2026 poll a referendum, says Mushimba
By George Zulu
FORMER minister of transport and communication Dr Brian Mushimba says the August 13 general elections will be a referendum on the last five years of the United Party for National Development (UPND) to show what it has done while in government.
Addressing Zambians on his Facebook page, Dr Mushimba said the nation had a month before the campaigns could start.
He said the August 13 general election was not an ordinary election but one that would decide the nation’s future based on the promises made in 2021.
“There’s one month to campaign season. Zambia must decide. We are one month away from the official campaigns. This election will not be ordinary. It will be a referendum on the last five years,” Dr Mushimba said.
He said the UPND was heading into the next election as a worried team.
“And despite the noise, the theatrics and the show of confidence from the ruling UPND, make no mistake: they are going into this election worried. And they are acting like it,” Dr Mushimba said.
He said the UPND and its leadership were desperate to return to power at all costs and would use all sorts of means to keep it for themselves.
“Why is the desperation showing? Authoritarian drift. In 2021, they promised openness, tolerance and reconciliation. What we are seeing today is the opposite. Opposition voices have been restricted. Political activities have been blocked. Arrests for “illegal assembly” are routine. Fear is creeping into the political space. This is not confidence. This is control. And control is born out of fear,” he said.
Dr Mushimba said the UPND government had weaponised all institutions of governance, including the courts.
“The courts are increasingly being pulled into politics with accusations of selective urgency in politically sensitive cases, especially those that favour those in charge. All of this is creating one perception. The system is being tilted,” Dr Mushimba said.
He said Zambians voted for fairness in 2021 and not a recycled version of what they rejected.
“When the Judiciary is seen as partisan, democracy itself is weakened. And when a government leans this heavily on the system[s], it signals one thing: it does not trust the people to decide freely,” Dr Mushimba, a former Kankoyo member of Parliament, said.
The UPND administration was also using the benefit it achieved from the 11th-hour changes to the Constitution.
He wondered why it rushed constitutional amendments months before an election.
“Why touch critical provisions like Clause 52? Why ignore the spirit of a people-driven process? These are not routine adjustments. These are high-stakes changes made at the most sensitive time. And when rules are changed late, suspicion is inevitable,” Dr Mushimba said.
Dr Mushimba said the UPND was now banking on the scheme to change the electoral rules.
The ground support the UPND enjoyed and benefited from to win the 2021 election had changed.
He said government had sensed that the people had turned against it, and now the rush into self-preservation mode.
Dr Mushimba said sadly the UPND will not control anything as the will of the people remained powerful.
