In Summary
- But ever since, many have tried to decipher and understand the acts, the wheeling and dealing between the ACT and Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM).
When Prof Kitilya Mkumbo, then-chief adviser to Alliance for Change and Accountability (ACT)-Wazalendo leader Zitto Kabwe, was appointed permanent secretary in the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, the party’s leadership was tightlipped.
But ever since, many have tried to decipher and understand the acts, the wheeling and dealing between the ACT and Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM).
When critics raised the red flag, they were viewed as witchhunters and mudslingers. And when the party’s chair, Ms Anna Mghwira, was fished out and appointed Kilimanjaro Regional Commissioner, Chadema’s chief legal adviser Tundu Lissu said, “we look back to 2006 when ACT was established and it went to war with Chadema…unfortunately they have failed to accomplish their mission, that’s why they are all going back to CCM one by one.”
Tensed up and chunked, upon hearing such accusations, Mr Kabwe hit back noting that “… the accusations that ACT is the extension of CCM are just the silly view of some politically-bankrupted people” [Sic]. Does Kabwe still have the guts to repeat the same as things take a turn to the worse?
Now, the writings are on the wall. Is the ACT methodically proving the likes of Lissu right? The recent decamping by its secretary general Samson Mwigamba speaks volumes. The ACT is in a political gunk. Those in the know know that when ACT’s creator, Kabwe was expelled from the Chadema assumptions were that there was some bigger powers behind his expulsion.
If you live by sword you will die by sword. Kabwe’s move that led to his expulsion was aimed at weaknening the Chadema. And indeed, it did, however, not as palpable as was envisaged.
Now that Kabwe is facing the same, will he survive or succumb to the forces alleged to have cloned and used him? Will Kabwe become another Maalim Seif or Prof Ibrahim Lipumba, if not Augustine Mrema or John Cheyo not to mention Fahmi Dovotwa?
Go back to Chadema
Will Kabwe bite the bullet and follow his runaway officials to CCM, fulfilling accusations that he was a mole in the opposition? Will he solo the party and soldier on or contemplate going back to Chadema so that he can be brought back into the fold?
Looking at the quandary Kabwe’s into curently and the way he’s been struggling to eat humble pie after losing the wand he once had, is it possible for Chadema to forgive and forget, or stick to their guns? Will Kabwe lick the wounds and soldier on however battered he is likely to be? I remember. Close to his expulsion, he said he would not leave Chadema because he joined it when he was 16, and spent much of his energy and time on building it. However, before long, he bowed out. This shows how Kabwe, as a politician, still has many loopholes through which to save his face if not to jump a smoking gun.
Shall Kabwe move on and join CCM? Will he really still be the Holy Grail he used to be? Will CCM stab him in the back, let him become a political liability or rearm him to go on his political fishing expedition as it has been if indeed he is a mole in the opposition?
Now that ACT’s loose ends are obvious, what should the nation expect or wait for from Kabwe as a man and a politician who seems to have weathered many storms. Will he survive or fall into a swoon? Let him stand up and be counted.