UNITY YES — BUT NOT AT THE EXPENSE OF THOSE UPND MEMBERS WHO CARRIED THE PARTY THROUGH THE STORM

UNITY YES — BUT NOT AT THE EXPENSE OF THOSE UPND MEMBERS WHO CARRIED THE PARTY THROUGH THE STORM By: Dr Larry Mweetwa Nobantu, let us have this conversation openly and respectfully. Many of us sacrificed enormously for this party called UPND. We stood with it when doing so was difficult, unpopular and sometimes personally […]

UNITY YES — BUT NOT AT THE EXPENSE OF THOSE UPND MEMBERS WHO CARRIED THE PARTY THROUGH THE STORM

By: Dr Larry Mweetwa

Nobantu, let us have this conversation openly and respectfully.

Many of us sacrificed enormously for this party called UPND. We stood with it when doing so was difficult, unpopular and sometimes personally costly. We defended it through defeat, criticism , some of us deported and exiled and with uncertainty because we believed in something bigger than ourselves will come.

Today, as we rightly embrace reconciliation and national unity, we must also be courageous enough to discuss loyalty, institutional memory and fairness.

We have witnessed situations where people who previously fought against us crossed over and, almost immediately, were recommended for senior appointments such as Permanent Secretary positions. Some later turned around and attacked the very people who welcomed them. That experience should teach us something.

Ino swebo who have been with the party through thick and thin, mutubikali?

This is not bitterness. It is not hatred. Neither should somebody dismiss the discussion by saying, “ino Larry wambaula buti?” Mature political organisations must create space for uncomfortable conversations.

There is an African saying: “The child who carried the firewood should not be forgotten when the food is ready.”

National reconciliation is necessary. Bringing competent people from outside our traditional political family into Government can strengthen Zambia. But reconciliation should never mean that loyal, hardworking and competent UPND members are systematically pushed to the back of the queue.

We can open the door without throwing the owners of the house outside.

There is also an important lesson from the PF era and the leadership of the late President Edgar Lungu. Leadership becomes vulnerable when people surrounding the leader tell him only what they believe he wants to hear. Loyalty is not perpetual applause.

A genuine loyalist sometimes has to say: “Sir, I respectfully disagree.”

That person may actually be more valuable than ten people saying, “Everything is fine, Sir,” when the ground is communicating something completely different.

As the saying goes, “The friend who tells you about the hole in the road loves you more than the one who praises your driving while you approach it.”

President Hakainde Hichilema deserves people around him who will celebrate his successes but also respectfully tell him where adjustments are required. That is not disloyalty. That is responsible loyalty.

So as we pursue One Zambia, One Nation, accommodate former opponents and heal after a divisive election, let us maintain the right balance:

Reward competence. Recognise sacrifice. Protect institutional loyalty. Welcome new talent. And never punish people merely because they are courageous enough to speak the truth.

The UPND must remain a broad church, but a broad church should still remember those who helped build it when there was no congregation.

“Never forget the people who stood with you in the rain simply because the sun has finally come out.”

Let us unite Zambia. Let us accommodate others. Let us govern for everybody.

But let us also remember our own.

ONE ZAMBIA, ONE NATION. 🇿🇲

The proposal by Tonse Alliance Secretary General Dr Chris Zumani Zimba deserves serious consideration—not necessarily because every number he proposes should be accepted, but because the central idea of dialogue, reconciliation and national healing is timely after a deeply competitive election.

Dr Zimba has publicly proposed a framework under which NRPUP/Tonse would accept the election outcome and pursue reconciliation rather than a presidential petition, while suggesting representation in a unity government through 4 Cabinet positions, 4 diplomatic appointments, 4 Permanent Secretary positions, 4 parastatal CEO positions and 30 District Commissioner positions.

There is wisdom in opening the door to reconciliation. But opening the door does not require removing the people who built the house.

NATIONAL UNITY MUST NOT BECOME POLITICAL DISPLACEMENT

President Hakainde Hichilema can demonstrate statesmanship by accommodating competent people from NRPUP/Tonse and other political formations. Zambia needs to move from the language of winners and losers towards the language of one country, one people and one development agenda.

But accommodation must be carefully calibrated.

