{"id":82501,"date":"2026-04-20T18:51:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T18:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/upnd-dismisses-tonse-alliance-manifesto-as-lacking-substance"},"modified":"2026-04-20T18:55:48","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T18:55:48","slug":"upnd-dismisses-tonse-alliance-manifesto-as-lacking-substance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/upnd-dismisses-tonse-alliance-manifesto-as-lacking-substance","title":{"rendered":"Upnd Dismisses Tonse Alliance Manifesto As Lacking Substance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zambia. <\/strong><\/span>The UPND has described the recently launched Tonse Alliance manifesto as lacking substance and unlikely to win the trust of citizens.<\/p>\n

UPND spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa has charged that the manifesto, launched on Saturday, is detached from the realities of the country and does not reflect the progress being recorded under the current administration.<\/p>\n

In an interview with Phoenix News, Mr. Mweetwa says the opposition alliance cannot convince well-meaning citizens with what he considers empty political messaging, adding that leadership claims must be backed by facts and measurable results.<\/p>\n

He says the UPND administration has overseen improvements in key economic indicators, including growth of 6%, debt restructuring and $5.2 billion foreign reserves, as evidence that the economy is recovering not only in graphs and statistics but reality.<\/p>\n

Mr. Mweetwa says the 2026 election will be decided on facts and numbers rather than political slogans, and has challenged opponents to present credible alternatives that can withstand public scrutiny.<\/p>\n

Some of the key highlights in the manifesto include, shifting from a consumption to production based economy, debt recycling, introduction of tax reliefs to constrained businesses, energy diversification, construction of 500,000 affordable housing units, reserving 30% of public procurement to women owned business and expanding social protection programmes among others.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Zambia<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zambia. The UPND has described the recently launched Tonse Alliance manifesto as lacking substance and unlikely to win the trust of citizens. UPND spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa has charged that the manifesto, launched on Saturday, is detached from the realities of the country and does not reflect the progress being recorded under the current […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":82500,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,10],"tags":[233],"class_list":["post-82501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-parties","tag-zambia"],"yoast_head":"\nUpnd Dismisses Tonse Alliance Manifesto As Lacking Substance - Zambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The UPND has described the recently launched Tonse Alliance manifesto as lacking substance and unlikely to win the trust ...\" \/>\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\/upnd-dismisses-tonse-alliance-manifesto-as-lacking-substance\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Upnd Dismisses Tonse Alliance Manifesto As Lacking Substance\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The UPND has described the recently launched Tonse Alliance manifesto as lacking substance and unlikely to win the trust ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/upnd-dismisses-tonse-alliance-manifesto-as-lacking-substance\" \/>\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=\"2026-04-20T18:51:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-20T18:55:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2026\/04\/sm_1776711283.090183.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\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\/upnd-dismisses-tonse-alliance-manifesto-as-lacking-substance#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/upnd-dismisses-tonse-alliance-manifesto-as-lacking-substance\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Upnd Dismisses Tonse Alliance Manifesto As Lacking Substance\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-20T18:51:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-20T18:55:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/upnd-dismisses-tonse-alliance-manifesto-as-lacking-substance\"},\"wordCount\":221,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/upnd-dismisses-tonse-alliance-manifesto-as-lacking-substance#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2026\/04\/sm_1776711283.090183.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Zambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"parties\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/upnd-dismisses-tonse-alliance-manifesto-as-lacking-substance#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/upnd-dismisses-tonse-alliance-manifesto-as-lacking-substance\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/upnd-dismisses-tonse-alliance-manifesto-as-lacking-substance\",\"name\":\"Upnd Dismisses Tonse Alliance Manifesto As Lacking Substance - 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