Friday, March 29, 2024

PF Manifesto is an act of desperation designed to misled naive voters

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By Sean Tembo

1. As Patriots for Economic Progress (PeP), we have noted the manifesto that was launched by the ruling Patriotic Front Party this week. Our view is that the sudden unveiling of a manifesto by the PF is an act of desperation that is designed to misled naive voters.

As a ruling party, the PF is not entitled to make grandiose promises to Zambians of what it will do in future, through a manifesto. Given the fact that the ruling PF have had the instruments of power for the past 10 years, they should concentrate on explaining to Zambians why they have failed to deliver in this period, and it is up to Zambians to decide whether to accept such explanations or not.

2. As Patriots for Economic Progress, we wish to challenge President Lungu to explain to the nation why more Zambians are sleeping hungry today than in 2011 when the PF took over the instruments of power.

The President should further explain to Zambians why the country has contracted more than US$20 billon in external and domestic debt in the past 10 years, and yet the total value of infrastructure built over the same period is less than US$5 billion? President Lungu should further explain to Zambians why only businesses owned by PF ministers and senior officials are booming while the rest of the economy is in a steep decline? The President should also explain to the nation why, during his tenure of office, members of his PF party have become so lawless to the extent that they can walk into a police station, beat up police officers and walk scot free with only a slap on the hand?

3. It is only after President Lungu has answered the above questions to the satisfaction of the citizens of this Republic that we can begin to discuss his new set of grandiose promises contained in the PF manifesto that was launched this week.

4. As Patriots for Economic Progress, we are confident that the amount of hunger and anger which the Zambian people are suffering from today cannot be quenched with a set of empty promises in the PF manifesto. The Zambian people were gracious enough to give President Lungu a mandate to manage the affairs of the nation in 2015. The following year in 2016, his mandate was renewed because the period was too short to properly assess whether the President and his PF party had delivered or not.

Five years later, the period is now adequate for Zambians to see clearly that President Lungu is not equal to the task of properly managing the affairs of this Republic, and must therefore be retired in the national interest. The President failed to grow the economy. The President failed create jobs for Zambians. The President failed to protect Zambians from the perpetual harassment of his party members. The President has embarrassed the nation to our regional peers by over borrowing and then defaulting without shame.

There is literally nothing which President Lungu can claim that he will do in the next five years which he failed to do in the past 6 years. At this point, instead of making fresh attempts to hoodwink Zambians using a shallow PF manifesto, President Lungu is supposed to be apologizing to the citizens for his evidently failed leadership over the past 6 years. No Zambian has any energy left to start perusing through another set of empty PF promises contained in the PF manifesto at this point. The only energy which Zambians are left with is for casting their vote on 12th August in order to retire President Lungu and his PF party so that we can turn a new page in the journey of our beloved nation.

15 COMMENTS

  1. Lungu’s PF is a disaster for the country – but who is going to replace them? UPND is weak and amateurish, and all other parties are too small to get anywhere. HELP!

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  2. I was hoping this f00l had taken his medication today I.e. mental stability pills and those ARVS he pops every time. I guess I was overly optimistic

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  3. Governing parties are judged on their past performance and not future promises. It’s those seeking to unseat a governing party that are judged on future promises. But that is political theory or how politics ought to be as far as the ivory tower is concerned.

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  4. I have just finished reading a copy of the PF Manifesto. Comparatively, it’s a well written document. I don’t see anything wrong in the timing for its release because this is the opportune time for all political Parties to sell their manifestos because we’ll be going into elections soon. Without prejudice the PF document was done by an expert or experts unlike the UPND Manifesto that is vague on many fronts and sounds like an undergraduate dissertation. So I don’t agree with Sean on some of his statements on the document, unless there’s another that I haven’t seen. We must now question the PF conduct in Govt compared to their mission statement, let’s hold them accountable. If they can implement 80% of what’s in the manifesto then we can see some improvement

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  5. DOES MANIFESTO STATE MAKE DIESEL SHORT COUNTRY WIDE
    FIRST IT WAS THE DRIVERS >>>>>> WHO GETS THE BLAME NOW ????

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  6. How can a ruling party be promising instead of just doing it? its those in the opposition who should be promising what they will do.
    How can a ruling party say they will reduce prices if voted back in power, why can’t they do it now, with all government machinery at their disposal?

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  7. What Zambians need to do is very simple. Take the 2016 PF manifesto and mark it. How much has the PF done to meet the aspirations envisioned in the 2016 manifesto. Give the a mark out of 100%. If you are satisfied that they did well, then go ahead and read their new manifesto. If they failed to do 50% of what they promised in 2016, then you do not need to read the new manifesto. Vote them out. The media can help people to do this but unfortunately we have yellow journalists who just ‘cut and paste’ or try to please the powers that be hoping for a diplomatic post. The opposition parties too can do this. Sean Tembo could have done it in his post here. In school, they used to say, ‘Compare and contrast.’ Let us do that.

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  8. Sean Tembo who is this we…if we remove your wife and your mother you have no members in PeP…really laughable….anyway he’s right about PF manifesto am sure they were drinking Whiskey on full bellies when they typing it.

  9. Sean Tembo who is this we…if we remove your w ife and your mother you have no members in PeP…really laughable….anyway he’s right about PF manifesto am sure they were drinking Whiskey on full bellies when they typing it.

  10. @Aristole: EXCELLENT points. PF must be talking to sheep who aren’t intelligent enough to see that they have ruined the economy (through their blatant THEFT and incompetence). instead, they want to present revisionist history on their role and give us dreams on how they can fix what they already destroyed.
    Nonsense. Only a total FOOL will fall for this.

  11. There is nothing wrong for the government in power to promise. To consolidate what they have started, bring new ideas, or assess own rule to start afresh. The new manifesto is in the future, from 2021-2026. The old manifesto ends 12th August.
    Majority (70%) voters have already decided to elect for PF and the undecided “naive” and swing electorates (10%) will rely on other tangibles like the manifesto which we all cried for PF to produce.
    Edgar Lungu will garner more than 500, 000 votes past the post. By this time Mr. Sean Enock Tembo would have had less than 0.01% of total ballots.

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  12. Fake promises + zero vision + lies = PF manifesto. PF has been bribing voters with bicycles & chitenges and the last 10yrs they’ve been building a failed state.

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