By Given Mutinta
PRESIDENT HICHILEMA’S EXTRAVAGANT RALLY: AN EXPENSIVE ROOF ON A NEGLECTED PIT LATRINE
The launch rally for President Hakainde Hichilema’s election campaign presents a striking contradiction between ostentation and substance.
Reportedly, over 250 long distance buses ferried supporters from across the country not to count local buses.
More than K70 million was spent to hold the rally, supplemented by the presence of more than fifteen top musicians and an array of paid celebrities—all in a bid to construct an image of unstoppable popular support for the United Party for National Development (UPND) ahead of the August elections.
Yet, beneath this glittering veneer lies a more troubling reality.
The spectacle, expensive and carefully orchestrated, is less like a genuine political gathering and more like an elaborate facade— similar to erecting a K70 million lavish roof over a neglected pit latrine.
The analogy is crude but fitting: while the rally dazzled with its surface allure, the foundation beneath is disappointingly rotten.
At the core of the party’s troubles are deep-seated organizational failures.
The Secretary General Imenda and Elections Chairperson Mufalali, crucial players in any successful campaign, have proven ineffective and incapable of galvanising the grassroots, and everyone knows this hard fact, including those who are shouting “Satana sana” oops, sorry, it is “Salt sana”!
Far from being energised, the party’s foot soldiers are neglected, disillusioned, underfunded, and impoverished, like scrawny hyenas dying of hunger any day soon.
This neglect has crippled ground mobilization, the very lifeblood of political momentum in any democratic contest.
In this light, the lavish rally at the Heroes’ stadium does not reflect genuine popularity but rather the desperate effort of a party trying to mask internal rot with external glitter.
The UPND’s sumptuous display fails to align with its grassroots reality—what is presented as a vigorous political force is at heart a disorganized and fragmented entity as seen in the number of party members who have decided to stand as independent candidates.
Without genuine investment in the party, no amount of celebrity endorsements or logistical extravagance can translate into electoral success.
The party’s leadership has failed to confront these uncomfortable truths, expecting an angel of mercy to save them from electoral defeat or counting on an industrial-scale electoral fraud to win elections.
Otherwise, their expensive showpiece today at Heroes’ stadium will amount to little more than political theatre, impressive in appearance but hollow in substance, an opulent facade destined to crumble under the weight of neglected grassroots and mismanagement.
As stated above, the UPND stands at a crossroads between image and reality. Their multi-million kwacha rally was like erecting a magnificent roof over a neglected pit latrine; no amount of gloss can disguise the party’s internal dysfunction and disarray especially on the ground because of its inept party leadership.