PRESS STATEMENT
18/01/2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COLD NIGHTS, EMPTY POCKETS: KBF CONDEMNS CRUEL AND DEHUMANISING TREATMENT OF ZAMBIAN FARMERS
Lusaka — The Presidential Press Office of Zambia Must Prosper (ZMP)
President, Mr. Kelvin Fube Bwalya (KBF), strongly condemns the cruel, dehumanising, and incompetent handling of farmer payments by the UPND government under President Hakainde Hichilema.
The Party has taken note of deeply disturbing videos circulating on social media showing Zambian farmers queuing for days, sleeping at bus stations and in open spaces under cold conditions, merely to access payment for maize supplied months ago. These images are a national embarrassment and a betrayal of the men and women who feed the nation.
Mr. Bwalya has described this situation as a national disgrace and a clear demonstration of administrative failure.
The farmers affected delivered their maize between June and August 2025, yet are only now being subjected to chaotic and degrading payment processes. Instead of utilizing modern, efficient systems such as bank transfers or mobile money particularly for farmers without formal bank accounts the government has forced citizens into congested physical payment points, exposing them to suffering, insecurity, and indignity.
“This is not governance; it is cruelty,” Mr. Bwalya stated. “In the 21st century, the UPND government has chosen queues over competence, suffering over systems, and chaos over common sense. Farmers are now sleeping in the cold at bus stations like refugees in their own country, simply to receive money they earned.”
Zambia Must Prosper further notes that these payment delays are part of a broader collapse in agricultural planning and administration, including the chronic failure of the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP). Reports of farmers being forced to share a single bag of seed or fertilizer among dozens of people reflect a system in total disarray.
As a result, valuable time that should be spent preparing land and inputs for the upcoming farming season is being wasted in endless queues. This loss of productive time translates directly into reduced planting, lower yields, rising food prices, and deepening rural poverty.
“When you punish farmers, you punish the economy,” Mr. Bwalya emphasized. “You undermine food security, weaken the kwacha, inflate food prices, and push families deeper into poverty. This government has failed the farmers, and by extension, it has failed Zambia.”
Zambia Must Prosper therefore calls on the UPND government to:
- Immediately reform farmer payment systems by adopting efficient electronic and mobile payment platforms;
- Compensate farmers for delays and losses arising from late payments; and
- Provide a full public account explaining how routine payments deteriorated into scenes of national humiliation.
“Zambian farmers are not beggars,” Mr. Bwalya concluded. “They are workers, producers, and patriots. They deserve respect, efficiency, and leadership not cold nights, long queues, and empty promises.”
The growing public outrage reflects a nation increasingly alarmed by a government that appears to have lost both its moral compass and its administrative capacity.
Issued by:
The Presidential Press Office
Kelvin Fube Bwalya (KBF)
President – Zambia Must Prosper (ZMP)
Tonse Alliance Vice Chairperson