By Patson Chilemba
Hakainde Hichilema is a dictator, nobody coughs or sniffs in UPND, former UPND alliance member Lucky Mulusa has charged.
And Mulusa has charged that Technology and Science minister and MDC leader Felix Mutati rides on people’s backs to escort him to particular personal achievements and then he moves on while dumping those who help him get there.
Speaking with Daily Revelation, Mulusa who recently resigned as secretary general from the UPND aligned MDC, was asked on his impression of President Hichilema and the UPND in general, during the time he worked with them. Responding, Mulusa said “Hichilema is a dictator in UPND.”
“He’s a dictator. Nobody coughs, nobody sniffs. Yah! That is the point. He’s actually a dictator and President Hichilema is a danger to Zambia. At least if he should have been a benign dictator. But then he’s such a dictator,” Mulusa charged. “I will give you an example, he’s been our leader in Zambia for the past nine months now. You ask me how many cabinet meetings has he held? Less than six. How many decisions that qualify to be cabinet decisions have been pronounced? So many. Meaning that there is an element of state capture. There is already an element of state capture induced because a lot of decisions in governance must be outcomes of cabinet decisions. But he hasn’t been holding cabinet decisions, yet his government has had pronouncements of things that have been decided upon.”
On Science and Technology minister Mutati whose leadership he served under, Mulusa urged Mutati to allow his conscience to guide him, wondering how it was that his entire membership wanted him to be on the ballot in 2026 yet he has accepted a ministerial position.
“So at what time does he disengage to start campaigning on behalf of his party? Because the only way you can campaign against the ruling party is to talk against what they are doing. What you are seeing wrong. Now when you accept a ministerial position, you actually paralyze your own party. There is paralysis. Mutati has introduced paralysis in his own political party,” Mulusa said, arguing that the UPND cadres rejected the alliance membership. “They get rejected and when they go to their own party they are told to stay mute. And yet people need to be active to serve the Zambian people.”
With regards Mutati’s fortune in being appointed minister in the alliances he serves under, Mulusa said someone from Mutati’s previous political undertaking would be able to provide a diagnostic perspective on how he always seems to get it.
He said the same thing which happened in 2016 when Mutati’s MMD faction worked with former president Lungu, leading to him being appointed Finance minister has happened now with Mutati being appointed Technology minister by President Hichilema after his MDC joined hands with UPND in the 2021 general elections.
“So maybe someone from the 2016 who would have had a double tragedy under Mutati as now can probably comment properly. So you go back into your archives and find out who was key to Mutati’s presidency in 2015, 2016 when he joined the PF and he became minister of Finance and what has happened today when he joined UPND and became minister of Technology and whatever, and say ‘how do you interpret this?’” Mulusa said. “But assertion is actually correct to say he rides on people to escort him to a particular achievement, personal achievement, and then he moves on and dumps everybody.”
Asked what gave him the guarantee that joining hands with the other opposition political parties will succeed seeing that he was just coming from MDC which was in an alliance with UPND, which alliance he has issues with, Mulusa said governance and politics was a continuous process, where people got disappointed and “restart the struggle hoping that you reach a stage where you will have fulfilled your aspirations to say the people should have been served in this manner.”
He described the UPND alliance as simply having joined the Zambian people to ensure that “the PF’s desire to leave power” was actually assisted and accelerated, saying the PF negotiated their own exit as the the end of their era was characterised with the showing off of millions of Kwachas on duvets worth K95 million.
Mulusa said going forward, the battle became that of the Zambian people against the PF, arguing that the 2021 elections was not between the PF and the UPND, but the Zambian people against the PF after the PF negatively sold themselves to the masses.
“The UPND easily walked into the void because they were the foremost (opposition) political party, not that the UPND was pitted against the PF. It was the Zambian people against the PF,” Mulusa said. “The UPND never created enough critical mass to be able to defeat the PF. The PF themselves added a catalyst that made them be kicked out of power by the people. The void that was created, because governance is a continuous process, so the void that was created and it needed somebody to fill. It was filled by the UPND.”
But Mulusa said the UPND “wrongly or mistakenly” thought they were so popular that they beat the PF.
“No! The PF was never beaten by the UPND. It was a revolution by the people. But the the UPND has failed to manage the revolution, has dismally failed to manage the revolution. So the UPND are on their way out,” he said.
But put to him that the same PF which was kicked out of government for the same arrogance he has pointed to was the same one he had joined hands with to “provide effective checks and balances”, and asked further what guarantee he had that the PF has now repented from its misdeeds, Mulusa said he was interacting with the PF because they have come out in the open and apologised, saying party acting president Given Lubinda came out and said his political party became too arrogant and was drunk with power.
“So who am I not to forgive them and work with them when they have apologised, when Jesus Christ admits sinners who simply confess their sins? So the PF have admitted that they were wrong. So why should I hold grudges against them when they have apologised?” Mulusa asked. “…But what has happened is where PF has apologised, UPND has become arrogant. The UPND has become arrogant. So my working with PF is not like I am going back to the vomit that I did previously. It’s just that PF has now agreed with me.”
Mulusa said when he served as minister under the PF administration of Edgar Lungu, he used to tell them about their wrongs and would come out strongly in doing so, which caused him to be fired as a result of speaking out, but they have now apologised.
“I sacrificed my ministerial position (as National Planning minister) on behalf of the Zambian people. So I am not going to hold it against PF anymore,” he said.
Asked if the opposition group harbored ideas of forming an alliance in future, Mulusa said there was already a coming together but what has not been defined is the future, as the only thing agreed on right now was how they should interact on issues of national interest to have a common understanding on them.
“For instance if we are talking about gay rights, can we be seen as opposition groupings to have one voice on behalf of the Zambian people,” said Mulusa, citing that as just an example
Mulusa said he felt honored that despite having no political party his colleagues included him in the meeting of presidents of political parties.
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