By Isaac Zulu
Information minister Cornelius Mweetwa says Socialist Party (SP) leader Dr Fred M’membe must rule himself from assuming the Republican presidency in 2026, and instead focus on getting his councilors elected into office.
But Dr M’membe said Hichilema knows very well that things are not well, the ground has shifted, and the quick fix – Bally will fix it – he had promised the Zambian people to win their votes in the 2021 elections that cannot be delivered.
Speaking with Daily Revelation, Mweetwa said the UPND will continue to send ministers and other senior government officials to by-elections because they want to interact with the people whom they rarely have an opportunity to interact with on one on one basis.
Dr M’membe has castigated the UPND of desperation such that they have sent five minutes and a horde of district commissioners and money to a ward with only over 800 voters.
But Mweetwa said the ministers were there not only for the election results outcome but the challenges they will learn from the campaigns.
“We are not ashamed to go in numbers to meet our masters the electorates, we are their servants,” he said, saying he was surprised Dr M’membe was even talking about the ministers because President Hakainde Hichilema even during opposition times has been known to have campaigned in by-elections, and through that former president Edgar Lungu also used to get forced to campaign in some ward elections.
Mweetwa accused M’membe of being in political overdrive and risked burning out because political history in the country ever since multiparty democracy was reintroduced in the country shows that it is extremely difficult and most unlikely to remove a party in government which was serving its first term.
“So this political overdrive by Mr M’membe is uncalled for. He risks burning up,” he said.
But Dr M’membe and other opposition figures have argued that the UPND is a one term government and their loss will be very decisive on account of having failed to govern the country. However, Mweetwa said Dr M’membe must rule himself out for 2026.
“First of all let’s put facts on the table. Mr Fred M’membe should rule himself out first. What he should be fighting and garnering for now is to have councilors, council chairpersons, mayors and MPs, in councils and Parliament,” Mweetwa said. “That is a starting point. The UPND started with having all those first in place … So Mr M’membe also needs to come to terms with these hard realities. And what I like about him is that if what he has said before is what he believes in, you know lies have short legs and truth cannot be suppressed forever. The truth for now is that it is unprecedented for someone to come from nowhere and say I want to be a president because I talk the loudest. No! You need certain structures and this is free political advice I am giving him.”
He said Dr M’membe to be civil in his language as Zambians detest an “insulting leader.”
Mweetwa said there was no way people could start advocating for the UPND’s removal when the last two years they have been in office was just like half time, as there was still a second half to come.
“What I can tell you is that we have done a lot already. What we need to do is to engage the community, to engage our citizens more to be able to come to terms with everybody that this far what has been able to be achieved is quite unprecedented and all well-meaning Zambians do appreciate,” Mweetwa said, arguing that Zambians were good at debating political processes but they usually vote with their conscious. “This is not time for experimentation.”
He said Dr M’membe and Citizens First (CF) leader Harry Kalaba must come to terms that UPND and PF were offshoots of “a good political party MMD”, but accused SP and CF of being offshoots of “PF, a bad political party.”
Mweetwa argued that President Hichilema has fulfilled his campaign promises, by bringing sanity to Zambia, reintroduced meal allowances, free education, NAPSA partial withdrawals and payment of retirees and returning investors to KCM.
However, President Hichilema also promised that he would reduce fuel prices to K13 per liter, mealie meal to K50 per 25kg bags, fertilizer to K250 and that the Kwacha would appreciate supersonically during his term on account of investor confidence in him. He also spoke against the investor he has brought back to run KCM.
Mweetwa said only those people who thought President Hichilema would never be president can say that he was a failure.
“If somebody like this has performed the way HH has performed, if I were them I would simply join the queue and say the man has performed, but we know he will not be there muyayaya and because he will not be there muyayaya (forever) I am beginning to position myself to take over,” said Mweetwa. “Not to say he’s a failure then you become a failure yourself in failing yourself.”
But M’membe charged that the UPND leadership is exhibiting some desperation to win the forthcoming local government by-elections in Mayembe and Kapamba wards in Muchinga Province.
Dr M’membe has wondered why the UPND, which he said claims to be a very popular ruling, could send five cabinet ministers and a horde of district commissioners to go and campaign in Mayembe and Kapamba wards.
He said that this is an attempt to kill a fly with a hammer.
“Why should the UPND, which claims to be a very popular ruling party, send five cabinet ministers, a horde of district commissioners and other civil servants with government motor vehicles and a lot of money to go and campaign in Shiwang’andu’s Mayembe ward by-election where there are only 846 registered voters? The situation is not very different in Mpika’s Kapamba Ward by-election where there are 2,017 registered voters,” Dr M’membe stated. “Isn’t this desperation? Isn’t this an attempt to kill a fly with a hammer? Will they be able to fraudulently and criminally campaign like this in this ward and everywhere else in the 2026 general elections? Doesn’t this mean a realisation that things are not good for them?”
He also stated that President Hichilema is gripped with fear of losing power, which he said is propelling his decisions and actions in the political arena.
He further stated that the Zambian people are tired of President Hichilema and the UPND’s lies, deception and tribalism, adding that even the attempt to mask this fear with a macho posturing is failing and cannot be concealed anymore.
“We know that Mr Hakainde Hichilema is now gripped by fear of losing power. It is fear that is now propelling his decisions and actions in the political arena. Mr Hichilema knows very well that things are not well, the ground has shifted, and the quick fixed – Bally will fix it – he had promised the Zambian people to win their votes in the 2021 elections that cannot be delivered. He knows the people are tired of lies, deception, and tribalism,” Dr M’membe stated. “Even the attempt to mask this fear with a macho posturing is failing – it cannot be concealed anymore. His vulnerabilities are showing on his face and can be picked in his tone and speeches too. He knows he is going, hence the desperation like we have seen in the recent by elections.”
He added that the UPND are in a rude awakening in the next general elections, adding that the UPND government’s exit will be predictable and decisive.
“But let them fool themselves into thinking and believing that they are delivering and establishing themselves for another victory in 2026. Otherwise, they are in for a rude awakening in the next general elections. Their exit will be so predictable and decisive! This is no exaggeration of what awaits them,” stated Dr M’membe.
