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CALL TO ACTION FOR CHANGE: TEN POINT PROGRAM OF THE CONSULTATIVE GROUP (CG) FOR A PEOPLE’S POLITICAL CONSULTATIVE CONFERENCE (PPCC)
Our country faces economic and social collapse. The UPND poor governance system is responsible for the high cost of living in Zambia as shown by the unaffordable maize meal and medicines, escalating fuel, energy, fertilizer costs and impeding famine occasioned by the negligent export of our strategic reserves; causing the disintegration of the country’s unity by practicing tribalism, provincialism, nepotism and bigotry; involvement in widespread grand corruption; failure to give Zambia a multi-party democratic constitution and continued non observance of the rule of law where the Zambia Police Service abuses the Public Order Act and prevents citizens from enjoying rights of speech and assembly as provided in the constitution and citizens face wanton arrests and intimidation from state security institutions; It is common cause that the UPND administration has exacerbated poverty and suffering of our people, reduced the democratic space and introduced authoritarianism, destroyed the professionalism and capacity of the public service, working as puppets for the foreigners and abandoning our non-aligned foreign policy, favouring foreign companies at the expense of Zambians as seen from the tax holidays given to mining companies, lack of support to our middle class and farmers, superintending on high unemployment and under employment and destroying state institutions such as the Civil service, Police Service and other security services, compromising the independence of the legislature and the judiciary and the destroying the capacity of government administrative apparatus.
There is an urgent cry for patriots to rescue the country from this UPND malaise and form an effective and efficient government that will reduce the high cost of living and make the staple food affordable to citizens, re-unite our country, banish corruption and abuse of office, adopt a program to tackle poverty and underdevelopment and take charge of the commanding heights of our economy, enact a new democratic constitution and deepen our democratic ideals and practice, professionalize the public service, empower the middle class and worker organizations and reclaim our sovereignty as a non-aligned country.
It is evident, as many citizens such as Archbishop Mpundu representing the OCIDA, labour and student organizations, faith organizations, traditional rulers, senior citizens, political party groups such as the United Kwacha Alliance (UKA) who at a press conference on 31 January 2024 called for the formation of a broad cross cutting national alliance and said: ”There is no doubt that the challenges the nation faces largely because of the misrule of the UPND Administration have left the Zambian People, Deluded, Duped, Misrepresented, Misinformed, Tricked, fooled, Misguided, Beguiled, Took in, Hoodwinked, Bluffed and Hoaxed. ……..We need to make Zambians satisfied, contented, pleased, happy, joyful, gratified, delighted, blissful, jubilant, triumphant and elated.
The problems and challenges Zambia faces require all well-meaning people to work together. No one person or group have the monopoly of knowledge”. We therefore give ourselves the following Ten Point Program:We will adopt a sustainable economic growth policy ensuring a strategy of a developmental state premised on economic growth, increasing the productivity in agro processing and manufacturing and immediately reducing the cost of living of the people.
We will ensure that the cost of food is affordable and available to all citizens. We will reduce the price of mealie meal and other essential needs of existence such as medicines, fertilizer, fuel, energy and transport costs and make them available and affordable to all Zambians; Our purpose will be to maximize on the happiness of Zambians and minimize their suffering.We condemn the UPND orchestrated shortage of mealie meal that has brought hunger and skyrocketing prices of all food when the UPND negligently exported our strategic reserves. We condemn the inability and lack of capacity of the UPND who have failed to arrest inflation and allowed the freefall of the Kwacha.
We will abandon the austerity program of the UPND that simply exacerbates poverty and suffering of the people. There is a general feeling of hopelessness among the people as a result of austerity policies that negate job creation, exacerbate poverty and inequality and deepen Zambia’s dependency of neo-colonial forces. Zambian must reclaim its sovereign status instead of being a puppet of the IMF and the Paris Club countries.
The UPND government has worsened our external debt by borrowing for consumption more than US$6 billion within two years and have lamentably failed to restructure our public debt overhang because of incompetence and lack of experience. The high cost of living is caused by the UPND who have allowed the macroeconomic fundamentals to deteriorate under their watch as evidenced by many indices such as the high cost of mealie meal which within two years from 2021 to 2023 jumped from K120 to K400, the Kwacha exchange rate depreciate from K16 to K28 per dollar, electricity tariffs have more than doubled, fuel rising from K17 to K30 per litre, fertilizer jumping from K600 to K1,300, cost of public transport and borrowing have all risen while incomes of people have remained the same. Inflation has increased from single digits reaching 13 percent in 2023 although some scholars have calculated an inflation rate of 48% in 2024.
There is a general feeling of hopelessness among the people as a result of UPND austerity policies that negate job creation, exacerbate poverty and inequality and deepen Zambia’s dependency of neo-colonial forces.We will take control of commanding heights in our economy such as the mines and banks that were given back to foreign capital after a hurried privatization fiasco and continue to be agents of capital flight at the expense of Zambia’s capital accumulation and expanded development. We will implement a policy where Zambia owns strategic enterprises such as mines and banks and acquire controlling interest in strategic industries.
The UPND made mine royalties tax deductible and effectively abolished this necessary income for Zambia. This was a criminal act. The UPND surrender of 20% shareholding rights in FQM Kansashi for 3% royalties which are tax deductible is another crime against Zambia. The UPND continued allowance to Mine Companies to be refunded import VAT even while knowing that this is a scheme foreign companies use to cheat on Zambia must come to an end. A forensic study will be made to estimate the extent of capital flight and demand for refund.
