Opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) leader Chishimba Kambwili says becoming president of Zambia is not his number one priority in politics, but rather to remove PF from power because the ruling party leadership has crippled the country through theft and corruption.

On the other hand, Honourable Kambwili is concerned that a single opposition party may not be able to unseat the PF and form government, hence his call for the opposition to unite and sponsor one presidential candidate in the 2021 general elections.

“Unity of purpose can produce results, and for me I have no problem in teaming up with other opposition political parties to remove this PF before they throw the country into turmoil. And I have said if we come together as opposition, and the people that will come together, choose someone else to be the presidential candidate in 2021, who am I to refuse? Because this it not about myself, it’s about what the people will tell us to do or what they will choose. I am prepared to work with anybody, but if other people are not prepared then obviously we will go into it alone and we have to face the elections as NDC,” Kambwili said when he featured on a Diamond TV programme.

Honourable Kambwili is right. The reality that a lot of anti-PF Zambians don’t want to hear is that, with all it’s failures in government, the ruling party is getting more and more aggressive in winning elections. This consequently means opposition parties are standing less and less chances of getting into power.

We admit the fact that the UPND remains Zambia’s largest opposition political party, both in terms of parliamentary representation and countrywide popularity, but even they do not have the capacity to unseat PF now without help from others. In our view, the UPND’s best chance of beating PF was in 2015 when the ruling party was badly hit by a power struggle.

In that election, the PF had no presidential candidate until just over a month before the voting day. With Michael Sata gone, Wynter Kabimba out, and a frustrated Guy Scott trying to sell a visionless contender, the PF was at its weakest. Truth be told, Mr Lungu was a very bad candidate, and even today some people can’t believe that he is Head of State.

It should have been a done deal for the UPND. Its presidential candidate had the entire three months to traverse the country and punch holes in the PF strongholds, leaving no chance for the divided ruling party to recover. But the visionless PF drunkard whom the majority underrated, ended up Republican President. The next general election was only 18 months away and Mr Lungu managed to take it away from Mr Hakainde Hichilema again.

We don’t know what has changed for the UPND to be so certain that they will beat PF in 2021. Just a few days ago, nature caused another by-election in Mangango Constituency via the death of Honourable Naluwa Mweene (may his soul rest in peace). This is a predominantly UPND stronghold; but we invite our readers to wait and see what will happen to that seat.

We have heard the argument that the PF is only winning by elections, but will not succeed to go past the next general elections because their attention and resources will be divided. If we existed in a normal democracy with no breakdown in the rule of law, we would be agreeing with that argument. But this is a mafia regime, where criminals are running state affairs and controlling national resources.

How does the UPND explain the fact that they don’t have a single member of parliament in the entire Lusaka Province? Is Lusaka a PF stronghold? No! But why is the ruling party controlling parliamentary representation in the Capital City? The answer is “strategy”.

The PF is too sophisticated for any single political party to beat. They have mastered the art of electoral bullying by first making sure that the Constitution is completely done away with during elections and having blood volumes of money for conducting electoral fraud.

This is the reason why we agree with Honourable Kambwili when he suggests to the opposition that 2021 should be a two horse race. That way, the defeat figures would be too much to manipulate. But the question is, how many opposition leaders can say, like Honourable Kambwili: “I am willing to support another presidential candidate in order to save the country by removing PF?” Very few, apart from the usual cheerleader presidents of one-man parties that escort others every time.

The rest of the opposition leaders are as greedy as those in PF who are ruling us today. They all want to get richer and hold on to power for as many years as possible; without ambitious alliance partners edging them off the throne. With this attitude, we might as well brace for the PF’s continued ruling and looting.