Fresh legs, old guard: Youth push to oust long-serving UPND MPs
By Hicks Sikazwe
IS THERE a revolution within the United Party for National Development ((UPND)? Suddenly there are voices mostly those of the young asking the old guard to step aside for fresh legs.
The major target are Members of Parliament some of them who have stuck to their constituencies since the party was formed by pioneer Anderson Mazoka in 1998.
The contention by the youth voices is that the party needs new blood if it is to fully face up with the expectations of the general election next year.
Perhaps the tone was set by President Hakainde Hichilema himself. Paying tribute to former Cabinet minister Ackson Sejani, the President hailed the former Mapatizya lawmaker of many years for having read the times and decide to step aside.
The president said despite that, Sejani   had recontested the Mapatizya seat and in all instances reclaimed the slot but decided to step aside for new blood when time came. This was appropriate. Whether or not the youthful voices are taking after the boss of government and the party, the calls may be valid and should not be ignored.
As the voices for the need for new blood rose, I recalled an article I had posted on my Facebook page just a year before the 2021 elections, warning the then ruling party, the Patriotic Front (PF) not to march in the election with tired legs.
The satirical piece drew a number of reactions. For the sake of today’s conversation may I reproduce it below;
This time I was at State House in what comrade Bowman Lusambo thinks is the Los Angeles of Zambia. A few minutes later. An emissary came to tell me that the President was ready.
Ah yes bena Hicks, he addressed me as I entered the office I last went in when Mwanawasa was there. Shani ku Ndola the president insisted in vernacular. Oh yes he has changed. I last met him at the High Court way back as Sata’s lawyer. Sata had taken the Times of Zambia to court over a string of stories and I had gone to defend the newspaper.
I hope you haven’t come to recruit me into the revived UNIP, the President noted with a ribald laugh. No Your Excellency I replied. I just came to show my solidarity to you. I see that you are the most attacked President, sometimes unfairly so yet you have remained calm and continue to campaign countrywide undeterred for 2021. That is the spirit, the UNIP spirit that has led your party PF to go with some of our slogans such as One Zambia One Nation. I note too that like UNIP, you also have the Central Committee.
Continue the campaign Sir, as an incumbent you have a chance to win, but you need to take some radical measures to fortify your position. For example for the 2021 battle, don’t adopt the majority of the sitting MPs including those you are with in Cabinet. You need to get rid of at least 90 percent. If you don’t get rid of the majority, you risk losing the poll. Some of them may not be with you and if you stick with them, they will hold you captive.
Remember that comrade Rupiah Banda as a UNIP trained leader, he was a good President. While in charge, the economy was buoyant and very little public discontent exhibited but he lost. He was betrayed by many whom he worked with. They pulled the rug from under his feet and he slipped to the shiny State House floor.
At one point, I thought I was talking to myself as the boss was simply gazing at me unsurprised. At least, he is listening, I consoled myself. If he is not am sure some electronic gadget is recording me somewhere.
In fact Mr President, I continued, you have been too good to some of your erring officials. You have not come down heavy enough as you ought to. That  has contributed to some of the attacks against you.
There is still time between now and August. You can make amends by throwing away some bad eggs and non-performers. Don’t worry that after dropping them, they will defect to UPND. They cannot. UPND proprietors believe that they are taking over from you in August so they are now strategizing and sharing positions. They have even appointed their version of Isaac Chipampe. In short they are not welcoming any defectors, especially those from PF.
So, Mr President you need to act now otherwise if you don’t, at the end of the journey you will be abandoned in the same way Chiluba [former president Frederick Chiluba] and RB [Rupiah Banda] were deserted.
In the middle of the conversation three ministers who happened to be eavesdropping burst in the office railing in fury; Sir how can you allow this rebel of a journalist to say all these things about us? One of the heftier intruders advanced towards me and in UNIP style, Â Â I stepped back rolling my sleeves ready to defend myself. Then two security men burst in hauling me towards the gate.
In the confusion, I heard our 10-year-old daughter calling me and wondered whether she had followed me all this far. The yelling persisted until I came alive. She was standing over me as I lay on the bed face up with an open novel on my chest.
