100% PF Leadership Failure – KafwayaLusaka — In a notable departure from the Patriotic Front’s long-standing narrative, Lunte Member of Parliament and PF Presidential Aspirant, Hon. Mutotwe Kafwaya has squarely blamed PF’s ongoing turmoil on internal leadership failures, conspicuously avoiding accusations of external interference by the ruling United Party for National Development (UPND), a party frequently cited by PF leaders as the source of its woes. In a detailed statement on the state of the opposition party, Kafwaya argued that PF members have remained remarkably loyal despite sustained instability, while party leaders have repeatedly failed to exercise responsibility and authority.
He described the crisis as self-inflicted and rooted in poor leadership decisions rather than political persecution. “The support of PF members has been second to none,” Kafwaya said, adding that the current situation reflects “deliberate failure” by those at the helm. He stressed that the problems facing the former ruling party cannot be attributed to external forces but to internal mismanagement.
Kafwaya noted that the late former president Edgar Chagwa Lungu left behind a united and functioning party, which later fractured under the watch of the current leadership. He pointed to the leadership’s failure to stop what many within PF viewed as an illegal conference convened by Miles Sampa as a pivotal moment in the party’s decline, suggesting that some leaders may have quietly enabled the process. Political observers have interpreted Kafwaya’s remarks as an implicit rejection of the narrative advanced by sections of PF leadership that have previously blamed the ruling United Party for National Development for internal court battles, injunctions, and factional disputes.
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Notably, Kafwaya made no reference to state interference, infiltration, or manipulation by political opponents. Instead, he argued that President Lungu’s decision to return to active politics before his death amounted to a vote of no confidence in the leadership he had appointed. According to Kafwaya, Lungu intervened after party leaders failed to convene an extraordinary general conference to elect a substantive leader, a delay that disappointed members across the country and fueled factionalism.
He further described the continued failure to hold a lawful conference — both before and after Lungu’s death — as a “colossal leadership failure.” Kafwaya said the legal injunctions currently paralysing parts of the party were the result of internal power struggles, rather than persecution by external actors. The MP also questioned the legitimacy of rival leadership claims within PF, including those involving Robert Chabinga, arguing that constitutional provisions had been ignored in favour of expedient political manoeuvres. With general elections fast approaching, Kafwaya warned that PF remains without an elected leader, despite repeated opportunities to resolve the crisis.
He criticised the decision to expand the list of presidential applicants instead of holding a conference, suggesting the move only deepened confusion within the party. He recalled that President Lungu had anticipated political challenges and sought to mitigate them through alliances such as UKA and Tonse Alliance, but warned that both formations were now being weakened from within. According to Kafwaya, the erosion of these alliances was being driven by leadership failures rather than actions by rival political parties.
The seriousness of the situation, he said, prompted intervention by national elders who offered guidance on restoring order within PF. However, Kafwaya lamented that the advice was not acted upon, describing it as a failure that extended beyond party structures to the broader moral authority of the elders. Kafwaya concluded by cautioning that political schemes have limits, warning that time would ultimately reveal the consequences of leadership decisions — a message that stands in contrast to past PF narratives centred on external blame.Digest Reporter
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