PF LOCAL GOVERNMENT WINS IN WESTERN PROVINCE
By Evans Liselo
The Ruling Party cleverly understands the feelings of resentment by the people, of their local and parliamentary representatives especially towards the end of the life of parliament. These elected officials have a tendency of sitting back as they are unsure whether they will be readopted for the next election which in this case is 2021.
This phenomenon is everywhere and not only in UPND strongholds, but the PF seizes this disconnect between the elected representatives and the communities, to entice the unsure and disenchanted Councillors with huge sums of money as ‘retirement’ benefits, offers they easily accept knowing they may go with nothing if they don’t get adopted by the party.
You will recall that President Lungu was in Western Province recently followed by the entire government and PF party machinery shortly afterwards, distributing food aid and hard cash. The issue here is hunger which communities blame their local representatives for not coming to their aid, of course due to PF massive propaganda that suggests opposition can’t be helpful apart from the party in power. A councillor friend of mine told me he was given K150,000 cash with a resignation letter drafted for him by the ruling party. Well, he received the money and resigned as arranged. Then to the shock of everyone in his community, his wife (a sec sch teacher deployed 6 years ago), was promoted from the post of class teacher directed to head a secondary school in central province. She was confirmed within 2 weeks of heading the sec school.
The truth is PF wins are a vote of no confidence in local representatives because a lot of people are saying they are just waiting for 2021 to vote for a Hakainde Hichilema and not lazy Councillors or MPs. In 2021 you may have a situation where HH wins the entire Western Province but UPND loses local government seats. The fact on the ground is that 75% of people in Western Province and North Western Province love and believe in HH than in President Lungu, the reason I really don’t know. So despite not doing well in these by-elections, in 2021, HH will still emerge victorious with a commanding lead.
The UPND as a party must pull up their socks in Western Province for them to also win local government elections. There’s a problem with the Secretariat at the UPND.
Written by Liselo
Political Analyst
Western Province