UPND HAS TAKEN OVER PF, EMPLOYED TACTICS TO DISADVANTAGED opposition – CHISENGA
MAMBILIMA PF MP Jean Chisenga says the only reason the UPND is not worried about the 2026 general election is because they have already employed tactics to disadvantage the opposition.
In a recent interview, UPND Lusaka Province Chairperson Obvious Mwaliteta said unlike other former ruling parties, the UPND didn’t know tricks of how to kill the opposition.
But responding to that in an interview, Tuesday, Chisenga argued that the UPND had in fact taken over PF.
She further said some laws being enacted under the UPND government would come back to haunt them.
“First of all, they cannot say that they don’t have any mingalato (tricks). You need to understand that there’s no freedom of speech, then there’s no freedom of association and the ECZ does not operate independently”
“So if we don’t have those three, then really we cannot have an election that will be deemed as free and fair. So all these elections that we have had in the past, even the most recent ones, the Lumezi and Mfuwe, we noticed a lot of violence where people are not participating freely”.
“So that’s one of the strategies already that they are using. If people are not able to participate freely now in the by-elections, I wonder how we are going to have free and fair elections in the coming year, 2026,” Chisenga said.
“As we speak, truthfully, PF has been taken over by the UPND regime. That is a fact and they can’t run away from it. Anyone that gives an opposing view is sent to jail, it’s one of their tactics. But what is the role of the opposition? I’m not supposed to agree with you on any given situation”.
“If I see you going astray as a ruling party, I’m supposed to give a check and balance to you as a ruling party because that’s the reason it’s called a democratic state. Now what would the situation be if people are not able to speak? People are now scared to speak up because of the cyber laws. And I can assure you that some of these laws that they insist on will come and haunt them in future”.
She added that the UPND had also placed cadres at the helm of the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) and had stopped the opposition from holding rallies.
“So one of their strategies is to ensure that they place their people at the helm of the ECZ, people who are deemed as cadres, people who we know participated in the previous elections. We all know that these people are affiliated to the ECZ and to that extent, the ECZ is not independent, it’s not been independent for a while”.
“And if we are supposed to say that we are living in a democratic country, then we should allow the opposition to participate freely in politics. And in this case, I mean, we are not allowed to hold public rallies, how are we going to sell our message to the people without having conversations with them? And these conversations we need to have freely because we are a democratic state. So how are we going to engage our would-be voters in the coming elections if at all we don’t have the freedom to associate, the freedom to speak,” said Chisenga.
“We don’t even have an independent ECZ, a body which is responsible for the elections. And the election process is supposed to be [independent] so that all stakeholders and participants are able to engage. So for me, all this is part of their mingalatos. It’s been almost five years and the opposition, especially the Patriotic Front, which according to them is a threat, has not been allowed to associate freely”.
“If people are free to speak to their voters and the environment is also smooth, you can see that everyone is talking against this UPND government. The only way they wouldn’t be worried is because they have placed certain situations in place. The Registrar of Societies is guided with certain rules and regulations of how they should conduct themselves. But this time around, they are not able to do their job. You remember the former registrar of societies had to resign because of the environment in which she was working”.
News Diggers
And where were you when UPND was taking over PF? If you can allow another party to take over your party, then you don’t deserve to lead this country.
You will be fast asleep while hostile forces take over the country. In a way, we experienced this during your PF misrule. Total chaos. No one was in charge.
PF members went to jail for crimes.
Dont steal, dont incite tribalism, violence
or steal like Malanji and Yamba. Chilangwa and chitotela,
engaged in violence. Davies chama violence. Bowman stole
and abused office. They were into crime. So the law
caught up with them. Just behave and please dont steal
or you could join the manje manje.
You politicians are greedy scumbags, PF used to do the same thing during election, you used to pay or buy UPND candidates to disadvantage them at the last minute. You and UPND are both just foolish. You don’t understand your assignment. Stop winging!
See how easy to catch a kabolala.
Always, a thief has a short memory.
My young sister ba Chisenga how can UPND swallow your PF .” mwali shipula” Bemba meaning you were fast asleep.However, UPND can’t swallow PF which Mr Mundubile claims it is the largest party.Ba Chisenga don’t declare defeat so early.You have not lost my sister, when the Speaker said put your house in order she told the PF party to get well organized.But some of you got the message differently and thinking she dislikes the PF.You get organized and put things in place.The jailing aspect is not from UPND no.The laws of the land must be obeyed especially by the law makers.If the law says don’t kill then you must not do that.Dont plunder you must not do that because when you are in conflict with the law, you may be visited.The UPND has no role in jailing people.That tactic is neither here nor there.You must practice your politics within the boundaries of your freedoms.The tongue God gave us must be used carefully with acceptable speaches not threatening the peace of the country and other people ‘s freedoms.And the UPND can not imitate the PF tactics because the people of Zambia are civilized and can’t cherish that.The season for rallies and campaigns shall soon come just get organized and set your eyes on the ball.