UPND Manifesto 2026, Hollow Document That Betrays the Zambian People
On 11th June 2026, the United Party for National Development (UPND) launched its Party Manifesto ahead of the highly contested 13th August 2026 general elections. At face value, the document reads like a collection of vague aspirations. Upon critical assessment, it collapses under scrutiny. The UPND manifesto is not a roadmap for national renewal; it is a recycled outline of thought focus areas, dangerously misaligned with Zambia’s urgent priorities.
A manifesto, by its very nature, must confront the real challenges crushing ordinary citizens and then present clear, actionable interventions with local, indigenous participation at the heart. The UPND document fails this fundamental test. It has passed only one test: serving foreign interests at the expense of Zambians. Instead of placing local empowerment at the core, the manifesto alienates Zambians by granting preferential treatment to foreign investors while relegating the majority to the margins. That is not patriotism. That is surrender.
The evidence of intellectual laziness is glaring. The manifesto is built on secondary data, not primary, grassroots evidence. It speaks the language of conference rooms in Lusaka and boardrooms abroad, not the language of farmers in Choma, traders in Kamwala, or miners on the Copperbelt. It is a manifesto for the elite and the rich, while the poor majority are left to brace for five more years of economic hardship that the UPND government appears determined to impose through to 2031 should it retain power.
Strategically, the document is bankrupt. It demonstrates no innovation, no bold thinking, and no capacity to induce broad-based economic development or make Zambia globally competitive. Worse, it betrays a party trapped in 2021. After five years in office, the UPND is still promising to “build institutions” instead of strengthening the ones it has presided over since 2021. Zambians do not need more blueprints for institutions that exist on paper. They need institutions that deliver justice, services, and opportunity.
The manifesto also fails to articulate, with any credibility, how it will strengthen the rule of law and stop the weaponisation of state institutions. Silence on this point is complicity. The only honest explanation for such vacuity is a toxic combination of inexperience and management ineptness. Governance cannot be learned on the job when the cost is paid in hunger, unemployment, and broken futures.
A party manifesto must conceptualise new ideas capable of informing the country’s National Development Plan and programmes. It must not plagiarise old national development plans and repackage them as vision. Zambians deserve leadership that thinks ahead, not leadership that copies and pastes the past.
In conclusion, the UPND manifesto offers no future for Zambians. If implemented, it will deepen poverty, widen inequality, and lock the country into stagnation. The Zambian people have endured more suffering since 2021 than they ever anticipated in a lifetime. They have watched the economy falter and national unity erode. They must not reward failure with another term.
On 13th August 2026, Zambians have a historic opportunity to reject a discriminatory manifesto and vote the UPND out of power. The message must be clear: go with your elitist document, but leave Zambia’s destiny to those who will put Zambians first. The time for excuses is over. The time for accountability is now.