This week: who will run as Presidential running mate in 2016?

State House

By Kelvin Esiasa

I am one of the people that are thinking that it’s not a bad idea that some of the political parties’ Presidents should either consider themselves as Presidential running mates or Members of Parliament.
Seriously some of the Political parties Presidents cannot win the 2016 election even if they were to invest all the monies in campaigning for plot one. So they should start exploring the possibilities of either standing as MPs or running mate.

Unlike the US and other countries, Zambia will for the first time elect a running mate. This means that Zambians will need to vote for the Vice Republican President and the President at the same time. Hence, Presidential candidate should be willing to select credible presidential running mate who could massively contribute to winning elections.

In US the Presidential hopeful from both parties Republican Party and Democratic Party are busy looking for running mate. Leading Republican Party Presidential hopeful Mr. Donald Trump has tipped Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) as a possible running mate although Cruz has is still competing against Trump in the Republican Party Presidential candidature.

At this point, no one knows who will be Hillary Clinton’s Vice Presidential candidate. There are 15 candidates that Clinton may select from, currently these candidates are competing against Clinton on Democratic Presidential candidature although Democratic presidential front runner Hillary Clinton joked that she fleetingly considered her husband, former President Bill Clinton, as her running mate.
In Zambia the big question is who will run as the running mate especially that last year election simply told the story on who was the giant in Zambia politics.

Firstly, Patriotic Front Presidential Candidate Mr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu is a strong Presidential contender and need a vibrant running mate. President Lungu needs a running mate that is very eloquent and could explain to the Zambians why he should be elected into government even when the economy during his presidency has faced serious challenges.

So, it’s possible that MMD President Dr. Nevers Mumba would be President Lungu’s running mate. Dr. Mumba is a charismatic and eloquent leader who believe leadership is about being valuable to the process and when time calls a person should not be ridged but accept change if necessary. He has demonstrated this when he abandoned his church for Politics. Later he abandoned his Reformed Party for MMD Republican Vice President.

In 2015 Presidential by-election, Dr. Mumba got 14,609 votes and since 2015 election Nevers has not done anything to warrant him to be a leading Presidential candidate in 2016 elections. Moreover, the PF government has thrived on the strength of MMD.

Therefore, there will be no harm for Nevers becoming Presidential running mate to President Lungu. Besides, his godfather former Republican President is already backing President Lungu.

Secondly, UPND Presidential candidate Mr.Hakainde Hichilema is the second leading 2016 election presidential hopeful. The Zambian businessman and politician is a perennial presidential candidate having contested four times in 2006, 2008, 2011 and most recently 2015. He would not accept to be second to anyone. Instead he needs a Presidential running mate.

So, Ms. Edith Nawakwi would be a better Presidential running mate to HH. In 2015 Presidential bye election Edith Nawakwi got 15,321 votes coming third to President Lungu.
Since January, 2015 Nawakwi has been trying to establish herself on the political scene by introducing a number of community based projects so that she would attract votes from the Zambians. But this seems not to be yielding any political mind shift that could warrant victory.

Thirdly, Rainbow Party Presidential candidate Mr.Wynter Kabimba would not accept to be a running mate to any person since he boast of ushering in the Patriotic Front in government. He has also strong support of Zambia’s leading private Newspaper The Post who also contributed massively to the ushering of Patriotic Front into government. He is the only Presidential candidate with the clear ideology on his governance and has go ahead to release his political manifesto.

So, Miles Sampa would be an option for RP especially that Mr. Sampa resigned from PF because of perceived political frustration and intimidation from members of PF.

Mr. Sampa and Mr.Kabimba shares the same aspirations as they both think that they were the reason why PF is in government today. They also think that their departure from PF meant the end of PF.

Obvious other Presidential Candidates from other parties cannot even make Presidential running mate. Instead they should consider becoming Members of Parliament or Campaign Managers for Presidents of their choice. They should emulate Elias Chipimo who announced that he would not participate in the 2016 elections.

As mentioned earlier, 2016 election is different year for Presidential hopefuls. The better they organize themselves the better for their ambitions.