WE ARE GOING BACKWARDS…we don’t regret removing PF but we didn’t understand UPND very well – Changala
By Fanny Kalonda(The Mast)
GOVERNANCE activist Brebner Changala says the country is going to have serious food shortages.
He also says should there be a regime change, “you will see how active the ACC will be as if at the time of the new dawn ACC never existed”.
Featuring on Prime TV’s Oxygen of Democracy programme on Monday, Changala said leadership is lacking adding that “we are just going backwards”.
He added that people celebrated when UPND won elections but the party is no longer attractive.
“When we changed government in 2021, I haven’t said this let me put it to the viewers, we all celebrated. It’s an open secret that I was one of the many citizens that really made sure that we had a change of government and the new dawn administration came into power. The UPND even today is not an attractive political party for various reasons because since multiparty came, this is the only political party that doesn’t even attract new membership,” Changala said. “What we don’t regret is having removed the Patriotic Front, what we regret is that we didn’t understand our colleagues very well. They helped us to stop the mayhem. But what we are seeing today with time, they might not be any different. Am talking to you right now [Raphael] Nakacinda is in cells for a statement he made in 2022. That’s two years ago.”
He said the country is lacking leadership, “a situation anyone would realise when they open their eyes”.
“He’s in cells, he has not been charged. Now the “resident says, ‘when you are arresting somebody, you must have done your investigations, charge him. If the case is bondable, give him bond’. But what we are seeing today, we are just going backwards. We are just going backwards… Me and UPND were once synonymous. But I want to tell you and through you the people of Zambia that when we support a cause there are certain ideals and certain values that brings us together,” Changala said. “This country I will repeat is lacking leadership. There are things that you can see if you have open eyes, you don’t need to be a rocket scientist. The economy is failing. The exchange rate has gone haywire and we have drought. This is the time that you must have resolved leadership that will be available in the time of need. I have seen in the last month in which we have seen everything go haywire. The exchange rate skyrocketing, fuel and what have you. The leadership of this country has gone under. It can’t come out openly meet you the media, address the nation and give us hope. What is it that they have in their magic basket that will make us go through during these trying moments? But they don’t talk to us.”
He noted that the country has a bad economy and citizens are being given half baked information.
“We are going to have serious food shortages in this country. We have a bad economy and they are giving us half baked information,” Changala lamented.
And Changala said corruption is endemic in the new dawn administration citing single sourcing of fertiliser by Alpha Commodities and the refusal of a permanent secretary to allow the Auditor General audit the Ministry of Agriculture.
“It is because they are hiding something.
These are lip services because the fight against corruption in this country is highly selective. And they will play to the gallery especially to the donnor community. Should there be a regime change, you will see how active the ACC will be as if at the time of the new dawn ACC never existed. And many time, I take time to go to ACC and understand where has the corruption gone to,” he said. “And I have given them a challenge. When you fight corruption after the regime changes, that becomes political persecution. It’s important to fight corruption in real time. And I will tell you right now, corruption is endemic in this administration…This fight against corruption cannot succeed if it is selective.”
Changala also noted that there are more than 300 civil servants who stay home on a full salary.
“What we see, experiencing, is reverse tribalism and it’s becoming endemic because people who are qualified are being removed. PF used to do what they used to call retired in national interest but we are experiencing a situation where people who are qualified are being shunted to Cabinet Office in holding positions. You must have heard about that,” said Changala. “You are director at the Ministry of Education, you are not needed there, you have done nothing wrong so they remove you and shunt you to Cabinet Office. They are there, there are more than 300 civil servants and they stay home on a full salary. Let anybody challenge me, they don’t work but they get paid and we have done our own investigation and it is all about tribe. 80 per cent to 90 per cent of the people that have been shunted to Cabinet Office in holding positions are our colleagues from Northern, Eastern. Now they are being replaced with the so-called disadvantaged people.”
The tribalist conman unveiled.
It is very true that we did not know what we were voting for. The devil you know is better than the one you do not know. We have truly gone backwards in our quest for a better Zambia.
Vote wisely in 2026.
I always have said UPND has nothing to offer Zambians. It was and still is a bunch of self victimised manipulators who portrayed the picture that previous administrations sidelined Southern and Western parts of this country and yet not. Unfortunately Zambians want to hear and not see. Southern Province is the third developed province from Lusaka and Copperbelt. Western Province received very expensive infrastructure in form of roads and bridges. Alas, all that was put aside and people were made to believe that whatever they were seeing is simply phantom and non of was real. They wanted to hear their name sakes in cabinet.
