By-elections: Shape of things to come
RECISELY five days from today, the electorate in Chifubu and Luena constituencies and in nine wards in seven provinces will be trekking to the polling stations to elect their representatives in Parliament and councils.The Chifubu by-election in Ndola on the Copperbelt has been caused by the death of Benson Mwamba who represented the Patriotic Front (PF), while the Luena seat fell vacant following the resignation of Charles Milupi who was an Independent.
Mr Milupi has formed a party, the Alliance for Democracy and Development (ADD) on whose ticket he is re-contesting the seat.
Similarly seats in nine wards of councils in seven provinces apart from Lusaka and North-western fell vacant due to deaths, resignations, or convictions in courts of law.
The August 5 parliamentary and local government by-elections merit special focus because the Chifubu constituency, for instance, has been dominated by the PF which has formed a marriage of convenience with the United Party for National Development (UPND) and the “pact” is apparently crumbling.
According to President Banda’s observation when he addressed a campaign rally at Limulunga Basic School in Litunga Lubosi Imwiko II’s winter capital in Mongu on Tuesday, the current differences in the PF-UPND pact is proof that the motive of forming the alliance between the two political parties was for the leaders to ascend to power and not to serve the people.
The “pact” is failing to agree on its presidential candidate for the 2011 tripartite elections. PF members are insisting that it should be the party leader Michael Sata, while those of the UPND are staying put or rather, they have their heels dug on Hakainde Hichilema.
Signs of the “pact” falling apart surfaced when the two parties fielded separate candidates in Chanjowe Ward of Chadiza in the Eastern Province and Longe Ward in Kaoma in the Western Province for the August 5 local government by-elections.
Political observers are eagerly awaiting the outcome of both the Chifubu and Luena polls. While the Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) is seemingly fed up with losing in both constituencies, it remains to be seen whether the crumbling PF-UPND pact can still withstand the ruling party’s revitalised onslaught. It will be interesting to see whether Mr Milupi, in particular, has made Luena more or less his personal-to-holder seat.
The result of the Luena seat will give ADD members in particular and the nation as a whole an indication whether the new party will stand a chance during the 2011 elections, particularly if Mr Milupi intends to stand as a presidential candidate. For now I dare say that ADD is a party of unknown quantity. With anxiety starting to grip the electorate as we draw nearer and ever so nearer to 2011, the outcome of the August 5 by-elections will be the shape of things to come, as far as I can see.
We may now look at the candidates in the two parliamentary constituencies. In Chifubu, four parties have fielded candidates. They are Brian Banda for the ADD; Berina Kawandami of the PF; John Mambwe of the United National Independence Party (UNIP); and Frank Ng’ambi of MMD.
Five candidates are contesting the Luena seat. They are Muyunda Ililonga of the UPND; Mwangala Maopu of MMD; Charles Milupi of ADD; Sikatala Musole of the United Liberal Party (ULP); and Mutakela Mutakela of UNIP.
Although I don’t want to be drawn into predicting the winners, I don’t need Solomon’s wisdom to realise that the candidate who belongs to a party with the best manifesto, the one with vivid and proven viable development policies, will soar above like Mount Kilimanjaro while the rest will go home to lick their wounds.
In elections there are victors and the vanquished, unless one candidate is nominated unopposed. In that case he carries the day. As I have said, I won’t make predictions. I leant a good lesson during the recent World Cup tournament when I backed Germany during a crucial match against Spain. We were watching the game in a noisy watering hole and we wagered 50-pin each. Lo and behold, when the referee blew the final whistle tears rolled on my cheeks. The watering hole tender who was the keeper of the cool cash, distributed it to those who backed Spain and I walked home with holes in the pockets, and to add concentrated sulphuric acid to injury those stingy chaps were so mean that they couldn’t even stand me one, you know what I mean.
So don’t force me to make predictions. When my predictions go wrong I will be forced to eat my own words and that is akin to swallowing a double dose of rat poison. For now, I would like to make believe that all the candidates for both Chifubu and Luena constituencies are on even ground. I mean, you don’t go to battle when you know that you are going to be walloped.
At this juncture, I am appealing to candidates who will be defeated to accept the outcome. The best thing for them to do will be to shake the hands of the victors, congratulating them like there would be no tomorrow while patting them on the backs.
And those who will be victors must not forget to invite the vanquished to their victory parties to wine and dine and dance the night away and even ask for more. Together in a true spirit of brotherhood they should crack jokes, like this:
It was polling day and two buddies, Hang’ombe Habasimbi and Hopani Sipesu were walking to the polling station. On the way they stopped at a watering hole for one-one and within minutes that became two-two.
Then they decided to have one each for the road. Hopani Sipesu was a faster guzzler and he soon downed his third one while Hang’ombe Habasimbi still remained with three-quarters full of the brown bottle in his hand.
“Habasimbi, drink up so that we go and vote early. The future of Zambia is in your hands,” advised Hopani Sipesu.
Habasimbi took a good look at the brown bottle in his hand, smiled and only said: “Really?”
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