UBZ Accuses FDD, Tonse Alliance of Being UPND Project
Lusaka, Zambia — (14-03-2026) — The opposition United for Better Zambia (UBZ) has accused the Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD), the Tonse Alliance, and of allegedly working as a covert project of the ruling United Party for National Development (UPND) aimed at shielding President Hakainde Hichilema and weakening the Patriotic Front.
Soondo Soondo, President of UBZ, claimed that recent statements from the FDD and Tonse Alliance had vindicated his earlier assertions that the FDD Party and Tonse Alliance has turned into project that defend the UPND government and silence critics of the ruling party.
Soondo alleged that the stance taken by the FDD-led Tonse Alliance shows that the grouping considers anyone who challenges the UPND administration as an enemy, a position he said exposes what he described as the alliance’s real political agenda.
He argued that the alliance’s posture on internal opposition matters, particularly regarding calls for a convention within the Patriotic Front, demonstrates what he termed a coordinated effort to weaken opposition political parties.
According to Soondo, the FDD and Tonse Alliance leadership are deliberately discouraging calls for UPND conventions because they fear that once such processes are allowed to proceed within the UPND, the move could open the door for the Registrar of Societies to compel other political parties to also hold conventions and allow leadership changes such that PF party will have the opportunity to use other political party and change office bearers at Registrar of societies.
He alleged that such a development would threaten the current leadership structures within some opposition parties, including those aligned with the Tonse Alliance.
Soondo further accused Tonse Alliance and his allies of using other political parties within the alliance to block or delay the PF from holding its convention, arguing that the strategy was meant to keep the former ruling party internally divided.
He said UBZ Party believes the alleged manoeuvres form part of a broader political strategy aimed at weakening the opposition ahead of future elections by preventing the PF from reorganising its leadership through a convention.
Soondo maintained that political parties claiming to be in opposition should demonstrate independence and commitment to internal democracy instead of, as he put it, “defending political arrangements that benefit the ruling party.”
He urged opposition parties to allow democratic processes within their structures and warned that attempts to block conventions would undermine their credibility among supporters.
Efforts to obtain a response from the Forum for Democracy and Development and the Tonse Alliance were not immediately successful by press time.