THE EVIL PLANS BEHIND THE PROPOSED TIMING OF THE VOLUNTARY NATIONAL YOUTH SERVICE – Fred M’membe

THE EVIL PLANS BEHIND THE PROPOSED TIMING OF THE VOLUNTARY NATIONAL YOUTH SERVICE

…Mr Hakainde Hichilema is trying to create a private reserve army for political use in the 2026 election.

I call upon Mr Hakainde Hichilema to defer plans to reintroduce the so-called voluntary National Youth Service to after the 2026 general election to avoid turning the next elections into a blood-bath. On the surface, re-introducing national service looks like a good idea. Not until when one carefully examines the EVIL and DESPICABLE motivations behind this move. The primary reason behind the proposed training of YOUTHS in military instruction is to make them ready to act on orders as military personnel in the service of the ruling party in 2026. Both the general public and the opposition will not have the capacity to fight off such a political security force. When Mr Hichilema boasted recently that he will not be removed from power easily after spending several years in opposition, this is arguably what he meant: that he is creating a political security force that would help secure his stay in power through partisan involvement in the 2026 election.

It is no wonder that Mr Hichilema is even offering to sponsor 156 youths in this exercise – 156 being the number of directly elected constituencies in Zambia. How? Why? Proper government programmes, especially of a military nature, should be sponsored by the treasury upon approval of the budget by Parliament, not by individuals, however deep their pockets might be. An individual sponsoring the training of 156 military personnel! What would happen if I, former president Edgar Lungu, or each of my colleagues in opposition were to individually sponsor 156 volunteers to the same military training? I know that Mr Hichilema hardly listens to any advice, especially if it comes from political opponents. But I plead with him, in the interest of the nation, to not spend treasury money for his own dangerous plans and to instead defer the implementation of the national youth service programme to immediately after the 2026 election for the good of the nation. I make this appeal with the sincerest and most peaceful of intentions.

Already, Mr Hichilema’s administration is making it next to impossible for many people or organisations to oppose him democratically and peacefully. Nowadays, the police operate so unprofessionally that one can easily mistake them for a private militia of the UPND. Here, it is worth noting that I am referring to the leadership of the police that issues partisan, unlawful, and undemocratic commands, not to the rank and file: the poor men and women in uniform who are decent professionals and do not support many of the wrongs they are commanded to engage in by their superiors. I urge Mr Hichilema to exercise restraint on how he abuses the police to fix critics and political opponents. The best way to preserve peace is through persuasion and building consensus on common issues, not the use of force to suppress dissenting voices.

Nowadays, the courts operate so unprofessionally that it is becoming pointless, even risky, to take political cases to the judiciary. The courts are increasingly no longer pretending to be dispensers of justice. Like the Attorney General’s office, the courts are gradually operating more and more like a legal department of the UPND. Many colleagues in the opposition feel that the courts have been instructed to convict as many of us as possible to bar us from taking party in the 2026 election. We are aware of the UPND’s plans to use the courts in 2025 to convict FDD leader Ms Edith Nawakwi, myself, and even civil rights activists like Mr Brebner Changala. We are also in receipt of information that Mr Hichilema wants to arrest Mr Brian Mundubile in early 2025 so that he too can be convicted  and disqualified from running in the 2026 election. Using the police and courts, the UPND are knocking out political rivals from the 2026 election through bogus charges of arrest and dubious, politically motivated convictions whose appeal will not be decided before the next election. This is extremely reckless and dangerous. How many people are the UPND going to arrest for the crime of opposing or criticising Mr Hichilema and his administration? How many people are the UPND going to disqualify from the 2026 election so that Mr Hichilema is not opposed? Does the UPND realise the danger of excluding all the strong candidates from the next election using the police and the courts?

Elections are meaningless if those in power exclude political rivals from the ballot using politically engineered convictions, presided over by compromised magistrates and judges. Peace is hard to sustain if people, in a supposed democracy, feel afraid to voice out their concerns on governance affairs. Let the opposition operate freely. Let the opposition compete on a fair plane. Stop the endless arrests and persecution of the opposition before things backfire and the consequences engulf us all.

Moreover, we are aware of the UPND’s plans to use Speaker of the National Assembly or the courts in 2025 to create more by-elections, as they have done this year, which they hope to win so that they can make changes to the Constitution that suit their political desires and lift Mr Edgar Lungu’s legal immunity from prosecution. We commend Mr Lungu for not giving in to the machinations of the UPND. If Mr Lungu wanted, he would have cut a deal with the UPND to stop his planned persecution. We know that what Mr Hichilema and his UPND want is for the former president to retire from politics and become a Mr Nevers Mumba so that they can go to bed peacefully, unafraid that they may lose power in 2026 if he remains in politics and supports one of their rivals. It is Mr Lungu’s continued participation in politics that is now making them so desperate to acquire the two-thirds majority that is needed to lift his immunity and enable the UPND to make changes to the Constitution for the purpose of securing their grip on power. This abuse of the courts will end up badly for all of us if it is not stopped.

Nowadays, the Electoral Commission of Zambia operates like an NGO for the ruling party. Some of the statements that come from its officials are so partisan that one can easily mistake them for statements from the UPND secretariat. Never has one seen a commission so blatantly partisan in its conduct that it is becoming a threat to national peace. There are certain institutions where only the men and women who are known for their independence, integrity, and professionalism should be appointed. There are certain institutions that should be protected from having ruling party cadres within its ranks. The ECZ is among them. The independence and impartiality of the commission are determined by the credibility of its leadership. Mr Hichilema destroyed the ECZ the moment he appointed UPND partisans or sympathisers to the institution. It is not too late to correct this anomaly.

Elections are an extremely sensitive affair and can set the country on fire if not well managed, if they are managed by people who see themselves as agents of the party in power, or people who do not command the required levels of trust and confidence from the public. To avoid plunging the country into violence if a disputed election were to occur in 2026, we call upon UPND aligned commissioners serving on the ECZ to step down. We know that Mr Hichilema cannot fire them since he appointed them to the ECZ for a reason: to serve his partisan interests. But we should not risk the peace that we, as a country, have enjoyed for decades to protect or serve the interests of one man, one party. We make this call in the interest of the nation, peace, and the integrity of the electoral process.

There is a limit to which people can be pushed. When people feel all avenues to democratic and peaceful ways of opposing a regime are closed, they may be tempted to consider undemocratic and violent means. We do not wish this to happen to our homeland. We know that the State has the monopoly of violence, but no force is more powerful than the peaceful force of the people. As opposition parties, we play an important role in safeguarding the peace that we enjoy through peaceful and democratic opposition to the government of the day. When this right to peaceful opposition of the government is respected, the chances of violence are diminished as people feel that they have outlets in form of opposition parties in which they can vent out or express themselves freely in a manner that helps reduce the prospects of societal conflict. When this right is severely undermined, when people lose faith in the institutions of government such as the police, the courts, and the electoral commission, peace is no longer guaranteed.

Will Mr Hichilema listen? Or will he dismiss these concerns as noise from the opposition over which they should be arrested?  Let us wait and listen.

Fred M’membe
President of the Socialist Party