People simply traded affordable life for a name sake in cabinet offices. And now here we are. I feel for my suffering relatives in Western Province.
Mr. Changala just learn to speak for yourself and avoid generalizing, if you didn’t know about UPND, it’s yourself but the people who voted for UPND knew what they were voting for. Besides that, don’t make yourself a standard, if you are not happy with UPND, don’t think everyone else is not happy. Equally when you are happy with uka, don’t think everyone else is happy, that is how life is in democracy, as long as the majority are happy, life should go on. Even if you don’t want to accept, Zambia is now many times better than the previous administration, this time we are happy because we are seeing where our money is going. It’s unfortunate for you if you are not seeing anything, maybe you are one of those who suffer from self inflicted political blindness. The democratic space which you always talk about is not a problem at all, if anything it has tremendously widened since the ND government came into power. What is shrinking in Zambia is the thieving or stealing space and that has won HH a lot of enemies. You know you cannot be a friend of lions if you start restricting their prey in the wild. There are people who believed that Zambia was their field and they at liberty and had the right to chew and embezzle government money, they never thought of doing any business, any farming or seeking employment, they knew that free money was there. Clips are there where money was turned into mattresses by PF cadres, ECL became an official number plate and a lot of imported vehicles entered the country without paying any ngwee. Are those the days you want to go back to? As an activist yourself, how many people has UPND killed compared to PF? This time death penalty is abolished, defaming the president clause is removed and POA is almost repealed and as an activist you can’t see and appreciate all this, then what kind of an activist are you? The examples you are giving are not politically motivated cases, but ya kuifwaila abane. Alleging that UPND used pre-marked ballot papers is a serious allegation just as it is to claim that HH rigged the 2021 elections. So when you are arrested, and you fail to prove your allegations, don’t cry persecution because you called for it yourself.
Fair criticism is one that takes into account both negatives and positives!
To cherry pick negatives and generalize them is not constructive criticism!
Changala and the Wailers should be realistic!
You can’t expect a good economy while carrying bad debt at the same time! It takes a little pain to turn things around!
Changala is old enough to remember what we went through with HIPC and SAP! During those Austerity years, there was very little social protection compared to now. We had no mass employment we see today. There was wage freeze. There was no free education! I remember how Mwanawasa suffered verbal abuse. It was only after his death that Zambians got to appreciate the fruits of the harsh economic turnaround!
Also, it’s not the first time we have had a serious drought as a country!
This is a test of how resilient we are as a people!
We should always welcome disasters as opportunity to improve ourselves! It’s nature’s way of natural selection! Nature has a good way of getting rid of weak genes and enhancing the development of good ones!
If I was a Komboni dweller today, I would immediately leave and go back to the land! Hunger is a golden opportunity to make money and it’s usually the government that becomes your customer!
Rather than draining your positive energy complaining and condemning, use that energy to be creative and become part of the solution!
Don’t expect the government to feed you! Produce what you eat!
Every family should have a small munda for household food security! Research in Zimbabwe has demonstrated that a family of Six (06) can have sufficient grain for a whole year on a piece of land as small as 16 meters by 39 meters! (Pfumvudza Plot developed by Foundations for Farming institute of Zimbabwe)
This is the average size of a residential plot which can take care of every household irrespective of climatic conditions! Many of us who have been using this method will tell you that we have a bumper harvest this 2024 season! Soon after we harvest our crop, we’ll be planting again for the June / July harvest!
In life, there will always be problems! Problems are there for a good reason, to make us wise! Therefore to always complain about problems is not wise use of time! Be part of the solution! What you focus on tends to grow!
Let HH and UPND rule. It’s their time to rule and their time to leave will come. Zambia is bigger than Edger Lungu and his fellow noise makers.
Edger Lungu is not a freedom fighter to inspire well meaning Zambian. He’s just a simple common chancer from any shanty compound who can win LOTO or Fwenya fwenya. You can make your noise to disturb the ruling party, but it won’t help you at all. Mind you time and days are moving on. The most loudest will not even be heard that time because the next President after HH is not known. It’s only God that truly know
Ala fili uko tuya
Don’t generalise speak for yourself…
Mr Changala you are going backwards alone or with your fellow fools. You expected ka something/ ka position and now you are bitter. Get out because the majority of zambians are tight with UPND & HH. It’s only the minority , you included, who can’t see what progress has been achieved so far.