PeP is an attractive party – Sean Tembo
PATRIOTS for Economic Progress (PeP) is an attractive opposition party, its leader Sean Tembo has declared.
Tembo said within an hour of making a call for submissions for people who wanted to contest parliamentary and local government seats on the PeP ticket, more than 2000 applications poured in yesterday.
In an interview with Kalemba, Tembo said just yesterday, after calling on candidates interested in standing on the PeP ticket in 2026 to contact him, he received over 2,000 applications in just one hour.
He revealed that over 5000 adoption applications were expected to be received by the end of today.
Tembo explained that his party is looking for candidates who live in the communities they wish to represent and who are committed to addressing local problems.
“We are looking for vibrant candidates, people who are fired up. People who believe they can adequately represent their people. If they have previous experience they are welcome but even those who don’t have experience.”
“The candidate should be resident in the area where they want to represent. From previous experience, we have noticed that it’s difficult to sell a candidate who does not live among the people that he or she wants to represent,” said Tembo.
The opposition leader also encouraged women to take the lead in shaping the future of their communities by applying for political roles under PeP.
“We also want to make a special appeal to women and girls, to step forward. When we look at issues that face communities like water, it’s women and girls who are highly affected. So when women and girls lead, they do it better,” he stated.
He shared that the adoption process is expected to be completed by the end of this month.
“So we are talking about the next three weeks. The reason is simple, we believe that people need adequate time to mobilise on the ground, while the political noise is still low. Because once the political noise rises towards election time, it becomes very difficult to mobilise on the ground and for a candidate to be known because there’s too much noise,” he told Kalemba.
“We will have to adopt people in all the wards and the last week of September, we will do with MPs, mayors and others.”
Tembo disclosed that once the adoption process ends, the party will begin touring various parts of the country to distribute regalia to candidates and give them guidance on how to mobilise on the ground.
By Catherine Pule
Kalemba, September 10, 2025
PeP has thrown the door wide open for opportunists.
PeP is the party of stupid people like Sean Tembo.
Sean Tembo my brother you don’t know how crafty a Zambian has become.
Standing in an election is a money spinner for opportunists..It’s big business be it at Presidential, Parliamentary or local government.
First , those 5000 candidates expect PEP to give them campaign money..Of course they won’t use it for campaigns for they know they won’t win. It’s seed capital for their business. If you give them vehicles, it’s a bonus. They won’t bring back the vehicles after the elections.
For the women and girls, there are NGOs out there, who trick International donor organizations into supporting Female Candidates..On the surface it looks like a noble idea. Underneath, for some, it’s organized Crime, to milk Donor organizations if money , pocket the big chunk and give crumbs to the female candidates..And very soon workshops , supported donor Organizations, will begin for the same, encouraging women and girls to stand for Elections..And political parties are in this too, some noises at foreign embassies who have a soft touch for women and girls in leadership, and Dollars will flow.
Then there is the selling of your nomination to the highest bidder..This is very lucrative. Predator Candidates are on the lookout for the party with bottomless pockets, those parties like the UPND which fear competition…those which are in love with endorsements.
A day before the nomination date, you go into hiding after being paid off , so that you don’t stand.. Only reappearing after elections with a Vitz.
Have you ever wondered why people who even know they will get Zeros always stand for Elections..Look at Andyford Banda. The man knows he can’t win a Presidential Election. Suddenly he changes his mind on the arrangement with Madam Dolika Banda, a lady with so much potential, and who had sent shivers to the inner core of the UPND..Why???
Obviously some long fingers might have been behind the changes in the mind of Andyford Banda.
So ba Sean Tembo, do a proper due diligence, Know your Candidates ( KYC) the majority of those intending to stand for Elections are predator Candidates…
This is exactly what we are talking about, failing to organize parties PEP and PF faction have no management skills.The TONSE is now like an abandoned baby in the bush.With Mr Tembo, he appears to be a one man commando.They are now behaving like women selling Salaula on the same corridors with similar products.