By NATION REPORTER
THE United Kwacha Alliance (UKA) says it has learnt and assessed the imingalato the UPND shall employ to manipulate the next general elections and is devising effective counter measures that will be mingalato-proof and win the coming general elections in 2026.
State Counsel Sakwiba Sikota, the chairman of UKA says the just ended local government by-elections although a sham were a test run for the alliance in preparation for the 2026 general elections.
Mr Sikota said UKA was greatly encouraged with the lessons learnt from the sham by-elections because the alliance had managed to galvanise its leaders to campaign together in all wards where it had fielded its candidates.
“The other positive gain was of course learning the tricks and tactics of the Imingalato crew. Having seen some of their tactics, we are developing effective counter measures that are imingalato-proof. The United Kwacha Alliance is therefore greatly encouraged by the recent by elections held last Thursday,” Mr Sikota said.
He stated that the main goals of UKA to attain a situation where none of the eleven political parties comprising the alliance would field candidates against each other.
He said the test system of eleven different political parties at local and national level of choosing a candidate from amongst the various aspirants from the different parties was one of the goals that had been achieved.
Mr Sikota, who is also president of the United Liberal Party (ULP) stated that the other goals included testing what termed plan B should the state continue to delay the registration of a UKA as political party.
“Getting the local party structures in the localities where elections were being held to make links and collaborate together was yet another goal. We also wanted to practically show local and national leadership that they can campaign together and studying the tactics of the party in power in order to develop counter measures,” Mr Sikota said.
He said UKA had received feedback from its local leadership, which was helping the alliance to assess how effective the test runs were and would be in the 2026 general elections.
Mr Sikota explained that the first and second goals were met with hundred percent success while all the other goals were achieved to ‘very satisfactory levels,’ stating that more work needed to be done and the process has allowed us to identify which areas we need to tweak and work on.
“Whenever one has a mission, it is important to have tests done to perfect the plan. It would be folly for us not to do these test runs before the 2026 elections only to discover all sorts of glitches and problems when trying to execute the real deal,” Mr Sikota said.
“The Americans only landed a man on the moon after eleven Apollo Rocket tests and launches. Apollo eleven was the real deal after some failed tests from which they learnt. Some say we have ambitious goals of winning the 2026 elections. To those who say so we encourage them to look at John F. Kennedy’s famous speech about landing on the moon! On September 12, 1962, President Kennedy delivered a speech which is still remembered and celebrated today as a powerful example of visionary leadership and the power of setting ambitious goals,” he said.
I will paraphrase his speech and say:
Mr Sikota said the UKA had chosen to win the 2026 elections in this decade and do the other things, not because the elections would be easy, but because they would be hard.
“That goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept. One we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win. We are on course and UKA will win the 2026 elections,” Mr Sikota said.
He stated that history was to effect that by elections were not a measure as to who was likely to win the general election, explaining that advantages of incumbency often made it easier for incumbents to win by elections.
“You also have situations that cannot be replicated in general elections. You cannot for example send four ministers with government transport and all provincial District Commissioners sent to every ward,” he said.
