Raphael Nakachinda says there are presidential aspirants in PF who are playing it double and hoping that they will be chosen as President Hakainde Hichilema’s running mate in 2026, amid assertions that he is not seeing eye-to-eye with Vice-President Mutale Nalumango.
And Nakachinda said he cannot work with President Hichilema because of his tribal stance of wanting to work with people from his region and his tribal cousins.
Nakachinda also said those who may want to dismiss former president Edgar Lungu for the presidency are doing so at their own peril as they do not know what the view of the Zambian people will be going forward.
Speaking with Lusaka Times news, Nakachinda said some people in PF have already compromised with President Hichilema.
“Some of the people within PF have already compromised with Mr Hakainde Hichilema. There are people who are calculating thinking that madam Nalumango because they have differed with Mr Hakainde Hichilema and they are not singing from the same hymn book he will get rid of her in 2026 and therefore he will be looking for a replacement,” Nakachinda said. “And because people are thinking from a tribal perspective they are assuming that madam Nalumango will be replaced by another Bemba. And to that effect they are actually blinding themselves or deceiving themselves to think that they would be better favoured if they can make enough noise in opposition as somebody from the North to replace madam Nalumango.”
He said he was telling “my brothers and sisters from the North” not to cheat themselves in that direction, adding that those eyeing the position were across the opposition board, with some having formed parties and even criticising President Hichilema but basically playing reverse psychology and hoping that they could put pressure on the President to call them for a discussion.
“Zooming from where I am seated I can tell those who are pushing an agenda hoping that in this situation, it’s a win, win situation. If PF doesn’t succeed in reorganizing itself and remain united they can launder themselves to UPND,” Nakachinda said. “That type of politics is dangerous. What we need right now in the country and this we must all unite to achieve, including you journalists, is to have people who are committed to an organization because they believe in the ideology of that organization and when they oppose they should not oppose from an opportunistic point of view. They should oppose because they don’t believe in the policies of those they are opposing.”
Nakachinda said he does not believe in the ideologies of President Hichilema, “even when he is my brother”, saying he did not agree with him taking a softer spot towards gay rights as that in itself was enough to say no.
“Two, I do not agree with Hakainde Hichilema because of his tribal stance which clearly suggests that he is more inclined towards working only with people that come from either his tribe or his tribal cousins. That I do not agree. And that I knew about him not now that he is President. I knew about him even when he was in opposition,”Nakachinda said. “What we need as a country are human beings, politicians who believe in a specific cause they are pushing not this opportunism that is taking place. I cannot discount the fact that there could be members of Patriotic Front, presidential candidates in Patriotic Front who are basically being opportunistic in their approach to campaigns.”
Nakachinda said the country was now in a place of uncertainty, saying the recent reduced load shedding was manipulated on account of the foreign dignitaries who were coming into the country, saying President Hichilema did not want to portray reality in order to push a narrative suggesting that he is a savior and therefore everything was okay.
He said President Hichilema has taken a dangerous route of aligning himself with the west against the non-aligned position which gave the country latitude to be friends of everybody, saying the President is stuck and has been made to spit in China’s face by the west.
Nakachinda said that was why debt renegotiation was proving challenging, saying China became the most lucrative destination for getting infrastructure support in terms of financing with their outlook towards being helpful towards the development of other countries.
Nakachinda said President Hichilema, however, bought into the western story.
“And because he was desperate to become president at all cost he laundered himself, committed himself to silly things like the so-called human rights. He laundered himself and committed himself to silly policies that favour the interests of the west. For example he committed himself that he will accept the legalization of gay rights, lesbian rights and all these things,” Nakachinda said. “He also committed himself that he will distance Zambia from China without realizing that we are in an era where the economic super power, including militarily is shifting from the west led by the US to the east led by China.”
He said all the sufferings Zambians were facing was because of the IMF conditionalities and that was why President Hichilema “was sweating in community house.”
Asked if there was opportunity for president Lungu to come in, Nakachinda said it was not the position of PF to start toasting individuals as they have a record while in government.
He said it would be important for PF members to listen to what every Zambian is saying, saying “we are not going to choose a leader for Patriotic Front because he is a favourite of PF cadres. No! A leader must be chosen because he is a favourite of the general populace of Zambia.”
He said if for example, President Lungu was not favoured by Zambians to lead the party the “highly respected president” will be advised as such.
“But I also want to put a rider under the circumstance where we have had also situations in other countries where the populace and the Zambian people, because we are a democracy, the populace demand that no, we need an experienced hand to deal with the disaster we are in, you and me have no choice but to succumb to what the people of Zambia are saying,” said Nakachinda. “So to that effect anybody that wants to propel president Lungu will be doing it basically out of selfish interest. But again those that may want to dismiss president Lungu will be doing it at their own peril because we don’t know yet what the Zambian peoples view and where they will settle will be as we go forward.”