UPND IS PERCEIVED A FAILED GOVERNMENT BECAUSE THEIR DOGS ARE BEING FED BY THEIR NEIGHBORS-If UPND were to lose the 13th August elections, it would definitely be so not that they have failed but as a result of it’s supporters who’re not benefiting from the government they struggled with while in opposition.
It’s not too late to get this undone though, let’s have a random class. Note: in case you easily catch feelings don’t read beyond here.
Strategically, UPND must be aware that people don’t understand, that’s exactly the reason they voted their predecessors out and them in-to avoid rhetoric. Secondly, once your dog (s) starts eating from your neighbor, your security becomes compromised, it can no longer stay at your place and it’s loyalty shifts to the one playing the role of the owner. It can sometimes bring other dogs to your home, and if unlucky the alien dogs would end up biting you.
When the dog is well looked after, people around the neighborhood respects the owner. Actually, when the dog is well fed: you won’t need an explanation that the owner is doing fine. At the same time, you can’t tell me that you are doing fine when your dog is eating from my place. Aikona man!
“If your own dog barks at you, someone else is feeding it”-this is a powerful African proverb, let therefore those who choose to keep dogs feed them.
Imwe ba UPND treat this with the urgency it deserves, start supporting your party members and supporters: because if those struggling members campaign for the opposition: then there will be a problem in securing your victory, because they know your weaknesses. Remember a hungry person is an angry person, 5 months in between is a lot of time. A lot can change, you can’t keep your supporters hungry and expect loyalty. Loyalty must be owned. How, you know.
Politics is different from love. In love you can cheat, fail to deliver a valentines gift and be tolerated. But with politics people don’t forgive, that’s why a politician has to always listen even when no one is speaking, without arguing with voters.
I have heard some people say, “HH has already won the 2026 elections,” and such careless statements can only come from emotional UPND supporters. It can only come from people who don’t understand politics. The fact is that, 13th August, 2026 won’t be a simple election.
Currently, as everyone claims that UPND has no competition: the UPND candidates themselves do not know whether they’re still popular or not. They’re simply scared of the unknown and they don’t sleep, but that’s okay in politics. The problem comes in when those fears comes to pass.
What made Rupiah Banda (RB) to cry after Sata won in 2011 it’s because there was no signal and they did all that a winning party was supposed to do. A sign that when it comes to elections anything is possible, you only underrate your opponent after the winner has been declared.
Even Edgar Lungu (ECL) was confused and embarrassed by how Zambians rejected him, after dancing with him “Alewelelapo Pampando”, rejecting him by over 1 million votes despite his fully attended rallies, dishing out monies and painting the country with PF regalia. Out of the 2.8 percent who voted for UPND in 2021 less than 10% had UPND regalia. ECL actually never recovered from that betrayal till his death.
There was no signal of ECL losing the 2021 elections, it was clear that he would carry the day.
This is what makes elections a serious topic, because everyone on the ballot has an equal chance of carrying the day-including some faces we may not like or support.
If you were to ask me: it’s always never easy for the party in government to know that they’re losing popularity, especially when their genuine supporters are not cared after-because election results do not depend on the attendance of a political event. PF made themselves and those closest to them rich, but their party members and supporters outside Lusaka remained poor. They tried to plant money closer to August elections, but there were no rains; the seeds never germinated.
Imagine paying musicians to go and sing “Alewelelapo Pampando” for the hungry poor Zambians after failing to deliver development and also failing the party structures and the supporters.
This is the reason why-after citizens have elected you (as a Councilor, Mayor, MP or president) avoid becoming a celebrity. Why those in power lose, it’s not really subject to failing but rather them stopping being available. You can agree with me that today, the aspiring candidates in our constituencies, wards etc. are more available to meet and interact with than those who were elected and are currently serving at different levels of leadership. There’s a close relationship between leadership and being available, even in the absence of solutions.
Therefore, it’s necessary for any party or leader who wishes to remain in office to be strategic and demonstrate leadership, by avoiding being merely available during election period/year. Because when that time comes voters remembers someone who was available, who again disappear and the circle continues.
Otherwise, it’s always very unwise for a party in government to fail because their duty is simply listening to what people want and doing exactly that-away from their agenda. Most presidents who are voted out despite their visible development, it’s because of not prioritizing people’s needs.
Listen fellow netizens, sometimes, even development itself can be an enough reason for people to vote the government in power out, for example; you can support farmers through FISP and achieve a bumper harvest yet failure to pay the same farmers in time wouldn’t make them recognize your initial efforts.
Nonetheless, what makes this year’s election special is that it has no historical reference. It’s unique and a case study.
This election, is in fact a temptation to our democracy-being the first time the major opposition leaders appears to be 3 years behind time. Trust me, if UPND happens to win this election of which the possibility is very high (as they are not playing “away” this time-they have a home ground advantage), it will definitely and unintentionally create unplanned one party state-somehow. How? Because once HH wins for his second term, everyone who is faking loyalty to the Patriotic Front currently, is going to involuntarily run to UPND to avoid dying with hunger and PF will be under the feet of UNIP.
Another thing is that second term for president, HH looks like the easiest term for anyone to develop the country, because economically speaking a good foundation has been laid and even electing a drunkard, would be celebrated as a hero-because the ball is already in the 18.
Regardless, UPND will need to be very soft in the strongholds of PF. A lot of progress has surely been recorded by the the UPND administration but it has been a rough 5 years for a common citizen. Especially, that it’s not every Zambian who may understand how unsustainable debt left by the PF administration affected the functioning of the country. It’s not every Zambian who understands why the country was paralyzed without debt restructuring. It’s not every voter who would appreciate how Zambia has been meeting the requirements for Extended Credit Facility (ECF) throughout its 38-month program from 2022 to 2026 January. It’s not every Zambian who is interested to know that inflation was around 24.6% in June 2021 during PF and that it has dropped to 9.4% as of January 2026.
Otherwise, if you ask someone like me about HH, I’ll tell you plainly that what HH has done is to let Zambia live within it’s means. Prioritizing buying chicken pieces and potatoes over “Big Bite 3”. And for a man who lives within his means it would take a wife material to stay and likely those with a girlfriend mindset (slay queens) wouldn’t stay. Come 13th August, it will take Zambians to choose to either be girlfriends or wives to appreciate what HH is trying to build for Zambia.
Shipungu February 24, 2026