{"id":82594,"date":"2026-04-25T20:43:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T20:43:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/pf-mps-councillors-defect-to-upnd-the-zambian-observer"},"modified":"2026-04-25T20:49:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T20:49:00","slug":"pf-mps-councillors-defect-to-upnd-the-zambian-observer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/pf-mps-councillors-defect-to-upnd-the-zambian-observer","title":{"rendered":"PF MPs, Councillors Defect to UPND &#8211; The Zambian Observer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Zambia. <\/strong><\/span>Four Patriotic Front (PF) Members of Parliament have defected to the ruling United Party for National Development (UPND).<\/p>\n<p>Three of the lawmakers are from Luapula Province, while one hails from the Copperbelt Province. In addition, more than 60 councillors and council chairpersons\u2014including independents from Luapula\u2014have also joined the UPND.<\/p>\n<p>The defectors were officially received at a colourful ceremony held in Mansa, attended by President Hakainde Hichilema and party supporters.<\/p>\n<p>The Members of Parliament who have crossed over are Allen Banda (Chimwemwe), Leevat Chibombwe (Bahati), Simon Mwale (Nchelenge), and Cliff Mpundu (Chembe).<\/p>\n<p>Addressing the gathering, President Hichilema reaffirmed the UPND\u2019s commitment to the people of Luapula Province, noting that campaigning in the region had been challenging during his time in opposition due to political violence.<\/p>\n<p>He emphasized that Zambians are peace-loving and desire meaningful development, dismissing claims that Luapula has already experienced significant progress<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at the same event, Allen Banda credited President Hichilema with reopening previously closed mines, while Leevat Chibombwe pointed to ongoing development in Mansa driven by UPND policies<\/p>\n<p>Simon Mwale dismissed suggestions of a \u201cwind of change,\u201d and Cliff Mpundu expressed gratitude to the President for delivering development to the people.<\/p>\n<p>Milenge Council Chairperson Clement Mwila declared that Luapula Province is now emerging as a stronghold for the UPND.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Zambia<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Zambia. Four Patriotic Front (PF) Members of Parliament have defected to the ruling United Party for National Development (UPND). Three of the lawmakers are from Luapula Province, while one hails from the Copperbelt Province. In addition, more than 60 councillors and council chairpersons\u2014including independents from Luapula\u2014have also joined the UPND. The defectors were [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":82592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,10],"tags":[233],"class_list":["post-82594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-parties","tag-zambia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>PF MPs, Councillors Defect to UPND - The Zambian Observer - Zambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Four Patriotic Front (PF) Members of Parliament have defected to the ruling United Party for National Development (UPND) ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/pf-mps-councillors-defect-to-upnd-the-zambian-observer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"PF MPs, Councillors Defect to UPND - The Zambian Observer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Four Patriotic Front (PF) Members of Parliament have defected to the ruling United Party for National Development (UPND) ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/pf-mps-councillors-defect-to-upnd-the-zambian-observer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Zambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-25T20:43:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-25T20:49:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2026\/04\/sm_1777149998.47709.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/pf-mps-councillors-defect-to-upnd-the-zambian-observer#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/pf-mps-councillors-defect-to-upnd-the-zambian-observer\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"PF MPs, Councillors Defect to UPND &#8211; 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