By Daily Revelation Reporters
Economic Front (EF) leader Wynter Kabimba says the decision to bar opposition PF candidates, Bowman Lusambo and Joe Malanji from contesting elections by ECZ is emanating from the ongoing “purge” being conducted by President Hakainde Hichilema at the Commission to secure his 2026 re-election.
But Local Government minister Garry Nkombo said the UPND was are not scared of anyone, including Lusambo, heading into the Kabushi and Kwacha parliamentary by-elections.
Speaking with Daily Revelation, Kabimba said following the communication to former ECZ chairperson Justice Esau Chuulu, from a letter by the President that he was not renewing his contract as chairperson of the commission, that has been followed up by the the”constructive dismissal” of former chief electoral officer Patrick Nshindano, which he said had been disguised as an ordinary separation.
He said there has been a gradual “purge” from the commission, saying the one which is a lot more serious is the letter personally written by the President to commission Vice-chairperson Emily Sikazwe asking her to go on paid leave even when she is in possession of a contract running up to 2027, saying this was being done because she was perceived to be from the former president Edgar Lungu’s era.
He charged that President Hichilema was putting pressure on her in his ongoing attempts to “purge” people so that he can replace them with “his cronies” and guarantee his self an election victory in 2026.
Kabimba said President Hichilema’s sole focus was not to deliver on his election promises but to seek out ways of holding on to power in 2026 by subjugating all the institutions of governance to his electoral desires.
“That is what is keeping him awake at night. So this decision by CZ yesterday, which I call a decision over which ECZ has made a fool of itself, must be seen against that background that there is a long hand in the background that is arm twisting ECZ,” Kabimba said.
He said if ECZ thought Lusambo and Malanji were not eligible, the best they could have done was to announce their nominations as invalid after they had already filed in, as this would give them a basis on which to go to the courts.
Kabimba said it has never happened in the history of the country where a candidate’s nomination is declared invalid even before submitting the nomination papers.
“That’s why I am saying that ECZ has made a fool of itself,” he said, adding that the validity of one’s nomination is only announced after the candidate has submitted.
Kabimba said he was happy the Law Association of Zambia promptly made a position over the matter, and that it was his hope that “ECZ would go back to its masters and say that look, you have made us look like we don’t know our job, can you allow us to do our job?”
He said even if ECZ accepted the nominations, it was still open to any citizen to challenge those nominations in seven day, wondering why they were in a hurry, and suggesting that they were doing so because of the heavy hand behind it, which he said was arm-twisting ECZ to ensure that Lusambo and Malanji did not file in.
“This is extremely unjust. This is a breach of the rule of law which HH has been preaching about since he came to learn that phrase, which in my view he doesn’t even seem to understand. If he does then he must be a very strong man that he can preach the rule of law on one hand and on the other hand adulterate the same principle,” said Kabimba.
Lusambo, in an earlier interview, had charged that the UPND leadership is scared of the two candidates that the Patriot Front has adopted ahead of the Kabushi and Kwacha parliamentary by-elections slated for September 16.
Lusambo, who is also former Lusaka Province minister, said that the UPND is a dead political party, which cannot win an election, saying it is for this reason that the ruling party is using state institutions such as the Electoral Commission of Zambia to bar the PF adopted candidates from contesting the said parliamentary by-elections.
Reacting to the statement by Lusambo, the UPND national chairperson for elections urged the Patriot Front leadership and their candidates to “put their house in order and get down to campaign because no one is scared of them.”
He said there is no way the UPND can interfere in the operations of the Electoral Commission of Zambia because the ruling party has repeatedly said that such institutions should be “given the autonomy in their operations.”
“Mwana… I am in Kabushi constituency already as we are speaking. We are not scared of anyone, including Bowman Lusambo. The Patriot Front should just put their house together. Let them put their house in order and get down to campaign. We are more than ready for any political party that will participate in these parliamentary by-elections,” said Nkombo.
