TONSE ALLIANCE STATEMENT ON UPND’S DECISION TO DISSOLVE ITS EASTERN PROVINCE STRUCTURES FOLLOWING THEIR LOSS IN THE PETAUKE CENTRAL PARLIAMENTARY BY-ELECTIONS
Liberty House, 11th February 2025
1. The TONSE ALLIANCE has noted with surprise, the decision by the ruling United Party for National Development (UPND), to place the blame for its recent loss in the Petauke Central Parliamentary by-election, on its Eastern Province party structures, hence the decision to dissolve the said structures.
2. As TONSE ALLIANCE, we wish to advise the ruling UPND party that it is simplistic for them to attribute the loss in Petauke, solely on the disorganization of it’s Eastern Province party structures. From our standpoint, the UPND loss in Petauke is merely a symptom of a bigger disease. That bigger disease is the fact that the majority of the Zambian people are, slowly but surely, coming to the realization that the UPND Government is a scam. Was a scam from the word go.
3. While in opposition, the UPND promised the Zambian people prosperity. That prosperity is nowhere in sight. The only people who have prospered are UPND members, supporters and Government officials, while the common Zambian is more impoverished today than at any other time in the history of this nation.
4. While in opposition, the UPND promised the Zambian people, a fair and objective application of the rule of law. And yet, the Zambia Police and Judiciary are, today, the greatest purveyors of selective justice than at any other time in the history of this nation. Offenses such as Sedition, Possession of property suspected to be proceeds of crime, Hate speech, etcetera, are an exclusive preserve of opponents of the UPND Government. The only reason Chishimba Kambwili and “Why Me” have been to prison and Batuke Imenda and Douglas Siakalima have not, is the region where they come from.
5. While in opposition, the UPND promised the Zambian people to fight corruption. And yet, the nation has witnessed K64 million recovered from Ms. Faith Musonda disappear without a trace, we have witnessed companies that are registered today, win multi-million Kwacha Government tenders tomorrow, we have witnessed hundreds of millions of Kwacha of taxpayers’s money dished out by the Attorney General to UPND cadres, under the disguise of Consent Judgements, while the common Zambian remains hopeless and helpless, and imperilled with poverty.
6. While in opposition, the UPND promised to unite the nation. And yet, despite President Hakainde Hichilema being overwhelmingly voted into office by all the ten provinces of Zambia, he has proceeded to divide the nation by creating two classes of citizens. The first class of citizens is made up of the President’s kith and kin who hail from the Zambezi provinces and who are given more than 90 percent of senior jobs in Government and parastatals, including the Police and Courts. The second class is made up of the rest of the citizens, who are subjected to daily political persecution, through abductions and arbitrary arrests by the Zambia Police Service’s Zambezi Squad. The second class of citizens are then paraded before Zambezi Magistrates and Judges, who quickly convict them without any sound basis or evidence. This is the level of national disunity that the UPND Government has so far managed to deliver to the Zambian people.
7. When in opposition, the UPND party promised to run the economic affairs of the nation with prudence and competence. However, they have so far borrowed huge amounts of money, with no tangible infrastructure projects to show for it. Foreign debt has increased from US$11 billion in 2021 to about US$14.8 billion at present. Domestic debt has increased from about K89 billion in 2021 to about K248 billion at present. Domestic arrears have increased from about K18 billion in 2021 to about K96 billion at present. The number of companies under Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), where President Hakainde Hichilema is Chairman, which are insolvent, have increased from nil in 2021 to 8 at present, including Zamtel. While taxation for Zambian citizens keeps going up every year, the UPND Government keeps giving tax holidays to foreign-owned mining companies.
8. As TONSE ALLIANCE, we wish to take this opportunity to inform the ruling UPND party that they are on their way out of power, come next year. Their loss in Petauke is merely a symptom of the disease that they are afflicted with. The name of that disease is called “Failure to Govern”. As history will show, in 1991, 2011 and 2021, the Zambian people have been unforgiving to any ruling party that suffered from the disease of “Failure to Govern”. Likewise, we as TONSE ALLIANCE are confident that on 13th August 2026, the Zambian people will, in the national interest, retire the UPND party from the governance of this nation, and usher into office the TONSE ALLIANCE. Petauke is merely a snippet of the bigger disaster that awaits UPND next year.
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ISSUED BY:
SEAN E. TEMBO (SET)
PeP PRESIDENT & TONSE ALLIANCE SPOKESPERSON
LUSAKA, ZAMBIA