The PF leadership search
Dear Editor,
MR Emmanuel Mwamba, who represented our country in South Africa and Ethiopia, is on the charm offensive.
Using the combined strategy of diplomacy and intellectual exposition, he really wants to win the PF presidency.
Let us discuss his potential win. His current selling point is that he is highly experienced and can steer the PF to victory. Another selling point, which sadly he is not using, is his youthfulness.
In addition, he has a handsome and warm face which reflects the charisma of John F. Kennedy, Barack Obama and Frederick Titus Jacob Mpundu Chiluba.
There is seriously one flaw I want to comment on. Emmanuel is very elitist and lacks grassroot connect. The current mood in the PF is to take power as soon as today.
So the party cannot risk having such a leader who is not promising to win the 2026 elections. Furthermore, it is doubtful whether he can transfer his civil service experience to the leadership of the PF at a time as this.
President Michael Sata left an enduring personality cult on the party that Mr Mwamba cannot fit. President Edgar Lungu was tolerated because he managed to win the republican presidency in 2015 and 2016.
The PF needs to re-vision beyond 2026 and get a leader who can stay at the top for that long, otherwise the party must be ready for leadership instability.
MIKE CHUNGU.
Author
