It has come to our minds and knowledge with a sense of shock that the most publicised UPND 2021-2026 MANIFESTO is in fact a forgery and a product of stolen photos and images from other people’s websites.
We note with dismay that they did not just lift statements word for word ( Plagiarism) but went further to even forget to edit the photo stolen from the Website in Jamaica.
A close perusal of the manifesto on page 8 reveals that the bank note pasted in their manifesto is in fact a One Thousand Jamaican Dollar ($1000) bill writen Bank of Jamaica.
The shame and embarrassment of stealing ideas could not be hidden when they repeated word for word statements from a South African mining company Website and though HH condemned the Zambian government’s acquisition of 100 percent stake in Mopani Mine through ZCCM- IH after they were offered by Glencore the major shareholders. There was a threat to privatise the said Mopani mine on the copperbelt if the UPND formed government.
In a proper show of ignorance and in the spirit of usual uncoordinated contradictions between HH’s speeches and written documents, the UPND President in his manifesto contradicts Mr. Hichilema’s earlier statements when they stated page 11 of the Manifesto that the UPND “will put in place a policy and plan to facilitate local ownership and increased participation of Zambian players in the industry.”
This is not what he said about Mopani.
This is a sign of lack of foresight and the failure to come up with their own ideas. Its clear that the UPND lack original and authentic ideas to run their own future government.
We demand that the UPND IMMEDIATELY, but not later than 48 hrs, withdraws the forged manifesto from circulation or face criminal proceedings for infringement of section 17 of the Copyright and Performance Act.
We are taken aback to learn also that the UPND are saying they will start respecting court judgments only after they form government. We note that their President has never respected our courts everytime he has lost court cases. In 2016, after his Petition to challenge the presidential election was thrown out, he went on rampage disrespecting the Constitutional Court judges.
His disrespectful conduct continued after the concourt held that President Lungu was eligible to stand in 2021.
We demand therefore that the UPND must apologise to the people of Zambia for presenting a forged document with the hope of forming government using fake information and stolen images, explanations and ideas.
They did forge the manifesto and uttered it to the people of Zambia.
SIgned at Lusaka the 11th April 2021
HON TUTWA S NGULUBE MP, MCC
DEPUTY CHIEF WHIP ZAMBIA