The impending parliamentary by-elections; who’s to blame?

Following a point of order raised on the floor of the House by the Choma member of parliament Hon. Cornelius Mweetwa on why some members of parliament that had been expelled from their political party were still sitting in the House and enjoying subsidised meals and alcohol at Parliament Motel, Second Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Moses Moyo consequently declared their seats vacant in his ruling.

The 9 affected MPs include Ronald Kaoma Chitotela (Pambashe), Nickson Chilangwa (Kawambwa), Christopher Kangombe (Kamfinsa), Remember Chanda Mutale (Chitambo), Brian Mundubile (Mporokoso) Stephen Kampyongo (Shiwangandu), Mulenga Fube (Chilubi), Mutotwe Kafwaya (Lunte) and Emmanuel Mpakata (Lupososhi).

A number of people have questioned this decision with the former ruling party accusing the executive of having a hand in the grand scheme of things.

Obviously, these by-elections are going to bleed an economy that is already besieged by a myriad of challenges such as the power outages and scarcity of our staple food – maize, resulting from the severe drought. There are no two ways about it, democracy is expensive! In 1991, we as a country chose to take the route of democracy; we are therefore left with little or no option, but bear the costs of sustaining our democracy.

But, who then must be apportioned the blame of occasioning these unnecessary by-elections?

First and foremost, the party that finds itself at the centre of controversy is known for disorderlines and total confusion! PF actually deserves an entry into the Guinness book of world records for being the only political party in the world for having 3 presidents at the same time.

When the political party just suffered a humiliating defeat in the last elections, its leader Edgar Lungu hastily wrote Cabinet Office informing them of his decision to retire from active politics, pronto. Smelling a vacancy in the office of the president, the Matero member of parliament, Hon. Miles Sampa, who has since crafted a name for himself as Mbappe – after the prolific French striker, quickly organised a convention and got ‘elected’ as party president, unanimously! He went ahead and appointed his kandiles then, the Mafinga member of parliament Hon. Robert Chabinga as leader of the opposition in parliament and one Morgan Ng’ona as Secretary General.

This was actually a case of history repeating itself as Lungu had outmaneuvered the supposedly smart Sampa and had himself ‘voted in’ as party president through a mere show of hands by bogus delegates as our former president Guy Scott reveals in his autobiography Adventure in African politics.

This wasn’t taken well by the said MPs of course and they quickly disowned him. In return, Sampa cracked the whip and gave them matching orders! The speaker was informed, accordingly.

A few months down the line though, Sampa would initiative a move that would leave everyone with jaws dropping. In a matter of time, photos of the nephew to the late founder of the political party would find their way on Social media of him enjoying tea without biscuits with the former head of state.

Immediately Sampa walked away from that meeting, he’d have a change of heart and write to the speaker of the National Assembly informing them of his decision to grant amnesty to 7 of the affected individuals. However, parliament had already made a decision and went on to nullify the seats amidst protests from the PF and a few others.

It would be important to appreciate that the speaker’s office is obviously quite busy; it deals with a lot of incoming and outgoing correspondence on a daily basis. It’s therefore wrong to assume that once a letter has been delivered and stamped by the clerks, it has automatically been attended to by the relevant authorities. What sort of backward reasoning is this?

Anyway, in its usual style of confusion, Chabinga’s camp decides to axe Sampa as party president and installs himself as president with Ng’ona assuming the role of Secretary General. Simply put, the PF now has three individuals claiming custodianship of the party; how this problem is going to be sorted out is a matter of guess work.

In conclusion, the PF has made its own bed of thorns and must now be prepared to sleep on it! Why should they keep on dragging in other people in the confusion of their own making?

Malibu yakuitemwena aya, and you must now pay the price!

Prince Bill M Kaping’a
Polical/Social Analyst