🇿🇲 BRIEFING | “Museveni” Begins New Political Chapter as UPND Adopts Mwiimbu for Monze East
One of the last remaining old guards of the United Party for National Development is heading into what he jokingly calls his “first term.”
Jack Mwiimbu, the veteran lawyer and former Home Affairs Minister who has represented Monze Central since 2001, has officially been adopted by the UPND as parliamentary candidate for the newly created Monze East Constituency ahead of the August 13 general elections.
The move marks a symbolic political reset for the long-serving lawmaker, who recently stirred debate after declaring that he would relocate his political base to Monze East following criticism from some quarters that he had “overstayed” in Monze Central after 25 years in Parliament.
“If elected, it will be my first term in Monze East,” Mwiimbu had earlier remarked, a statement that quickly triggered satire and political commentary online, with critics and supporters alike comparing the seasoned politician to Uganda’s long-serving President Yoweri Museveni.
Within UPND circles and online political spaces, the nickname “Museveni” has since followed him closely.
Despite mounting pressure from younger voices and internal debates around generational transition, Mwiimbu remains one of the few surviving UPND old guards who has retained strong influence from the opposition years into government. His adoption signals that the party still values institutional loyalty, experience, and mobilisation capacity as campaigns intensify.
In his acceptance message, Mwiimbu struck a conciliatory tone, thanking party members for their resilience and urging reconciliation after what appears to have been a competitive adoption process.
“The endorsement is both an honour and a responsibility,” he said, pledging to serve the people of Monze East with “diligence, humility, integrity and dedication.”
He also thanked President Hakainde Hichilema and the UPND leadership for the confidence placed in him, before calling for unity ahead of the election campaign.
“The time for internal competition has ended,” Mwiimbu said. “All party members are valuable to the movement.”
His adoption comes at a politically sensitive time for the ruling party, which is balancing two competing pressures: retaining experienced loyalists while also responding to growing demands for renewal and generational change within its structures.
For UPND, Monze East is not just another constituency. It sits in Southern Province, one of the party’s deepest red bases where electoral dominance has historically remained firm. But even in strongholds, adoption battles have increasingly exposed tensions between continuity and renewal.
Mwiimbu, however, appears determined to frame the transition not as political survival, but as a continuation of service under a new constituency map created through delimitation.
And after 25 years in Parliament, the veteran politician is now preparing to begin what may be Zambia’s most talked-about “first term.”
© The People’s Brief | Ollus R. Ndomu