By Daimone Siulapwa
In politics, few things sting like betrayal, and today, the UPND stands guilty of betraying its most loyal supporters. For over 20 years, these men and women sacrificed their time, resources, and livelihoods to bring the UPND into power.
Yet three years into this government, the very people who put it there remain abandoned, their hopes of financial stability and recognition shattered. This is more than a failure of governance; it is a betrayal that could spell the UPND’s catastrophe come 2026.
Across Zambia, it is now a common sight to find disgruntled UPND members lamenting openly about how their sacrifices have been rewarded with indifference. They are crying out, not just for material gains, but for the dignity and respect they expected their loyalty would earn.
For many of these supporters, the sense of betrayal has taken a painful toll, as they have become the laughing stock of their own families and communities. In households and neighborhoods, they endure jabs and ridicule for staking their hopes on a party that seems to have left them behind.
You can feel the anger of many UPND members in the airmen and women who continue defending their party even when it feels impossible to do so. They press on with fragile optimism, hoping for a turnaround that never comes, hoping that perhaps someone in the leadership will finally listen.
But where are the party’s strategists or political advisers to face the truth, to tell those in power that the time has come to make a change?
It is only during the UPND government that the administration has even failed to identify and distribute land among its members using legal and transparent means, of course.
For Christ’s sake, UPND is in power! It has the political authority to empower its members within the law, yet all it lacks is the will. It’s baffling that a government with all the instruments of state at its disposal has not devised a legal, sustainable mechanism to give its members a fair stake in the prosperity of the land they govern and this we don’t mean empowering just a few province.
Where the PF showed mastery in mobilizing resources and legal opportunities for its loyalists, UPND remains hesitant, choosing instead to stand by as its support base languishes.
A closer look at the situation reveals and even grimmer picture. Many UPND councilors,who once believed they would lead by example, embodying the party’s promises of change and prosperity have grown too disillusioned to carry on. In communities across the country, it’s not unusual to find councilors who have simply abandoned their roles, no longer engaging in local projects or community work.
Their reasoning? “It’s not worth it.” This sentiment has spread like wildfire, leaving a gaping void in communities and a profound sense of abandonment among supporters.
The UPND, despite having two decades to prepare, failed to anticipate or address the demands of its support base. Unlike the PF, which expertly cultivated loyalty by rewarding those who stood by it, the UPND appears paralyzed by its own moral high ground, unwilling or unable to develop a system to support its own without draining the national treasury.
In doing so, it has made a mockery of the sacrifices of its supporters, leaving many disgruntled and disillusioned.
What do you say to a man who lost his job, his business, and even put his family’s future on the line for UPND’s victory, only to be cast aside?
Today, many of these loyalists watch from the sidelines as a privileged few prosper, their pockets swelling while the faithful remain in poverty. The betrayal cuts deep, and the comparisons to the PF era are stark.
Whatever the PF’s faults, it looked after its own. The UPND, by contrast, has done little to nothing for its loyalists, standing aloof and indifferent to the struggles of those who helped bring it into power.
This abandonment will not go unanswered. Disillusioned supporters, ignored and mistreated, will not simply accept their fate; they will teach the UPND a lesson come 2026.
Whether through apathy, protest votes, or outright defection, these once-loyal soldiers stand ready to show the UPND that loyalty must be rewarded, not taken for granted.
The UPND’s time is running out. To survive, it must urgently recognize the depth of its failure and take immediate steps to redeem itself in the eyes of its supporters. This is not about bribery, corruption, or handouts; it’s about empowering its base in tangible, lasting ways.
Only then can it hope to avoid a political disaster in 2026. Anything less, and it will find itself on the wrong side of history and on the wrong side of the ballot box.
The PF monumental election loss taught the UPND that people matter more than cadres. People are in the majority, while the cadres are in the minority. I just hope the UPND is taking good care of the general populace, the people who matter when it comes to elections.
It’s the voters, styopet!
Its not only the Cadres who have been dissapointed but the voters too. What was expected was a decent life for Zambian. Affordable goods and services. But this is not the case. Living in Zambia has become very expensive.
. The KWACHA has plummeted
.Fuel is too expensive
.Fertiliser is too expensive
.Bread is K25
.Sugar is K60
.EGGS tray is K90
.mealie meal is K450…..
AND MANY MORE…. where are we going? B
Ba President sure……..Is this the life you promised us?
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Are you one of these foot soldiers?
Kikiki…waiting for mana from HH to fall on him/her? Instead of being productive you thought making noise would earn you a job…yet you have no skillset. Money thrown at you, without working for it? So explain to us why you deserve this “mana?”
