AUGUST POLLS WILL BE A SHAM – M’MEMBE
PEOPLE’s Pact presidential candidate Dr Fred M’membe says the August elections will be a “sham”.
Dr M’membe says President Hakainde Hichilema is completing his five-year term without allowing him to hold a rally.
Addressing party members in Nakonde last week, President Hichilema said the UPND would have lost the August polls if Bill 7 had not gone through.
Speaking on Phoenix FM’s ‘Let the People Talk’ programme, Tuesday, Dr M’membe wondered what the President had done in Bill 7 that would make him win the elections.
“We are likely to have sham elections, at the rate we are going the elections will be sham. You heard Mr Hichilema declare publicly that if it wasn’t for Bill 7, they were going to lose elections, unsolicited. There was no journalist who forced him to make that statement, he made it on his own. Many people in the country were saying Bill 7 was about the 2026 general elections, people were denying that. Even he was denying that but now he’s saying it unsolicited. So, if Bill 7 was about him winning elections, if without Bill 7 he was going to lose elections, what have they done to make them win with Bill 7?” he wondered.
“And indeed, if he’s not lying, there are some mechanisms that they have put in place that will enable them to win, that will disadvantage their competitors. So, the status quo as it stood before Bill 7 was not favourable to them winning, they were going to lose. So what is it that he has done in Bill 7 that will make him win? When you look at the conduct of the coming elections, we are likely to have sham elections, almost like the ones we saw in Tanzania which he congratulated and celebrated”.
Dr M’membe said he had applied to hold a rally 34 times since 2021, but all attempts had not been allowed.
“We can see that there’s an attempt to ensure that there’s no contest. We have applied 34 times to have a rally in Zambia, since 2021 we have never been allowed to have a single rally. They are finishing their term of office without the Socialist Party ever being given a chance to hold a rally. And it’s not just rallies, even just small meetings, they are going after you, how do you mobilise as a party? How do you communicate? You can’t even have meetings with your own structures. There are many wards in this country today, our people need to get into these wards, how many applications would we get which are not being granted? There are 156 constituencies today before they are increased, how many permits do we need to get? We have never gotten the permit anywhere. The freedom of association, the freedom of assembly, the freedom of expression are being curtailed in this country in a way we have never seen,” he said.
“Even the PF which we are not glorifying, things were bad as well, but we had at least two rallies, one on the Copperbelt in Kitwe, the other one in Lusaka, in a short period of time. Here we are talking about zero in five years. What are they afraid of? But Mr Hichilema himself is campaigning, he’s having rallies everywhere, what type of human being is this? What type of democracy is he trying to create in this country? What type of unfairness is this? Is this the way to run a multi-party dispensation? And at the end of the day, he wins the elections, he says he has won? When the opponents are not even allowed to train? They should just go into the finals and kick the ball? You are not even allowed to go on the open pitch and train and you should be in the finals with him, and he will celebrate that he has won”.
He claimed that the current electoral reform process was meant to give an advantage to the UPND.
“You can’t change the rules of the game just before the tournament. FIFA changes the rules just before the world cup, people have prepared different sets of rules. When are you going to learn those new rules? When are you going to practice those new rules? It does not mean well, the intentions are not good. Again, it’s to advantage themselves. That’s why Bill 7 was celebrated at Parliament in a way we have never seen before,” Dr M’membe said.
Meanwhile, Dr M’membe said despite some positive steps being taken to unite the opposition, time was not on their side.
“Unity is important, although unity is not a law, it’s a sentiment, it’s important. But unity at any level is not easy. It’s not only the politicians who need to unite, the religious institutions should unite. How many Christian churches do we have? We have similar tensions and divisions even in chiefdoms. How many trade unions do we have in each industry? We would like to see one Christian church, we have so many of them. People’s Pact is not an initiative of politicians,” said Dr M’membe
“If this unity is important, let’s all work together on it. And indeed, we need it. Whether to change government or to move our country forward, unity is needed. And actually, it’s much more needed when it comes to transforming our country. This unity is something that we are working on and we will continue working on to the end of the whole period. Time is not with us, some steps are being taken, some achievements are being made, but it’s not enough but we agree, there’s need for unity. But it’s not established in a vacuum”.
News Diggers
He is in a way trying to ferment violence post elections, very bad chap
The fact is that Fred M’membe does not command a significant following, and his statements describing the August elections as “sham” are misguided. He has continued to make unfounded allegations since the UPND came to power.
Fred M’membe no longer wields meaningful influence in Zambian politics, and his criticisms of democracy and governance rarely present compelling or substantive arguments. Being overly repetitive and consistently advancing the same unsubstantiated claims does not strengthen political leadership. Instead, it reduces such discourse to rhetoric that wastes time.
While democracy allows for freedom of association, assembly, and expression, there must also be order in regulating political gatherings.
One of the weaknesses in Zambian politics is the proliferation of political parties, with virtually anyone aspiring to contest for the presidency in general elections. This is further compounded by intra-party conflicts and divisions driven by personal ambition and self-interest.