By Augustine Mukoka
LOYALTY BEGETS LOYALTY: President Hichilema’s Jabs At Gary Nkombo Are A Mark Of Disloyalty; Gary Only Crime Is His Alleged Secret Aspirations To Challenge The UPND Presidency
One question that has lingered from the time President Hakainde Hichilema went ballistic on Gary Nkombo is why he waited to be in Mazabuka to accuse him of working with opposition leader NRPUP Brian Mundubile.
Why didn’t the President pronounce these lamentations in Kaputa, Kasama, Solwezi, Chipata or indeed at Heroes Stadium?
Is there anything the people of Mazabuka are being told about Mundubile that we don’t know? Is Mundubile a leper that their son, Gary, can’t associate with him?
The president’s message to the people of Mazabuka was not only divisive, but the highest form of disloyalty to one of his fervent supporters.
Nkombo’s greatest sin has been to pronounce himself successor of the UPND presidency before such ‘blessings’ come from Community House. And that’s why unlike Jack Mwimbu and Cornelius Mweetwa, he fell out of favour.
When it comes to loyalty, Nkombo’s loyalty to the UPND was unquestionable. I met him in August 2021 at Mulungushi when Zambians gave him the moniker Mazembe as he stood firm to protect President Hichilema’s electoral victory.
He was recently rewarded for his loyalty to UPND by pockets of cadres led by Bilden Haloba, a State House agent, who landed blows to his head leaving his black shirt in tatters. President Hichilema has never condemned that act on one of once loyal lieutenants.
Instead he took to the stage in Mazabuka to speak in tongues charging, “nyongo…nyongo…nyongo” (whatever it means) at Gary Nkombo.
In The Meantime Read Journalist Moses Kuwema’s summation of Gary Nkombo’s loyalty to the party.
President Hakainde Hichilema now says Garry Nkombo began opposing him a long time ago because he was seen dining and socializing with PF figures during his incarceration at Mukobeko Maximum prison.
This raises questions.
The events in question date back to 2017, yet the UPND still adopted Nkombo as its parliamentary candidate for Mazabuka in the 2021 general elections. After forming government, President Hichilema also deemed him suitable to serve as a Cabinet minister & only fired him after three to four years.
If Nkombo had indeed been opposing the President for such a long period, it is unclear why this concern is only emerging now after he decided to stand as an independent candidate for Mazabuka central constituency.
This is the same Nkombo, the nation watched on TV, defending & protecting President Hichilema’s votes at Mulungushi International conference centre during the announcement of the 2021 election results.
There appears to be an inconsistency in President Hichilema’s narrative.
Since his opposition days, President Hichilema has always been surrounded by kandiles who simply nod “yes bwana” to everything he says & now that he has state power at his disposal, I think he finds it insulting when someone challenges his decisions.
Figures like Garry Nkombo, who are comfortable expressing independent views rather than simply aligning with prevailing expectations are considered disloyal.
As the president & his supporters try to paint Nkombo black, It is also important not to overlook historical context.
Nkombo was not particularly aligned with the PF. During the 2013 Livingstone parliamentary by-election, he was arrested and charged with the murder of a PF cadre Harrison Chanda.
He spent two weeks in Livingstone Central Prison before the Director of Public Prosecutions discontinued the case, leading to his release alongside his co-accused. So Nkombo had his own fair share of “persecution” at the hands of the PF government.
Yet, just six months later, Nkombo was among the few UPND leaders if not the only one, who visited the funeral house of late Information and Broadcasting Minister Kennedy Sakeni, a senior PF figure.
A few months ago, I wrote how Nkombo’s visit to that funeral house did not sit well with most people in the UPND leadership.
That visit, in my view, was not an act of disloyalty but rather a demonstration of maturity, the ability to separate political differences from basic human considerations.
I see nothing inappropriate in Nkombo engaging with political opponents; on the contrary, it reflects a willingness to rise above partisan divisions.
President Hichilema himself during a rally in Chilubi expressed displeasure with the area MP Mulenga Fube for being too angry to engage his government in dialogue over the constituency delimitation exercise.
So on one hand, the President wants the opposition MPs to engage with him in dialogue while in another hand, he sees disloyalty in his own member having a drink with opponents?
Whether he wins or loses in Mazabuka as MP is a separate matter. However, as someone who despises bootlicking with a passion, I will always respect a politician who exercises independent judgment rather than simply conforming to expectations.
After all, democracy is not intended to function as a system where uniform agreement is the only acceptable outcome.
In the image, Nkombo greeting President Michael Sata when he visited the funeral house for the late Sakeni.