The vicious war that UPND has waged against Independent candidates is as comical as it is frightening.
There is strong evidence to show that President Hichilema does not believe the UPND government needs to have opposition to its rule and it is no brainer that opposition political parties including the former ruling PF is in the state they are in today.
But oppositionists, just like Independents, are a critical apparatus of our democracy.
But we dare remind the President and his sycophants like Gilbert Liswaniso and others that whether they like it or not, the Zambian Constitution (Not their Bill 7) provides for independent candidates at every level of the electoral ecosystem.
Zambia is a constitutional democracy which is incomplete without a functioning opposition.
And considering how over the years the UPND has benefited from Independents who laid everything they had on the line to get the Party to where it is, this brutal fight against non-aligned candidates is quite tragic.
Take the case of Robert Sichinga who then as Isoka Independent Member of Parliament in 1998 left the comfort of his Parliamentary privileges to campaign for Emmanuel Hachipuka’s debut chase for the Mbabala seat that became vacant following the death of Dr Alfeyo Hambayi.
So huge was the sacrifice that Sichinga made that he was suspended from Parliament and only survived a by-election given the period that over-flowed into the general election. Those close to the original UPND can still attest to how Sichinga got entrenched in the campaign earning the moniker ‘Simaubi’ in relation to the area where he received the warmest welcome in Mbabala Constituency.
Just a few days ago, the President was telling Solwezi residents how much the UPND tapped into the Independents base during their well-documented triumph in the infamous Bill 7.
So, for the party that has benefitted so much from independent candidates, why does it want to treat these non-aligned MPs like a threat to our democracy?
Listening to President Hakainde Hichilema bashing the existence of independent members of parliament and wishing them away speaks to a premonition of the dark days ahead.
And let’s face it, in most cases, Independent candidates are a product of flawed adoption processes as President Hichilema confessed before the whole world recently.
The shambolic adoption process overseen by his party has left some progressive community voices with no option but to go the independent route?
UPND has enough lessons to draw from that you cannot impose leaders on the people: In the politically famous Dundumwezi Constituency, the UPND overlooked a popular local candidate in Edgar Sing’ombe and opted for the Emmerson Mudenda, an incumbent during the adoption process for the 2006 elections. And behold, the electorates overwhelmingly voted for the Sing’ombe, permanently confining Mudenda to the political dustbin.
We say this with total conviction that President Hichilema has never believed in the true values of democracy; in fact, he believes that democratic processes such as elections can easily be swapped and replaced with negotiated settlements.
Such is a tragedy the country faces at the moment!
President Hichilema seems to envisage a political culture that only places him at the centre of everything.
For a party that has previously been taught a political lesion by the electorate after bungling the adoption process, the UPND should have now learnt their lesson.
However, it appears no lessons were learnt hence the chaos we are witnessing today across the country.
While it is the UPND’s discretion to hand adoption certificates to whoever they please, including those favourably competing for life membership in Parliament, they should be willing to accept that the people have the final say.
After all, it is the people that have to endure absentee representatives for five years before President Hichilema desperately shows up at the next election pleading for another chance for his MPs.
In any case democracy demands that the people be the final arbiter on such matters. If the UPND made the right choice on their parliamentary candidates, why are they losing sleep over independent candidates? Why has it become a crime to stand as an independent for people that once stood with the UPND?