Opinion: Miles Will Be A Factor In 2016 Polls

Miles Sampa

The Post Newspaper has been carrying out an online opinion poll prodding their dedicated readers what could be Miles Sampa’s best move. 74 % of the respondents feel the Matero law maker must join another political party, 22% say he should remain in PF, while 4% suggest he should form his own political party.

What do we make of this?

Believe it or not, Miles Sampa will be a big factor in this year’s polls; whatever move he makes between now and polling day would either be make or break for the ruling party.

If Sampa decides to cling on to his party, PF would at least be assured of thousands of additional votes from Matero constituency and the Northern parts of the country where he still commands considerable support.

However if worse comes to the worst and he decides to severe ties with the ruling party, he would walk away with a sizeable chunk of PF guaranteed votes.

Let us now consider the three options available to Sampa as suggested by The Post:

We are remaining with roughly 6 months before we head to the polls; this doesn’t work in Sampa’s favour. He would need ample time and resources to traverse the countryside to create party structures and explain his manifesto not only to those in his village, but also to others in Namushakende, Western province, Lungevungu in North western province, Kacholola in Eastern province, kwa Tungati in Luapula province, Maala in Southern province and not forgetting the famous John Chinena settlement in Central province among others.

He may be enjoying a fair amount of coverage in The Post which may of course improve his standing in the eyes of electorates in urban areas, but do people in villages have access to newspapers? Unless a miracle occurred, Sampa may deliver a lethal punch that would essentially send Lungu crushing on the canvass.

Even if this may not be the case, one thing is clear though; the former commerce deputy minister would have easily made it on the ballot papers as a Presidential candidate in the 2016 general elections!

Should Sampa remain in PF? You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to fathom the frosty relationship between Sampa and PF – his stay in the party is effectively over, he’s just hanging on by a simple strand. The powers that be don’t seem to have completely forgiven him after their botched convention in Kabwe that ushered-in Edgar Lungu as party president by a mere show of hands after the demise of the much popular and no nonsense leader, Micheal Sata, fondly known as King Cobra! And the moment Sampa neglected to pledge his unflinching loyalty to President Lungu or better still dump his presidential ambitions in the trash can, the more he jeopardized his continued stay in the party.

Even the so called “reconciliation ceremony” that was facilitated by a catholic priest to mend the broken relationships was nothing but a shear public relations stunt. If indeed true reconciliation and forgiveness had taken place, we would have seen the ambitious young politician being elevated to full cabinet minister portfolio unlike outsiders such as Siliya, Simbao and Siamunene who seem to be enjoying the honey after genuine PF members have done the dirty work.

In fact if the leadership had a way, they would have long showed him the exit, but again that would have cast the party as dictatorial by nature in the eyes of outsiders.

The most viable option for Sampa is therefore to join the already existing political parties. And this ought to be a party that stands a better chance of dislodging PF from power – UPND to be precise! Those in leadership know in their heart of hearts that the Hichilema led party pauses the biggest threat to their hold on power, this is the reason why they can’t even allow him to hold rallies or interact with the electorates. Their desperation for power has even forced some senior cabinet ministers to resort to labelling the party as a tribal establishment that must never be trust