IN August this year, the UPND’s campaign platform was chock-full of promises in which the party claimed would lead Zambia toward “socio-economic emancipation.”
Now, three months later, as a by-election looms following the death of the late UPND Kabwata Member of Parliament, Levy Mkandawire and the party seeks re-election of its replacement lawmaker, many of those promises – some kept, others broken – have been thrust into the limelight as the party’s recent record is scrutinized. Which promises has the party broken? And which ones have remained as work-in-progress?
The compelling scrutiny follows a laundry list of self-hyped promises made during the launch of the UPND’s election manifesto earlier this year. Among many others, the UPND said its government was going to “create millions of job opportunities for the jobless youths over the next five years; provide millions of housing opportunities for qualifying households in urban and rural settlements over the next five years; and connect yet-to-be-electrified additional millions of homes to the national electricity grid over the next five years.”
Furthermore, the UPND promised that it would work to achieve universal access to running water and decent sanitation, make primary, secondary, vocational and tertiary education free, attend to teacher development and recruitment, and improve the quality of basic education up to the tertiary level. Once voted into office, it promised that its government would also intensify the fight against corruption in both the public and private sectors, and ensure that public representatives were constantly in touch with the people and listened to people’s concerns and needs. While in government, the UPND promised that it would move Zambia forward, the party would be more caring and solve the people’s problems.
Clearly though, it is generally not in dispute, among all would-be contestants in the looming Kabwata constituency by-election, that Zambia’s problems are largely socio-economic. Everybody agrees that what will make or break the country are the triple evils of poverty, unemployment and inequality. At the root of it all is the land issue, followed by capital investment, skilled labour, and productivity. And for all of these to come together to make an egalitarian, successful country, there have to be enabling conditions for all the citizenry, underpinned by affordable housing, good healthcare, food security, and energy. A Zambian skilled labour force will depend on education and training.
But after 3 months in power, the populace is getting impatient with the pace of change promised by the UPND. A vast majority of educated but unemployed youths still struggle to get good jobs, and thus denying them socio-economic upward mobility and better livelihoods. They remain turned to anti-social vices and criminal activities. UPND leaders don’t seem to notice this; they are too busy smearing the names of their PF political opponents with incessant blame of ineptitude and corruption. And the ruling party doesn’t seem to do anything radical except advance palliatives in the form of self-praising, finger-pointing and buck-passing assurances. Admittedly, there has been little real empowerment of the masses since this year’s regime change.
Quite astonishingly, before finally winning this year’s polls, President Hakainde Hichilema was constantly lampooned by his critics and opponents alike that he was good at winning elections on social media platforms. The man who is fondly referred to as Bally by his ardent youthful followers probably better understood the use of Facebook as an effective tool to reach-out to the masses more than anyone else. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic’s restrictions against conducting public campaign rallies, he promised to counter all that with a wave of the wand on Facebook. And he got a lot of attention mainly from the millennial populace of first-time voters born after the year 2000.
The UPND sold promises by the second, for votes to technologically savvy smartphone-users and first-time voters. And when the outcome of the polls was finally declared by the Electoral Commission of Zambia, the then-ruling PF was left in shock. This is testimony enough that would-be contestants in the upcoming Kabwata constituency by-election and beyond, can only ignore at their own peril.
After all, former US president Barack Obama is probably one of the foremost modern-day leaders who put social media to better use. According to a case study by the Stanford Graduate School of Business; early in his campaign, Obama was a little-known senator running for president against Democratic nominee and household name, Hilary Clinton. But on November 4, 2008, Obama made history as the first African-American to win the election against Republican candidate, John McCain, thus becoming the 44th US president.
Besides, the other American leader who appreciated the effectiveness of social media in influencing public opinion was 45th US president Donald Trump. Speaking shortly after being declared winner of elections against Hilary Clinton, the then-president-elect specified that social media networks helped him win without him needing to spend as much as the Clinton campaign on mainstream media advertisements.
Nevertheless, there are signs of growing disaffection amongst the voting-public in Kabwata, who last August cast their ballot based on UPND’s specific promises. These may shift their voting-allegiance elsewhere during the forthcoming by-election, if such promises have not been kept. Constituents are becoming painstakingly disenchanted with the UPND because it hasn’t made good on its promises. But the question is whether that will be a ballot-box question. Will they go into the polling booth knowing that and saying: Why not punish the UPND, which hasn’t made good on its promises?
Arguably, common sense suggests that it may not be the case for most people – will be for some, but not for many. Besides, most voters know that promises made during an election campaign are really “broad exhortations” rather than specific policy proposals. However, the emergence of the possibly-rebranded PF is giving the UPND sleepless nights. The reason is that the PF, for years represented the face of the unemployed, disabled and marginalized constituents. That is where a large chunk of the votes reside.
