MDC and Mutati: To where?

Mutati left the corporate world in 2001 to run for Parliament in his home area of Lunte. He would become one of the fastest rising stars in the Mwanawasa government, ending up in the inner circle alongside Ng'andu Magande and Kabinga Pande.

Setting off as Deputy Minister of Finance, he later served as at Energy and Commerce. At Commerce, he successfully ran Zambia's international investment roadshows where he waxed lyrical and charmed investors with crisp soundbites about what Zambia had to offer.

At many of those roadshows, Mwanawasa would introduce his administration as one anchored on the rule of law. Mutati & team would provide the investment/economic details. 'Running with gazelles and eating with hyenas' was his trademark mantra on various global forums.

Mutati quickly rose in international circles and chaired various ministerial groups, including one on the EU-Africa trade negotiations. Owing to his experience in trade talks, with govt support Mutati bid for DG of UNCTAD in 2013, but lost to Kenya's Mukhisa Kituyi.

In Parliament, Mutati stayed away from the everyday chatter, preferring more focus on issues of trade and finance. He was among the early voices that warned against the dangers of excessive debt, a problem he would inherit in October 2016 when he became Minister of Finance.

With MMD and PF in chaos ahead of the 2015 presidential election, Mutati backed HH and some thought after all the hullabaloo in the MMD, including RB's failed attempt to return,  Mutati would settle in UPND. But no, he was still a man in search, he believed his future lay in MMD.

Mutati couldn't resist RB who was still calling on the other side of town and who had himself aligned with PF.  Mutati's fight with Nevers Mumba which started in 2012 played out, with the former enjoying PF patronage.

So, straight from a controversial convention that supposedly elected him MMD leader, he triumphantly marched hand-in-glove with RB to the PF rally at the National Heroes Stadium to announce an alliance in the 2016 poll.

With that alliance, PF freely vandalized the MMD's political infrastructure. In his naivety, Mutati thought that would benefit him, since he apparently believed he had found a home in PF. (He now needs that infrastructure).

Post-election, RB's entourage in the PF grabbed the prime parts of the carcass and Mutati was rewarded with Finance, much to the anger of the so-called true greens who felt Lungu was preferring newcomers. But Lungu had a debt to pay to RB. He couldn't afford to ignore him.

As Minister in PF,  Mutati enjoyed the support of the public media who referred to him as the MMD leader despite the High Court saying otherwise. The fight over who was rightful party leader ran for three years and was only finally resolved in the Supreme Court in 2019.

His supporters tried to defy the court, but even the optimist in him realised that he had reached the deadend with MMD. He couldn't patch up with HH, he had been kicked out of PF after trying hard to stabilize their troubled economic ship, and he had effectively lost the MMD.

What next?

Mutati has formed a party. He joins a crowded field of contestants who have been at it for sometime. How will he cut himself from the rest?

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One thing is that Mutati is not a politician with a common/grassroots touch, he remains a technocrat highly suited for the policy corridors. In politics you need both the ground and the table, but the ground decides whether in fact you will have space on the table.

Mutati has previously operated on already established platforms of MMD, UPND and PF. Now he has to build his own and that's where political skills are required. We have witnessed euphoric launches of political parties before with impassioned inaugural speeches

analysing what's wrong with the country and what needs to be done, but soon after the rough and tumble of opposition politics provides a reality check. The steam fizzles out. It's fair to give MDC a chance to prove otherwise.

Mutati knows the new party is not about winning next year's election. But what I think he's hoping for is playing kingmaker to the two leading contenders, which is not different from what he did in 2015 with UPND and in 2016 with PF.

Given the indecision he has displayed over the last five years, it's unlikely he will have the tenacity to build a party for the future. What he maybe targeting is a quick gain, which is not a strange objective at all in politics. But he has a chance to demonstrate otherwise.