Father Frank Bwalya is now assigned to attack.

Dear Editor, I was reluctant to comment on the latest appointment of Fr Frank Bwalya as UPND Media Director General. On the second thought however, here is my reflection.

Fr Frank Bwalya is a journalist by training and through his political activism has managed to etch a media personality for himself. So, from the point of person-job- fit, there is no problem. The challenge is however with the person-organisationfit.

This is why he has received a cold reception from the UPND grassroots. It is his long anti-UPND and to greater extent anti-HH image which he is struggling to shed off to become a trustworthy member of UPND.

But his appointment carries potential value depending on the space that he will create for himself within the media team. The UPND have as matter fact informally appointed him party spokesperson because he cannot be the Media Director General who does not talk the mainstream media but only manages the in-house social media platforms.

In this space, we have already Hon Cornelius Mweetwa, who is also Minister of Information and Media. We also have the assertive UPND consultant, Marks Simuuwe. If there is no effective collaboration and coordination, we are headed for fight of egos and confusion.

What does Fr Frank Bwalya bring to the table? He has wealth of experience of the internal working culture of the two strong opposition parties- the Socialist Party and the PF (now in transition to UKA). This gives him the strategic advantage of attacking their weaknesses and defending the weaknesses of the UPND.

He has nonetheless shown how Zambian politics are driven less by ideology but more self-enrichment of materials or status. How one does explain the fact three months ago, Fr Frank Bwalya was pushing the Socialist agenda, and today he is now pushing the neo-liberal agenda. I look forward to reading his apologetic on the economic graphics.