Get a job, go farm in Mbala with your father. Or do what your elder brother did, took flight after failing at politics and living off brown envelopes. Writting articles for people that looted, so that bakuchekeleko….is a pitiful way to earn a living, Diamone.
What a load of nonsense as all or most foot soldiers want to jump onto the band wagon
for their own personal gain its not what they can do for Zambia but what they can fo for themselves
@Mayo Mpapa, I can’t put it any better. Some of these commentators can be misleading
You mean cadres? I thought they followed the party because they had similar beliefs? Cadres should not feel entitled to financial benefits.
That is but a white collar argument. You can understand the argument from the airconditioned office but the stonethrower only knows that he is entitled to a piece of the cake because he screamed for HH at rallies.
@Alice Total – That is still not right, a political party, a club and a church have similar registration by law. It is about common beliefs. I never joined my church to derive any financial benefit from it.
@Alice with or without a status, one should strive for what is right. We have too long allowed moral values to degenerate to statments that we see uttered by Lusambo, Mwale and GBM to justify why they should not be prosecuted. They were merely “kulila mwibala”. That is theft or abuse of office. That is law. No aircondition or not perspective makes stealing right. And in this case Diamone is agitating for a particular perspective so that the reigns are loosened and the previous looters are justified. He is being paid to say or write what he is writing so calling him out for his poor morals. For being an embarassment to the values that his father and mother stood for. He is an abhorrent son.
The point of my post is being missed. Let me put it more plainly.
@St Desperacius, I am not saying it is right or wrong, but that cadres being schooled about why we should join clubs or associations: that is but an intellectual argument. It’s for you who are studying morals and ethics. (white collar workers)
Cadres as far as I know don’t join a campaign because they believe in the cause. They are mostly rogues or loud mouths for hire. Afterwards they need their payments not ethical lessons.
By the way, laws are not morals. One example: Jacob Zuma has six wives. In Europe that is immoral but in Africa, Middle East and Asia it isn’t. It is even legal.
But it is illegal in Europe or the western world. Another example? What Judas Iscariot did, the betraying of Jesus, was immoral but not illegal
No party or entity can take care of all it’s people, resources are not infinite, they are finite. UPND should not even worry about some of their members who could be lamenting.
Infact when you believe in a cause you dont expect to paid for it. The suggestion is just one coming from a sick person, wanting to masquared as speaking for UPND, he really speaks for his PF handlers.
This is really high praise for the government, they should never put their membership before the general public. The footsoldiers should agree or disagree with certain policies not to expect special treatment you support for good of country not for individual.
And those at the top are busy eating and they have forgotten who put them in Power. This is a big shame!!!
We can not all lead….neither does it mean when you are at the top….youre eating. They have left what they would be doing to work as leaders. They get paid a salary for their services. If you have proof that they are chewing (stealing) report them to the Police or ACC. Otherwise stop suggesting things that are not true. This government is not like the previous one.No sarcifical cows. Do the crime pay the price. Leave before you are found out…or else you are on your own
These boys have been confused by confused politicians. UNPD works in WARDS. Please cadres go to your wards in respective Constituencies.
UPND don’t do caders……….
UPND only do for the peoples of Zambia…
Forwardee 2031…….
Spaka my friend please take off your rose coloured glasses
Your/our president is a businessman and should be heading the investment portfolio
His presidential qualities are very lacking
As he said he dont care what people think or say about him all he cares about is business deals
“As he said he dont care what people think or say about him all he cares about is business deals”
@ Tikki
Did he ever this ?
That is the mental shift we keep asking for. You don’t enter GRZ to support your cadres; that’s what the previous government, which strongly believed in cadres, used to do. You have to believe in people, not just cadres. That’s why, even on this platform, there are many disgruntled cadres who have lost their former benefits and now complain about everything, never seeing anything good in HH.
They are as finished as Kalyalya’s old bank notes in circulation
Yes he did go ZO
Why should he care about hates and the clique say ????
If he said that , those business deals are for zambia, not personal, pleas……
What’s wrong with unprecedented business deals for zambia……..?
Forwardee 2031…….
Let me concentrate on @Alice
Judas Judas Iscariot are you sure he betrayed Jesus
As all writtngs of Jesus were done 75 to 100 years after
Imagine writings of Zambia in 100 time
What? Seems the writer believes that national resources must be shared on a cadre basis. This is so irresponsible writing and shamelessness. How would a writer think like that. National resources belong to all Zambians. Write about this Mr writer. Educate the complainants to ask for national development not rewards as cadres. Stop being careless in your writing.
E X A C T L Y! Well said. If anything he is quietly suggesting so that the looters are justified and thieves go scott free. What a fellow…this writer is! Shameless indeed!