Fellow Zambians,
STATEMENT: RESPECT THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT — THIS NONSENSE STOPS NOW
The August 2026 General Elections are over. The people of Zambia have spoken, and President Hakainde Hichilema stands today as our Head of State and Commander-in-Chief. That office does not belong to UPND. It belongs to every Zambian. And it will be respected regardless of who anyone voted for.
Let me be direct. In the days since this election, a section of people have descended into insulting the President in the crudest, most degrading terms imaginable. Worse and this is where our patience runs out completely children are now being dragged into these attacks. Let that sink in.
Grown men and women are recruiting minors to abuse the Head of State of this country. That is not political expression. That is not “freedom of speech.” That is a disgrace, and we call it exactly what it is.Hear us clearly: the UPND on the Copperbelt will not fold its arms and watch this continue. Not anymore.
We are putting every structure of this party from provincial to ward level on full alert. From today, our members will be watching, documenting, and reporting every single case of this conduct to the Zambia Police Service and the relevant authorities, without exception and without delay. Anyone involved in insulting the Head of State, and particularly anyone using children to do it, should know that a case file is being built, and it will land on the desk of law enforcement. We will not sit back quietly and treat this as normal. We will push, and we will follow up, until action is taken.
Let no one mistake this resolve for a call to disorder. We are not asking anyone to take the law into their own hands, and we will not tolerate that within our ranks either. Our strength is not in mobs it is in numbers, in Organisation, in evidence, and in the full weight of the law coming down on those who think insulting the Presidency is a game. That is what makes UPND serious, not weak: we do not shout empty threats, we build cases and we push them through the system until they land.
To those doing this this is your warning. The campaign is over. The votes are counted. Continue down this road and you will find yourselves explaining your conduct to the police, not to a Facebook comment section.
To all Zambians, winners and those who came second this time the moment has come to grow up as a nation. One Zambia, One Nation is not a slogan for campaign rallies only; it is how we are expected to conduct ourselves the day after the results are announced.
Respect the office, even if you did not support the man who holds it. Channel your energy into building this country, not degrading it.Zambia belongs to all of us. We will defend the dignity of its Presidency firmly, lawfully, and without apology.
Hon. Elisha Matambo
Copperbelt UPND Chairman | Member of Parliament-Elect, Lufwanyama East