BRIEFING | NRPUP says Tembo remains Opposition Leader, disputes Kampyongo selection The National Reconciliation Party for Unity and Prosperity has rejected reports that Shiwang’andu MP Stephen Kampyongo was elected Leader of the Opposition, saying an earlier decision naming party president Ezra Tembo remains in force. The clarification exposes conflicting accounts from within Zambia’s largest opposition […]

BRIEFING | NRPUP says Tembo remains Opposition Leader, disputes Kampyongo selection

The National Reconciliation Party for Unity and Prosperity has rejected reports that Shiwang’andu MP Stephen Kampyongo was elected Leader of the Opposition, saying an earlier decision naming party president Ezra Tembo remains in force. The clarification exposes conflicting accounts from within Zambia’s largest opposition party over who should lead its parliamentary bloc.

NRPUP Secretary General Nonde Mubanga said MPs had already agreed at a September 3 caucus meeting to propose Tembo for the position and the decision had subsequently been communicated to the National Assembly in writing. He acknowledged Kampyongo’s name emerged at the later September 27 caucus, but disputed reports that meeting produced a final decision replacing Tembo.

“Hon. Ezra Tembo is the duly settled Leader of the Opposition,” the party said in its formal response.

The clarification follows reports that NRPUP MPs had elected Kampyongo on September 27, citing Article 74(2) of the Constitution. The provision states that the opposition political party holding the largest number of National Assembly seats “shall elect a Leader of the Opposition from amongst the Members of Parliament who are from the opposition.”

Parliamentary rules also require the party to communicate its decision to the Speaker in writing.

The dispute therefore turns on more than competing announcements. One account says the September 3 caucus settled the matter in Tembo’s favour and was followed by formal notification to Parliament. The competing account says MPs subsequently elected Kampyongo.

A 2024 Constitutional Court judgment involving former Opposition Leader Brian Mundubile held that selecting the Leader of the Opposition is an internal process of the largest opposition party, with the Speaker receiving formal communication rather than choosing the office-holder.

For now, NRPUP’s official position is that Tembo remains its choice and that the September 27 discussion did not overturn the earlier decision.

Kampyongo is still listed by the National Assembly as an NRPUP MP on the back bench. The conflicting accounts, however, point to an unresolved question inside the parliamentary bloc: whether all of its MPs accept the party leadership’s interpretation of what was decided at the two caucus meetings.

The immediate institutional question now rests with the parliamentary record. Until the National Assembly formally reflects a change, reports of a replacement should be treated as disputed rather than settled.

What began as a contest over a parliamentary office is increasingly revealing a wider argument inside NRPUP over where authority sits between the party leadership and its MPs.

– The People’s Brief | Chileshe Sengwe