The United Kwacha Alliance (UKA) is a collection of small, weak parties that are hardly known beyond their owners’ backyards. Just how pathetic the nonentity statuses of these parties and their so-called presidents are was on full display at the rally held in Kitwe’s Kwacha township today under the ticket of Harry Kalaba’s party, Citizens First, a member of the alliance.
There was Harry Kalaba, who, lest we forget, has participated as a presidential candidate in two general elections and did very well scoring a lot of zeros – with nothing to show for anything – at some point struggling to keep the interest of the crowd that went to his own party’s rally! Umwine wa ng’anda bakana ukumumfwa in preference for the neighbor or friend!
Each successive speaker who took the podium could only keep the crowd engaged and enchanted by mentioning Edgar Lungu. Worse, some of the speakers were literally booed off with chants of “Lungu! Lungu!” People went there for Lungu and ichimpwena.
How does one feel holding the title of party president, yet the people whose votes he aspires to attract look behind him to their supposed powerhouse? How wimpy is that!
Some of the ‘presidents’ do not even pretend or try. They outrightly ascribe the ‘big man’ status to Lungu, like ba Dan Pule. How are you so devoid of self-esteem that you know very well that your political fortunes lie with a single man – one who has been tried and rejected?
So, ba Lungu is the wall behind which a whole collection of little people who know that combined, they wouldn’t even get 1% of the vote stand. He is their destiny-holder, a feeling that no doubt pumps him up to the fullest with self-importance and dreams of reclaiming the grandeur that he previously came to by chance and trifled with.
He is the only recognizable and relatable name among the lot, the crowd puller and promise sweetener. Let’s be honest: Other than Harry Kalaba, known because he served in government fairly recently and broke ranks with the very person before whom he now grovels, and Saboi Imboela, recognizable for whatever nonsensical notoriety she has created for herself, how many of those party holders will stand somewhere or walk the streets, and even 2 out of 10 Zambians recognize them?
Which generations of Zambians know Dan Pule and Sakwiba Sikota, and for what do they remember them in politics and otherwise? The others are not even worth a thought.
If a simple recognition of your face and name is nearly impossible, how do you hope to perform on the ballot? Zambian politics has had enough jokers for much too long. Please quit with these sorry comic acts. Find some day jobs or something and don’t waste people’s time. By all means, entertain the masses with your rallies if you must, but don’t be under any illusions that your parties or names carry any weight with them. If you can’t accept this fact, you can’t be helped.
Free advice: since unseating the government is your sole objective, and last I checked, your muse belongs to a faction of the party he once led. This makes it really murky what the PF’s position is in UKA. Is it not better to dissolve your small home shops and form a new party where you install your king to his undisputed throne? It’s apparent to those of us watching that Lungu nga talipo, bonse imwe muli bangwele. So, stop lying to yourselves already. You have shown your trump card too soon, and you all reek of desperation.
