BRIEFING | 2026 People’s Pact Launched as M’membe Escalates Opposition Messaging
The 2026 People’s Pact was formally launched this week after organisers were forced to change venues, a move leaders of the alliance described as interference by authorities. The launch brings together a loose coalition of opposition figures, smaller political parties, and civic actors positioning themselves as an alternative platform ahead of the August 2026 general elections.
The event drew a mix of political and civic personalities, including former Copperbelt University vice chancellor Prof. Naison Ngoma, Movement for Change and Equality (M4CE) president Kaluba Simuyemba, veteran public servant and economic strategist Robert Sichinga, and United for Better Zambia (UBZ) party president Apostle Hector Sondo.
The group forms the leadership spine of the Pact, with Fred M’membe serving as its president.
Addressing supporters, Fred M’membe framed the People’s Pact as more than a conventional electoral alliance, describing it as a “national movement for justice, dignity, and democratic renewal.”
He cast the platform as a response to what he called deepening social and economic distress, telling the gathering, “I stand before you today, not as a man seeking power but as a Zambian who has witnessed too much suffering, too much injustice, too much humiliation.”
M’membe’s speech leaned heavily on economic and governance themes, accusing the current administration of failing to deliver jobs, weakening national sovereignty, and presiding over growing poverty. He also raised concerns about democratic backsliding, pointing to what he described as compromised institutions, a politicised judiciary, and reduced tolerance for dissent. These claims mirror broader opposition narratives that have intensified since mid-2025.
National unity featured prominently in the Pact’s messaging. M’membe condemned what he termed “tribal rhetoric from high offices” and positioned the alliance as a cross-ethnic project, arguing that economic justice and dignity must cut across regional and political divides. The language was deliberately inclusive, aimed at differentiating the Pact from older opposition formations often associated with factional or regional identities.
The launch also carried symbolic undertones linked to recent political tensions. M’membe called on government to ensure what he described as a dignified burial for former president Edgar Chagwa Lungu, arguing that how a nation treats its dead reflects its moral standing.
The reference taps into ongoing disputes surrounding Lungu’s legacy and the opposition’s broader framing of respect, dignity, and historical memory.
From a strategic standpoint, the People’s Pact enters an already crowded and fragmented opposition space. Its emergence comes as other alliances, including Tonse Alliance, undergo internal realignments and as established parties grapple with leadership disputes and legal constraints. Whether the Pact can move beyond rhetoric into nationwide mobilisation remains an open question.
What is clear is that the launch signals an escalation in opposition messaging as the election year gathers pace. By centring its appeal on justice, dignity, and democratic renewal, the People’s Pact is seeking to occupy moral and ideological ground rather than immediate numerical strength.
Its impact will depend on whether it can translate that positioning into organisational reach, voter registration influence, and sustained visibility beyond symbolic launches.
The People’s Briefef | Goran Handya
These will be together, they may not break but the question is their leader and grassroots mobilization capacity
This pact will hold.
I have a lot of respect for Professor Nason Ngoma. Maybe he can even invite people from Academia like his good friend Professor Clive Chirwa.. Some heavy weights who can add Value to the Alliance.
Sober Characters like Dolika Banda , Chishala Kateka can also be considered.
Zambia desires a sober, stable, non acrimonious Party which people can look at as the alternative to the UPND Tribal Party..
As things stand now, the objective should be to deny the Tribal UPND a 50+1 in the first round.
Thereafter in the second round we can have those other noisy characters to converge around the People’s Pact..and Hakainde and his Tribal UPND will be history.
Is this Hon. Shamenda I am seeing? Those who still remember in Parliament, President Sata said some names are difficult to mention when you use short cuts and Hon. Namugala will be annoyed. Then he shouted and asked; is Hon. Fack here?
I for one, I doubt if this pact will last at all, I say so because;
1. The leader- M’membe is very poor in leading a party. He likes writing and talking about HH and UPND at the expense of organizing the party. Very soon, these people realize that.
2. The party is full of recycled individuals who can’t do anything better than HH.
3. Ideologies and manifestos of the parties are vey different especially Socialist Party. Socialism has failed in many countries, examples are Cuba and Venezuela, it’s not a secrete despite huge oil reserves.
4. Almost all opposition leaders have no plan or vision for the country, their pre occupation is to remove HH but nothing for the country. They all power hungry as we can see from the scramble, we have never witnessed such an outbreak before.
We wish them all the best but I doubt if it it will last.