September 6, 2021
On August 12, 2021, Zambians reprised, what we must by now consider settled habit—they elected a new government. They have made a custom of changing governments with a certain directness and dispatch to the process: no self-doubt, no longing regretful glance back over the shoulder, no breakup tears, no hint or hedge leaving the door open for a future reunion in the curt goodbye. They did so for the first time in 1964 when the Zambian flag; amber, black, red, and green replaced the Union Jack and unfurled atop flag poles across the newly independent country of Zambia; again in 1991 when they said goodbye to the first Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda; and again in 2011 when they bid farewell to the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy and, once more, in the latest iteration, when they said enough to the Patriotic Front (PF) and choose the United Party for National Development (UPND) to manage their affairs.