By Isaac Zulu
Advocates for People’s Prosperity leader Mwenya Musenge has charged that the UPND administration has neglected its alliance partners.
In an interview, Musenge, who is also former Chimwemwe member of parliament, said that the only leaders of political parties that went into an alliance with the UPND had benefited from the said arrangement, while the general membership from their respective political organisations who helped the UPND to form government in 2021 had been relegated to the peripherals.
He explained that while the UPND administration had offered some leaders of alliance partners’ employment in government, the majority general membership have been reduced to “begging from government offices.”
“The so called UPND Alliance that was formed prior to the 2021 general elections is a failed project. It is a failed project because only leaders of political parties that went into that alliance have benefited from that arrangement. Most of them have been offered employment as ministers or permanent secretaries while their members have been neglected to the extent that they are going round government ministries and offices of district commissioners, asking for jobs or contracts under the Constituency Development Fund (CDF),” Musenge said.
He said Zambia was not ripe for political alliances, saying leaders that go into alliances lack some sincerity.
“Political alliances are not a new phenomenon in Zambia. But the problem with political pacts or alliances, as it were, is that leaders of political parties that go in these alliances tend not to be sincere… they lack some sincerity. And that is why these political alliances do not succeed, but end up in failed projects. You also need to understand the agenda of a political alliance. If the objective is just to remove President Hakainde Hichilema from power. After that, then what? For me, Zambia is not mature enough to form successful alliances or a pact,” he said.
Musenge also said the Advocates for People’s Prosperity would not go into an alliance with any political organisation, saying his party would concentrate on building capacity among party members as well as popularise its ideologies and values.
“For us as APP, we want to concentrate on building capacity among our party members. Popularise our party ideologies and values so that the general membership can buy into our party ideologies and principles. For now, it has not crossed our minds to go into any political alliance,” said Musenge, who also served as Copperbelt minister.
