LOSS IBABA, CRIES LISWANISO
…UPND still in disarray after losing Chawama, confesses Liswaniso
By Mast Reporter
ALMOST two weeks after a parliamentary by-election was held in Lusaka’s Chawama Constituency, the United Party for National Development (UPND) is still reeling from its shocking defeat at the hands of a fragmented opposition.
The ruling party’s leaders and members are still struggling to come to terms with what could have led to the opposition’s victory.
“We lost in Chawama because people felt that the former member of Parliament, Tasila Lungu, was victimised by the United Party for National Development ,” UPND national youth chairman Gilbert Liswaniso has said.
Liswaniso said it was difficult for the UPND to penetrate Chawama Constituency because the Patriotic Front (PF) support base was still very active and strong in the area.
Opposition Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) candidate Bright Nundwe, a former Copperbelt permanent secretary who was supported by Tonse Alliance, defeated UPND’s Morgan Muunda with a comfortable margin.
Speaking when he featured on Showster’s House podcast programme, Liswaniso said the ruling party lost the Chawama by-election because of public perception that it was too vindictive.
“First of all, my colleague, it is politics. You win, you lose some. And the lessons have been learned. At the end of the day, we lost. And we come and treat our colleagues, the opposition, for scooping up the Chawama by-election,” he said.
Liswaniso said a win for the opposition had rejuvenated its morale as the August 13 general election draws nearer.
Liswaniso said losing Chawama to the opposition was painful for the ruling party.
“And it has boosted their camp, and the morale. They are celebrating. For us as UPND, loss ibaba. We are in pain. We are pointing fingers at each other. We are blaming each other. Because of loss, nibang’ono bamaivomela [few people accept a loss]. A lot of people associate themselves with winning. And for me, it’s a lesson, because it’s the first time since we formed the government that I’ve lost an election,” he said.
Liswaniso said lessons had been learned from the Chawama loss.
From the people he mingled with were able to advise them on the kind of message they should deliver.
He said one party faction had not followed the strategy set to help win the by-election for various reasons.
“So, there are many reasons why we lost Chawama. Number one, did we have a strategy? Yes, it was there. Did people follow? I may say people never followed. Those who were assigned to follow the principle, the strategy itself, I think, for me, it’s that there are only a few who followed the strategy to ensure that we win the by-election for Chawama. Nevertheless, maybe we went casually there, thinking that because we have been winning all those by-elections all along, we thought even Chawama would be easy,” Liswaniso said.
He said residents of Chawama Constituency did not hide their displeasure with the manner the UPND government had ill-treated the former president Edgar Lungu’s family.
“Sometimes it’s a feeling ati bamucosapo uja. How you feel about in the compounds, it’s not about the law. They felt like this girl, Tasila, has been treated badly. The first two weeks, I mean, one week, yeah, let me say two weeks, it was hard. Okay, even just people rising, I’m specifically pointing out certain ones which are very difficult, like Ward 2, which has the largest population of voters, almost 41,200 voters. That was very difficult for us,” Liswaniso said.
He said the UPND had faced many challenges that led to the loss of the by-election.
Liswaniso said he was in Chawama for two months campaigning, monitoring and evaluating the chances of candidates to win the elections.
“But for some of us who were there from the time they just announced the Chawama by-election. We’re able to identify some challenges, identify who is strong, how strong the PF is. All those things we identified them to say, okay, what is in Ward 1 in Misisi? What is in Ward 2? What is in Ward 3 in John Howard? What is in Ward 4? We were able to put all the things in order,” he said.
Liswaniso said the opposition to UPND was strong in Chawama.
He said Chawama residents told him that his party would lose because of many factors.
“I would say also that the opposition was strong, especially in Ward 2. They [PF] were very strong. Especially the late president Edgar Chagwa Lungu and the PF. They were very strong,” Liswaniso said.
It was hard for the UPND to penetrate Chawama, though it had aimed to win the seat.
“The issue is we don’t go to an election thinking you are going to lose. It’s how people receive you. But there are certain areas where we could feel that here it’s hard. People really need to be calm. We were feeling that we can carry the day. You know, when you go to the battle, all of you are feeling that you are going to win it, because you are being received. You are being given an opportunity,” Liswaniso said.
