Africa-Press – Zambia. SINDA UPND official Alfred Chioza has urged President Hakainde Hichilema to look at people “around you” and get rid of those messing up.
He also says load shedding is a threat to the success of UPND ahead of the 2026 general elections.
“We are digging our own grave. Don’t sleep, one year is an opportunity UPND can use to salvage something from this mess,” Chioza says. “Let’s be very serious Mr President. Please, Mr President, be very serious. Don’t be misled.”
In an interview, Chioza related to what Malawians were subjected to and that the chances of the Malawi decision to influence Zambians is very high.
He said what led Malawians to vote against the government was food shortages, biting economy and generally the cost of living which was unbearable.
Chioza expressed worry that “it’s very easy for Zambians to be influenced because the problems faced by these two countries are almost the same”.
“What problems do we face as Zambians? Hunger but we appreciate the government for its efforts to see to it that nobody dies of hunger. But power outage is very frustrating and the economy cannot tick if you don’t have power. People are not happy,” he said. “Frankly, what is happening is not good. We are told we are exporting power… This is not good at all. How can you choose to feed someone’s children leaving your own?”
Chioza, who once served as Zambia’s envoy to US Washington DC under the MMD government, charged that President Hakainde Hichilema is “easily accessed by crooks who want to mislead him”.
“If I was invited I would share few things with the President. But if I am not invited who am I to offer myself to support? There are so many experts in this country and the President has so much power that he can call anybody else to go and help brainstorm over an issue,” he said.
Chioza also said some of President Hichilema’s advisors are not worth being around him.
“When you look at the village setup, you don’t pick a drunkard as an Induna because there is nothing they can offer. You pick someone who can add value to your governance. So you don’t pick advisors in the streets because it’s dangerous,” he said. “Now, people with no record to talk about have access to the President while people who have it in the mind don’t have access to the President. Crooks access the President so easily and give him advice. They know very well that they will be cheating so that they can eat well but people who have it won’t cheat because they will tell the truth if called upon.”
Chioza reminded the new dawn government that there is less than a year before the next presidential and general elections.
“We have a year to go before the elections and the onus is on us as UPND government to do the right thing. Let’s avoid tribalism, avoid things that people point out otherwise. We are digging our own grave. Don’t sleep, one year is an opportunity UPND can use to salvage something from this mess,” he said.
Chioza appealed to President Hichilema to be “serious and avoid being misled by people who don’t mean well” to his government and the country at large.
“Let’s be very serious Mr President. Please, Mr President, be very serious. Don’t be misled. Look at people around you. People who mess up, show them the door and get the right people. There are a lot of young men that can do the right thing. There are people with expertise, with experience… Let’s audit ourselves as UPND, Mr President and we will move in the rightful direction,” he said.
Chioza is one of the UPND officials that heavily campaigned for the UPND and President Hichilema in Sinda district by reaching out to the most hard to reach areas including some villages that share the border with Mozambique. In most instances he could get stuck due to difficult terrain especially in Kapoche.
Together with 2021 Kapoche Constituency independent candidate Emmanuel Nkhoma, they led a convoy that welcomed the President in Sinda when the PF regime couldn’t allow him to return to Lusaka by air after he visited Chipata.
Chioza says he’s “very afraid that UPND might lose power in 2026 if no serious interventions are done to address the plight of Zambians.
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