NEXT year – 2016 to be specific – Zambians are expected to go back to the polls to vote the country’s President, members of Parliament (MPs) and councillors.
As usual, many political parties which are in the habit of ‘lying low’, or is it hibernating soon after elections, especially when they lose, are surely expected to come back on the scene to woe voters.
While many parties become inactive soon after elections, some remain active and continue contributing towards the development of the country by providing checks and balances.
There are more than 50 political parties in Zambia, but only a few are active and participate in all the elections, including the by-elections and general elections, while many do not take part and only resurface when it is general or tripartite elections’ time.
You may be wondering why the eavesdropper is talking about elections this time around.
Well, talk of the impending elections has become the order of the day.
Political cadres and ordinary members are already on the ground and are very confident that their parties will emerge victorious in the 2016 general elections.
One of the parties that believes that it will win next year’s elections is the United National Independence Party (UNIP) which ruled Zambia for 27 years until it was defeated by the Movement of Multiparty Democracy (MMD) led by the late Frederick Chiluba, who was commonly referred to as FTJ in 1991.
Since UNIP was ejected from power, the party members, mainly consisting of elderly men and women, have always been confident each time elections are held that they will win.
Even the young men and women who are staunch UNIPists have from the time the party was removed from power been saying that the party will bounce back to power.
Twenty-four years have elapsed since UNIP was booted out, but the party has actively participated in most  elections that take place in the country although it has not yet found a winning formula.
Last Saturday, I was at one of the drinking joints in Ndola which members and cadres of different political parties like to patronise.
I was at the counter having a Castle Lite lager when I heard a young man in his late 30s or early 40s taunt an elderly man who looked like he was in his late 70s, that their time as a party had gone.
The elderly man shook his head and pointed at the young man telling him that he did not know what he was talking about because his party was as sure as the sun rises and sets going to come back to power.
As an eavesdropper I got interested in the discussion between the two.
Which party was going to come back to power?
For all I know, there are only two parties which have been voted out of power since Zambia got independence way back in 1964.
The first party to be ejected from power was UNIP, led by first Republican president Kenneth Kaunda, popularly known as KK.
MMD also stayed in power for 20 years and was removed by the Patriotic Front (PF) led by the resilient late President Michael Chilufya Sata, who was popularly known as King Cobra.
The young man laughed and told the old man that it was him who did not know what he was talking about because ever since his party lost elections, it had never come close to winning even by-elections.
Which party was this young man representing and which party was this old man representing? I wanted to know.
At this moment, the old man asked the bar man to give him a big bottle of Mosi lager before he turned to the young man and flatly told him that UNIP would be coming back in 2016.
I should have known the old man was a UNIPist.
His statement attracted many people who were listening to this heated conversation and they broke into laughter.
The old man sipped his glass of Mosi Lager and cleared his throat before he said:
“I doubt whether any political party will have votes close to what UNIP will have in 2016.”
But the young man who did not mention his party insisted that the old man’s party would never come back to power because it was ‘dead’.
“You are living in the past, young man. UNIP is the only party which has stood the test of time. It is the only party, apart from the ruling party, which has participated in all elections which have taken place in the country.
“Despite having lost to MMD in 1991, people have now realised that UNIP is the only party in the country which can deliver to the Zambians,” the old man said.
This comment fuelled more laughter.
Even the young man who seemed to be a die-hard supporter of his party was also laughing heartily.
What I realised at this drinking joint was that there were people from different political parties, but the way they related to one another was very amicable.
Although they belonged to different parties, they shared good moments.
I expected the old man and the young man to exchange bitter words and even punches, but that was not the case.
Instead, I saw the young man buy a big bottle of Mosi lager and gave it to the old man.
This is how it should be.
However, I have always been impressed with the confidence that UNIP members have since their party lost power to MMD.
The party, unlike others which only show up during general elections, has really been consistent.
Whether or not it would bounce back to power it lost 24 years ago depends on how best its leaders reorganise the party.

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