Former MMD Muchinga Member of Parliament Howard Kunda has announced the formation of a new political party called Zambia Wake-Up Party (ZAWAPA).
Mr. Kunda, the ZAWAPA interim President, has confirmed that ZAWAPA was registered in May 2023 and is expected to be launched around mid August 2023 in Ndola.
The former Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee Chairperson revealed that the party symbol is a human head.
Mr. Kunda, the son of late former Republican vice President in the MMD regime George Kunda, said ZAWAPA has been founded on the basis of combining humanism and capitalism ideologies.
He charged that the current capitalists running the affairs of the nation have failed because of overdependence on foreign investment saying Zambia will only be developed by indigenous people.
Mr. Kunda said capitalism must have a human face for the people to fully benefit as opposed to the current situation where money or profits are made at the expense of human dignity.
“This party is standing for the Zambian people. We shouldn’t be looking at the outside world to come and develop our country because if it were so we would have had this country developed a long time ago. As you know we have been mining and that is the other thing we looked at. We have been in mining for the past years even before gaining independence. We have not seen that tangeable benefit because we are not developed. We are just every time trying to develop. So it is ourself to develop and not the foreigners because when you look at this government, its emphasis is on investment by the outside world but they are not looking at the Zambian because this country cannot be developed by foreigners it can only be developed by the Zambian people, its own people. So we would like be a bridge on that gap,” Mr. Kunda said.
He declared that ZAWAPA will contest the 2026 General Elections and dislodge the Hakainde Hichilema led UPND regime from Government.
Mr. Kunda urged youths, women and men of goodwill and common ideas to join ZAWAPA.
He said ZAWAPA has gained momentum even before its launch as it has already establised structures across the country.
“We are bringing leadership that will empower the Zambian people and not to all the time when you build a house then Government is just there now saying you can’t build because ACC will visit you, Drug Enforcement Commission will visit you, the Police will visit you. What kind of a country does this Government want to build? I think that we are here as an alternative and we are unstoppable,” he said.
“We are going to make sure that come 2026 we grab that seat of authority and give it back to the people because we want our people, the people of Zambia to be in charge of their affairs. In short, I am saying that we are going to be dealing with the humanism, that is our stance and capitalism. You see, we have always dealt with one side, either you are using humanism or you are using capitalism so we want to blend these two ideologies because you can’t say, you are dealing with humanism without the capital, then you will not develop. So you cannot also say, you are dealing with capitalism without humanism because then with capitalism the money will be there but the human touch won’t be there,” Mr. Kunda continued.
“We want to blend humanism and capitalism so that we can have a complete set. That is the people and the capital. That is what we are trying to bring to the Zambian people and present ourselves to the Zambian people to that we are here. We mean well. We would want to give back to the Zambian people the expertise that they gave me to aquire when I was member of Parliament for Muchinga Constituency, Public Accounts Committee Chairperson, Secretary General of SADC on Transparency and as Executive Committee Member of the Commonwealth Public Accounts Committees,” he said.
Mr. Kunda served as Serenje’s Muchinga Constituency Member of Parliament from 2012 to 2021 on the MMD ticket.
The 48-year old business administrator decided not to re-contest the Muchinga Parliamentary seat in 2021.
They know there’s free money in Politics…soon he will start singing praise and getting brown envelopes from Bandit President HH…..these days people look for the easiest way of making money…every Jim and jack now wants to become an influencer….tiktoker…vlogger…youtuber you name it…these are now new careers…and they don’t bring any development whatsoever
Zoona ati Zawapa… imagination of this guy is amazing…these are the same guys who can make Zambia rich by earning Forex after turning heroes stadium into a swimming pool so that we win competitions by swimming…but seriously well done comrade and wishing you the best with your party
Even though this is a democracy, dont these people know that just a name can kill a party before it is even launched. I hope it wont be like these parties where the proprietor is the President, Vice Presdent, SG, party spokesperson and a membership himself like Green party, Pep and for Winter
F00Iish move. Just join pf and stop wasting valuable time and resources