There are UPND members who remained loyal when belonging to the party was neither fashionable nor politically convenient. Some sacrificed careers, resources, businesses, family time and personal security. Others organised communities through successive electoral defeats and continued believing when victory appeared distant.

Those people cannot suddenly become strangers at the dinner table they helped to prepare.

As the African proverb reminds us:

“Do not forget the hands that helped you cross the river.”

Therefore, I would support strategic inclusion rather than wholesale political allocation.

If four appointments are demanded in a particular category, Government could, for example, consider two or three carefully selected, competent opposition figures, depending on the institution and constitutional requirements, while preserving adequate space for deserving UPND members, technocrats, women, young people and other alliance partners.

Unity should expand the national table, not simply change who sits at it.

RECONCILIATION MUST NOT BECOME A TRANSACTION

There is, however, one aspect of the proposition that requires caution. A constitutional right to challenge an election should not appear to be exchanged directly for Government appointments.

Dr Zimba himself has previously argued publicly that petitioning the presidential result would be a mistake and has called instead for dialogue, healing and reconciliation.  That peace-building argument can stand on its own merits.

Appointments should therefore be presented as part of inclusive national governance based on competence and reconciliation, rather than as payment for abandoning litigation.

The principle should be:

“Come and help us govern Zambia because Zambia belongs to all of us—not because Government positions are the price of political silence.”

That distinction protects both the Presidency and the opposition.

LET BEMBAS AND TONGAS HOLD HANDS

Perhaps the greatest dividend from such reconciliation would not even be Cabinet positions. It would be seeing President Hichilema and Hon. Brian Mundubile standing together and telling their supporters:

The election is finished. Zambia remains.

Imagine Bembas and Tongas, Lozis and Lundas, Kaondes and Ngonis, Luvales and Lenjes refusing to inherit political quarrels from their leaders.

There is no constituency called “Bemba Zambia” and another called “Tonga Zambia.” There is only the Republic of Zambia.

Our national motto settled this question generations ago:

ONE ZAMBIA, ONE NATION.

As the saying goes, “When two brothers fight over their father’s field, the harvest suffers.”

Our people should therefore stop fighting over political colours and start competing over who builds the better school, clinic, road, irrigation scheme, market and youth enterprise.

THE REAL POLITICS SHOULD NOW BE K40 MILLION CDF

This is where our national conversation should now move.

If constituencies have around K40 million at their disposal through CDF, then let the political competition move from insults and tribal arguments to development.

Let a constituency in Northern Province challenge one in Southern Province:

You built three schools? We shall build four.

You empowered 500 young entrepreneurs? We shall empower 700.

You constructed maternity annexes? We shall improve our clinics.

That is the competition Zambia needs.

Let development become the new tribalism: every constituency fiercely competing to develop its people.

President HH’s message should therefore be simple: Here are the resources. Sit together as communities, determine your priorities and develop your constituencies.

When a Bemba child sits in a new classroom and a Tonga child sits in another new classroom, both are Zambian children whose futures have improved.

MY POSITION: ACCOMMODATE, BUT DO NOT ABANDON THE FAITHFUL

So yes, let President HH reach across the political aisle.

Yes, accommodate capable NRPUP/Tonse members.

Yes, consider a limited number of high-level appointments that symbolise genuine reconciliation.

Yes, bring other alliance partners and competent Zambians into the national development project.

But do not empty the UPND house in order to demonstrate that the door is open.

The people who carried the party through difficult years must remain an important part of the Government they struggled to establish. Inclusion should be addition, not substitution.

And appointments themselves should remain anchored in merit, integrity, competence, regional balance, gender representation and constitutional requirements.

There is room to recognise loyalty without sacrificing competence, and there is room to embrace former opponents without betraying old comrades.

“A tree that forgets its roots will eventually fall, but a tree that refuses to grow new branches will never provide enough shade.”

That should be the philosophy of the next administration: protect the roots, grow new branches and provide shade for every Zambian.

The election is over. The campaign jerseys must now give way to the national colours.

Let HH and Mundubile shake hands. Let UPND and NRPUP supporters shake hands. Let Bembas and Tongas shake hands. Let our ten provinces compete—not in hatred, but in development.

Yesterday we competed for votes. Today we must compete for development. Tomorrow our children should inherit the results.

ONE ZAMBIA. ONE NATION. ONE PEOPLE. ONE DEVELOPMENT AGENDA.