By Guest Writer
Early in February 2024, Zambians were treated to much fanfare about a new player in politics–one that would be a serious contender in the 2026 elections. Amid a whirlwind roadshow of media appearances with the slogans “Ukani, kwacha, we’ve slept for too long” the United Kwacha Alliance (UKA) was introduced to Zambia’s already murky political stage.
Composed of nine political parties at its formation, the only new thing about UKA was, well, that it was a new alliance. This was not the first time in Zambian politics that different political parties had come together to form a united front. The current government itself is in an alliance. It may possibly be the only alliance that has survived because all the others before it died. One may argue that the survival of the UPND Alliance, as it is called, is fortuitous. Formed shortly before the elections in 2021, this marriage has hardly been tested largely because they immediately walked into victory.
I would hazard a guess that had it been formed long before the polls, it, too, would have crumbled in the similitude of other pacts before it, including those the UPND had belonged to. Actually, it hasn’t been spared some cracks. What with alliance member-turned-critic Kelvin Bwalya Fube having abandoned ship not long after it had docked. Were they not in government, my money is on it having cracked or fizzled into obscurity by now.
Seen from the historical context of failed political pacts in Zambia, the surprise would have been UKA surviving two-and-a-half years as a coalition of disparate egos, ambitions, and expectations to successfully contest the polls in 2026, especially given that they coalesced only for the sole purpose of unseating the current government. Therein are people who have insulted each other, dumped each other, resigned from governments led by others, and all in this not in the distant past!
Alas! The expectations of many Zambians regarding UKA appear to be on the road to fulfillment. Wednesday morning, we woke up to the “bombshell” of the expulsion of three member presidents – Dan Pule, Sean Tembo, and Peter Sinkamba – from the Alliance. Right behind these expulsions were withdrawals and resignations, as accusations and counter-accusations were thrown around.
Many political alliances in Zambia fail because members jostle for positions and lack ideological common ground. They come together with the sole object of unseating a serving government and nothing beyond that. It would appear that UKA has not departed from that script.
Compounding this challenge is the weight the member parties carry. Truth be told, the majority of the nine founding and current parties will not even move the needle on the scale of national elections. Even where there’s strength in numbers, if, on their own, those parties fail to collect even 1% of the total electorate vote, surely combining forces will not do much for them! People will not necessarily choose someone they have previously dismally rejected simply because he teams up with another equally rejected person.
It’s a no-brainer that in this position, the Alliance looks for a party or individual with the necessary pull factor, and for UKA, Edgar Lungu (and whichever part of the PF goes along with him) was it. But Lungu and PF can also be the proverbial poisoned chalice. Does he repel or attract, build or destroy?
Those are some of the questions UKA and any other alliance of political parties seeking to unite for a common purpose cannot avoid considering.
