withdraw their Petitions and donate the Seats to PF? Is that Democratic? Petitions help cleanse the Electoral System and Institutions. Electoral Institutions and Political Parties must be reminded that rigging Elections have Consequences. Let the Law take its Course.

    5
    1
  9. “The nullification of Parliamentary results should also mean the nullification of Presidential results…”
    What logic is this? The author is of the view that supposedly, one candidate in a parliamentary seat dies before the voting day (and having that parliamentary election canceled as per Constitutional requirement), that constitutuency’s presidential votes ought to declared null, since there is no measure of the ‘fairness’ of the election using parliamentary elections as a gauge.
    Author also goes on to fabricate his own stories; HH will promise jobs to other candidates, he will force others to work with him.

    9
    3
  10. Looks like ms here has a thing for bally , how come she’s always on him even when s**t does not involve him.

    Mum for your own information petitioning is a candidates right if they feel the electoral code was not followed.

    7
    3
  11. Indeed, Bally and his Party have no shame. Bally and his cohorts know that 49 Parliamentary Seats from Southern, Western and North Western provinces can be nullified by ECZ without any petition because of the conduct of their members. Even the Presidential election results in this region where HH got 1M votes more than ECL are questionable. Subtract that from what HH got and ECL will be 50,000 votes ahead. They beat PF agents and threatened ECZ officials, they even killed Kungo and others. Sometimes it’s better to let the sleeping galuz to lie. To expect good governance from UPND is being very generaous to a Party that doesn’t mean well. They’re immoral. You can’t celebrate while others are mourning. They’ve blood on their hands

    10
    12
  12. Where were you when Lungu and PF were looting and pillaging the country? Lungu crying that the elections were not free and fair shows his shallowness and stupidity. He presided over the elections, stopped HH from campaigning and had his uncle overseeing the results at ECZ. What could he petition? He lost fair and square. Conceding defeat when thoroughly beaten is not magnanimity. It is accepting the reality. Lungu lost and he at least had the sense to slouch off to Chawama in shame.

    9
    4
  13. An article written with sense from his backside…….

    PF was in power and used all forms of violence , bribing and intimidation to win most if their seats……

    The whole country knows the PF way of conduct during elections……..

    And if lungu feels cheated , he had a democratic right to challenge the elections….

    5
    2
  14. @Ayatollah. You really believe in what you are writing?!? The lengths to which PF went when trying to hold on to power are slowly coming out. No Zambian would be surprised if PF did not beat PF agents. ECZ officials were on the bandwagon until they realized that the sh.. was going to hit the fan! Cannot even put past PF for Kungo’s and others fate.

    7
    3
  15. Presidential candidate wins the election but his members of parliament lose. The election was free at the end but the process was not fair at all. HH won the popular vote because people were determined to end the PF government but some PF MPs had an unfair advantage under the circumstances that prevailed in the country. Some MPs were never able to sell their PERSONAL manifestos to their constituencies. There in lies the moral and ethical reason to petition the results. The fact that HH won an overall majority does not in any way make that election fair. Perhaps he could have one with over 2 million votes if it was fair.

  16. Too many negative comments, truth hurts! Keep writing Kapya Kaoma, without fear or favor. Zambians will not allow taking the country back to a one party state. Everyone can see through UPND and their insatiable appetite to have a one party rule. At this rate you make PF look like an angel.

    1
    2
  17. @THE SAINT,
    Good observation, and good points.
    The entire article appears to have been written by a martian from mars.

    2
    3
  18. Honestly, right now I personally don’t give a damn what Upndeads decides to do with any election result.
    Whether the Courts rules every seat upndead or not.
    Kapya, you campaigned for upndead and so you got what you wanted.
    Leave PF out of ifimalyashi fyabupuba.
    Those who feel robbed have a right to contest the results in the courts of law.
    Looks like times of reckoning are nigh.
    If you will have bye elections so be it. If upndead will gain 2/3 majority, so be it.
    You wanted a land slide, you got one. Leave Lungu out’a this upndead ‘sheet’.

    3
    1
  19. The Bally is an idi0t surrounded by bunch of idi0ts. HH has no ethical structures. His dead moral campus is supported by his conduct in the privatization of our mines and other corporates. The fact is HH is popular than UPND, and make no mistake UPND is ease to remove based on their distinct voting patterns.

    3
    1
  20. @Abena Ng’umbo,
    Naine ndi mwena Ng’umbo, but what you are writing above, is sh!t. You are embarassing the Luapula people !!!

    2
    1
  21. “UPND’s decision to petition seats lost to the PF is its democratic right” You’re wrong. The law says a person can petition and challenge the election of an MP. This simply means anyone not just candidates can file in a petition.
    Also, it’s not the UPND that’s petitioning the elections it’s the candidates.

  22. Guys, I know people are hurting and smarting from the unexpected, monumentous loss of power by the once Almighty PF.
    We have been there and felt what you’re feeling during the “Dununa Reverse” 2016 elections.

    What, for me, captures what is currently in the air from a PF perspective is the posting doing rounds on social media, in which there is a picture of Former President Rupiah Banda with the following caption:
    ” Mwenzo niseka pe neluza lomba mwaona kuti chibaba ka?!”
    The caption, when translated, reads:
    “Though you laughed at me when I lost, you now must have realised that losing hurts.”

    Like the saying goes:
    “Insansa ku chinjana – joy and celebration are not permanently bestowed on one given person, but rather befall each one in turns.”

    Yes there is Freedom…

    1
    1
  23. It seems that the UPND is not ready to govern. They are very used to opposing. Kwile ku babalika biya. if you want to see how quickly grey hairs come ask Thabo Mbeki. You telling me you had no cabinet in plans in place unless the huge national support disturbed your Southern cabinet plan… now its back to the drawing board. Elyo the diaspora supporters also want their role in UPND GRZ

  24. @general Kanene. “mwina” NOT “mwena”. Learn not to write Sh1t!!! All those who duped Zambians during privatization are 1di0ts.

Comments are closed.

Read more

Local News

Discover more from Lusaka Times-Zambia's Leading Online News Site - LusakaTimes.com

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading