{"id":82623,"date":"2026-04-26T20:13:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T20:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/two-pf-mps-defect-to-upnd-in-northern-province"},"modified":"2026-04-26T20:19:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T20:19:08","slug":"two-pf-mps-defect-to-upnd-in-northern-province","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/two-pf-mps-defect-to-upnd-in-northern-province","title":{"rendered":"Two PF MPs Defect to UPND in Northern Province"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Zambia. <\/strong><\/span>Two (2) Members of Parliament from the opposition Patriotic Front (PF), Sibongile Mwamba of Kasama Central and Taulo Chewe of Lubansenshi, have defected to the ruling United Party for National Development (UPND), in a development that signals shifting political dynamics in Northern Province.<\/p>\n<p>The duo joined over 38 councillors from various opposition parties who also announced their defection to the UPND during a gathering held at the party\u2019s Northern Province Secretariat in Kasama.<\/p>\n<p>The event was attended by President Hakainde Hichilema, who met party members and supporters.<\/p>\n<p>Addressing the crowd, President Hichilema urged existing party members to welcome and accommodate the new entrants, stating that he was humbled by the large turnout.<\/p>\n<p>He emphasized the importance of expanding the party\u2019s support base, noting that he was targeting more than five (5) million votes in the forthcoming general election.<\/p>\n<p>Lubansenshi MP Taulo Chewe stated that his decision to join the UPND was influenced by President Hichilema\u2019s vision for the country.<\/p>\n<p>He added that under the President\u2019s leadership, Zambia was fostering unity without divisions based on tribe.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Kasama Central MP Sibongile Mwamba expressed satisfaction with the UPND\u2019s growing support in Northern Province and called for unity among members to facilitate national development.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking on behalf of councillors from Mungwi District, Steven Katongo said the movement of opposition members to the UPND was driven by the party\u2019s development-oriented agenda.<\/p>\n<p>In a related development, PF Malole Constituency Chairman Maxwell Mulenga described President Hichilema as a peaceful leader who promotes inclusivity.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, Kasama Deputy Mayor Felix Kangwa confirmed that 12 more councillors had joined the ruling party to support ongoing government development programmes in Kasama.<\/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. Two (2) Members of Parliament from the opposition Patriotic Front (PF), Sibongile Mwamba of Kasama Central and Taulo Chewe of Lubansenshi, have defected to the ruling United Party for National Development (UPND), in a development that signals shifting political dynamics in Northern Province. The duo joined over 38 councillors from various opposition [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":82622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,10],"tags":[233],"class_list":["post-82623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","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>Two PF MPs Defect to UPND in Northern Province - Zambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Two (2) Members of Parliament from the opposition Patriotic Front (PF), Sibongile Mwamba of Kasama Central and Taulo Che ...\" \/>\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\/two-pf-mps-defect-to-upnd-in-northern-province\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Two PF MPs Defect to UPND in Northern Province\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Two (2) Members of Parliament from the opposition Patriotic Front (PF), Sibongile Mwamba of Kasama Central and Taulo Che ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/two-pf-mps-defect-to-upnd-in-northern-province\" \/>\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=\"2026-04-26T20:13:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-26T20:19:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2026\/04\/sm_1777234716.627368.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"363\" \/>\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\/two-pf-mps-defect-to-upnd-in-northern-province#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/two-pf-mps-defect-to-upnd-in-northern-province\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Two PF MPs Defect to UPND in Northern Province\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-26T20:13:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-26T20:19:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/two-pf-mps-defect-to-upnd-in-northern-province\"},\"wordCount\":294,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/two-pf-mps-defect-to-upnd-in-northern-province#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2026\/04\/sm_1777234716.627368.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Zambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"parties\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/two-pf-mps-defect-to-upnd-in-northern-province#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/two-pf-mps-defect-to-upnd-in-northern-province\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/two-pf-mps-defect-to-upnd-in-northern-province\",\"name\":\"Two PF MPs Defect to UPND in Northern Province - 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