Africa-Press – Zambia. A KBN TV EDITORIAL
Over the last four years, the ruling UPND has managed to subdue both the citizens and the opposition to ensure its strategy to retain power in 2026 with ease is reinforced ahead of the elections date.
The strategy is beyond scaring people to speak for fear of the cyber security laws, but the administration has successfully managed to divert citizens’ attention from real issues that matter the most, to focus on daily political stunts such as PF’s Chabinga and others.
It’s important for citizens to realize that they have been led on a path to sniff for meaningless political stunts while cleverly and tactfully being forced to acclamatise to uncomfortable situations; believing that the current hardships can be blamed on anything else including drought, debt and the former regime without thinking twice about a potential failure to deliver on campaign promises.
As part of the strategy, citizens have been subjected to several stress tests to determine tolerance levels. From enduring the high cost of living to participating in laundering a rejected Constitutional amendment process.
The first stress test was to determine how citizens could cope with the high cost of mealie meal from slightly over K100 in 2021 to as high as K400 per 25kg, three years later.
The second stress test was on the high cost of fuel from K17 per liter during the PF to well over K30 per liter in 4 years.
The biggest stress test yet, was to subject citizens to the misery of 2 to 3 hours of power supply in 24 hours. This was followed by an unstable currency and lastly, it was the countless arrest of opposition figures and critics.
Political pundits say it’s very clear that UPND’s 2026 survival strategy is to entrench itself in power by systemically implementing engineered scarcity and targeted repression.
It’s very obvious that only those in the corridors of power must have access to resources, making the control of resources as a lever that forces citizens to gravitate towards seeking favours and approval from those in power.
If you can’t be a praise singer, the password is keeping quiet and trying by all means to be in good standing with the powers that be. Hence there are fewer voices speaking today.
By making the UPND government look like the “big brother”, the administration can afford to buy allegiance and line up MPs, Pastors, NGOs, students, traditional leaders, and captains of industry as allys, even during a controversial constitutional amendment process.
After the stage is set, the last push was designed to create a constitutional amendment funfair that makes Bill 7 bounce back with less trouble.
Having ticked the population reaction to the earlier listed stress tests that no one is brave enough to hold government accountable on the cost of mealie, fuel, prolonged hours of darkness, unstable currency and arbitrary arrests of the opposition, the government feels comfortable to run over everyone with the last push to change the constitution with a docile citizenry that is able to clap while an ilegality is being committed to the sacred and fundamental law of the land.
It’s not a secret that today, Zambia has 99 problems, the constitution is not one of them! Zambia needs more jobs, more power, affordable mealie meal, industries, farming input and NOT a new constitution.
It’s time people demanded what’s due to them from a leadership they overwhelmingly gave the made to rule until the next round of elections in 2026.
The UPND owes it to the Zambian people to defend the constitution from a rigged amendment process, just five months before dissolution of parliament.
For More News And Analysis About Zambia Follow Africa-Press
