OPPOSITION Alliance chairperson Charles Milupi says the Alliance is finalising a mechanism that will enable it field single candidates on all elective positions in this year’s general election.

In an interview, Milupi announced that the Alliance, consisting of the country’s major opposition political parties, was on course to select single candidates for all elective positions at this year’s general election.

“We are still meeting. The Alliance is very active and there are many people, who would want to join the Alliance and we are considering those. The Alliance is going to have a single candidate, a single running mate and one of the plans is to ensure that all elective positions that are at councillor-level, parliamentary-level, Presidential-level; we field a single Alliance candidate. In other words, so that we don’t compete at ward-level, at mayoral-level, chairman-level, parliamentary level, or Presidential-level. So, a mechanism for that is what we are currently discussing. So, that is the plan, but it is not fully finalised; it is going to be finalised,” Milupi disclosed.

“There are many things we are monitoring; we also have to come up with a programme that cannot be disrupted by the ruling party. Now, we have to be very careful, if you don’t time it properly, you come up with something that these people will infiltrate and disrupt. So, it is balancing, it has to be done at the right time. When the right time comes, you will see. Do you think that all these MPs that are in Parliament in the PF, do you think they are genuine PF? They will also have a time during the dissolution of Parliament; you will be seeing certain things happening. It is a question of timing and it’s not too late. This country is penetrated from Mbala, Mporokoso, Mwandi, the ideas of the opposition are fully known. The suffering of the people is fully known. The only hope for PF is to rig, but they will be rigging against the wishes of the people.”

He said the Alliance would only engage corrupt-free politicians.

“The Opposition Alliance, which at the moment is the only meaningful alliance, I can tell you, as chairman of the Opposition Alliance that we are getting overtures of other opposition political parties to seek a mechanism in which we can work together. You see, in politics, you don’t just rush; there is also a lot of opportunism. You know, somebody comes, before you know it, he is actually an agent of the ruling party and so on. So, we have to be careful, we have to be mature; we have to have people who are committed to the cause of Zambia. In the Opposition Alliance, we have standards, corruption is no go. If you don’t have assets, don’t come to the Opposition Alliance hoping that, when we win, ‘they will make me a Minister and I will go and use that office to make myself…’ That is not what we are there for. If that was in our minds, we could have joined PF, but we haven’t. So, we want 100 per cent integrity,” Milupi said.

And Milupi said that opposition parties should be appreciated for their personal sacrifices despite being harassed by the PF government.

“If the opposition is allowed to go, you will see the masses of rallies in rural areas and so on. It is not that the opposition are not active, they don’t have programs. In the days of MMD, when we formed ADD, we were all over the place, and there were no impediments. Now, you will have to be a foolish person to be doing that, you will be arrested! Hakainde was not allowed to attend the funeral of the UPND provincial youth chairman. The whole airspace of Zambia was closed just to make sure that Hakainde did not travel. The role of the opposition has been made very difficult. In fact, people must appreciate the personal sacrifices that the opposition is doing. People like Hakainde are being hunted like a criminal. We are working strongly taking into account all these difficulties that have been put in our path,” said Milupi.

The Opposition Alliance were established in 2018, originally as a 10-party member strong organisation comprising the country’s major opposition political parties, which include the UPND, ADD, NAREP and the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

However along the way, People’s Alliance for Change (PAC), NAREP and Patriots for Economic Progress (PeP) ditched the Alliance to pursue this year’s general election solo.