FORMER UPND vice-president Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba says selected individuals from Luapula, Northern and Muchinga provinces are in trouble because the New Dawn government is targeting them with arrests. Mr Mwamba who is popularly known as GBM, claims that his former party wants to make sure that all PF members who may give them competition during the 2026 general elections are imprisoned or kicked out of the race.

GBM: “We have been in this struggle before, so we know what is happening and what they are trying to do to PF and of course certain selected individuals, more especially from Luapula, Northern and Muchinga, we know that we are in trouble. They want to make us busy, from now until election time. But once you are arrested on several occasions, you will get used to it. So, I have been used to it now and some of these things are expected more especially when you know that the power that be is not in good books with you for various reasons. So that is expected and I will tell you that I will not be the only culprit in this exercise. Our colleagues want to make sure that all those that may give them hell during the 2026 general elections are painted black. That is what they are doing.”

Well, in Eastern Province, there is an adage that says “nyamalila omukata lini kukamwa”. Loosely translated, it means a mourner should be allowed to express his grief without anyone attempting to suppress his sorrow. It’s okay to say Mr GBM should not be stopped from mourning. The loss of elections by the Patriotic Front caused a serious problem for people like him. It is expected for him to complain and raise all sorts of claims. But when he is done crying, he will look around and find that, he doesn’t really have many sympathisers.

Zambians still remember that Mr GBM has been an opportunistic politician, and everything that is happening to him now is a consequence of his political promiscuity. There is no better way of putting it than to say Mr GBM is being haunted by his own politics of the belly. When he joined politics, his first interest was to contest the Kabwata seat on the ruling MMD ticket in 2006. Despite pumping in a lot of money, he was beaten by Given Lubinda who was in opposition. In 2009 when there was a by election in Kasama, his home town, he jumped from the ruling party to join Michael Sata’s PF to contest the Kasama seat.

Luckily, he won the by-election and retained his seat in 2011. After being appointed Minister of Defence, it was time for Mr GBM to amass wealth. Records are there to show how he allegedly grabbed tenders for the supply of poles at Zesco through companies where he had interest. This was the same period when he executed the Ministry of Defence tenders through Curzon Global Limited, a matter that he is now being prosecuted over in court.

Having rebuilt his financial muscle, Mr GBM was ready to rock the boat and pursue higher ambitions. Seeing an ailing Michael Sata scold him over a small traditional leadership dispute in his chiefdom, the man quit and started expressing interest to lead the party himself. This was confirmed by his candidature at the subsequent intra-party primaries ahead of the presidential by-election necessitated by Sata’s demise in 2014.

Sadly for Mr GBM, the PF membership had its eyes elsewhere and he did not stand a chance – not even close. Having been tossed aside, by the PF, Mr GBM immediately started looking for a new political home which stood a good chance of beating the PF candidate at the next general elections. His renegade character led him to the UPND where he managed to bully his way into the vice-president position. There, he became famous for calling PF criminals and insulting people who questioned his political movements.

But misfortune continued to follow Mr GBM. When he thought there was no way that Mr Edgar Lungu, a drunkard, could win the elections in 2016, Zambians pulled a surprise and rejected him as running mate, together with his UPND. Having spent so much money in campaigns and fearing the UPND would lose the 2021 elections again, Mr GBM quickly cut himself a deal with the people he branded as criminals in PF, just to get his businesses running again. Desperate to weaken the UPND, PF welcomed him back in 2019, only to land himself in the most humiliating defeat in 2021.

Today, when his past is coming back to haunt him, Mr GBM is singing a song of victimization. Today, he wants to claim that the UPND is targeting selected individuals from Luapula, Nothern and Muchinga Provinces. This is laughable because this is the man who told Zambians that everyone in PF was a criminal. When he was in UPND, Mr GBM said all those PF members who have now been arrested were thieves, including former ministers who come from the provinces he is mentioning. So, what is he complaining about? Even if they say we should not gag a mourner, this one has to be told to shut up and face the law.

Mr GBM miscalculated his political game because he is not a principled politician. Given an opportunity to re-join the UPND, Mr GBM can switch camp again without shame because he stands for nothing. It is difficult to feel pity for people like him.