The UPND surrender of KCM to a non-viable Verdanta is an act of treachery. The UPND’s selling MOPANI to some shylocks fund managers at the expense of Zambian ownership and control is an act of treachery. The UPND’s allowing Kalumbila mine and the other Nickel mines to be owned by foreigners 100% without Zambian participation is an act of being complicit in under developing our country. The UPND is in tandem of the theft by foreigners of our Manganese, Lithium, Nickel, Graphite essential for electric batteries and our Sugalite, Gold as well as emeralds. The UPND further was complicit in condoning the 2016 FQM fraud where ZCCM claimed and won US$1.4 billion compensation in a London Court but stopped the execution of the verdict causing a huge loss to Zambia.
This must be re-visited and the money owed to Zambia must be recovered. The UPND condones manipulative practices by the mine companies who are involved in miss-invoicing, transfer pricing, illicit financial flows and this must come to an end. We will re-enact the windfall taxation law and insure that the mineral royalties are not tax deductible. We will abolish nuisance taxes and generally reduce taxes and ensure that the people have more money to spend in their pockets. We will stabilize the exchange rate and reduce interest rates.We will use pension funds and local borrowing to advance our material development and create jobs for our people.
Without a strong and independent middle class, Zambia cannot eradicate poverty and underdevelopment. We will undertake extensive public works to house our citizens by using pension funds and other budgetary allocations, invest in trams and railways and other essential public transport as well as in telecommunications and road infrastructure. We are saddened at the lack of state investment in public housing for our people and the condemning of many of our citizens to live in squalor and shanties and yet shelter is a human right. We will reverse the economic malaise in the country by insuring that the state will take command of the economy by acquiring controlling interest in all big mines and financial institutions where there are no Zambians to take control. We will deepen and spread our democracy.
Unrest in society between the UPND party on one hand and the opposition parties and civil society on the other hand is growing more acute with the passage of time and inter party violence appears to be inevitable. The UPND abuse of office by weaponizing the Inspector General of Police to violate the constitution by outlawing meetings of opposition parties, UPND brazen interfering in the work of the opposition parties as seen by their sponsorship of divisive elements to divide the PF; the UPND enabling the speaker to break the law by recognizing an illegal entity; the UPND is currently guilty of administering a disintegrating society. There is regional polarization of our people and inter-party and intra party conflict.
The rise of hate speech unheard of in Zambia is orchestrated by the UPND.We will cancel all procurement and appointments based on Tribalism and corruption in government and parastatals and re-introduce a merit system.We will unite our country and provide an efficient servant leadership. The UPND has lost the qualification for leadership of the whole Zambia as was forewarned by our late President Kenneth Kaunda who feared that President Hakainde Hichilema was going to divide the people of Zambia on ethnic lines. President Hichilema has annoyed the other ethnic groups when he incited peace loving Tonga people at a rally in Choma that the UPND cadres were being injured by machetes of PF cadres before the UPND took over government with the intention of spreading hate speech and inciting the Tonga people to hate other citizens; and when he annoyed the Lozi speaking people by careless utterances on Barotseland which caused instability in Barotseland and resurrected ethnic sentiments such as the claims by some groups of citizens calling for Barotseland to secede from Zambia, the Kola Foundation to unite and the Umozi Kumawa organizations seeking for more development for their regions. The UPND leadership suffers from malign self- praise and egos that makes Mr. Hichilema to have no confidence in other citizens and therefore macro-manages all state programs alone. The UPND President suffers from the disease of procrastination where he inordinately holds the nation to ransom by lack of acting on issues. President Hichilema tends to exhibit an inferiority complex imbedded in his psyche where he always sees faults in other ethnicities and organizations such as the PF, the Socialist Party and the Catholic Church and enjoys making false promises and telling blatant lies to the nation. A new leadership to unite Zambia and forge a development pathway to modernization of the country is urgently needed.
We will enact a new Multi-Party Democratic Constitution within three years in government that reduces the abuse of power by the Executive, devolves governance to the provinces and districts. Democratic constitutionalism is a cause of common concern throughout Zambian society who want to entrench and widen human rights and devolve power to the people.
The Constitution is still a One Party State constitution that contains clauses that support a one party dictatorship, where all Republican Presidents since 1991 become dictators superintend on environments where human rights were routinely abused. The UPND have failed to enact a multi-party democratic constitution, demanded by all citizens since 1991 and promised to do by the UPND in their manifesto.We will create a tolerant political environment and grow a democratic culture that celebrates divergent views and opinions of citizens. We will advance and expand people’s democracy.
The UPND has wantonly violated the democracy space by suffocating the democracy ideals with draconian laws that have reduced the enjoyment of human and civil liberties by the people. The UPND administration wantonly abuse the Public Order Act and deny the rights to assembly, meetings, procession to citizens in clear violation of the Constitution. Press freedom has shrunk and the Access to Information law has further made it more difficult for citizens to access public information. Civil society organizations are constantly subjected to intimidation and threats of de-registration. In their usual intolerance, the UPND publicly declared the Catholic Archbishop of Lusaka as a Lucifer or devil which has forced members of the church to seek redress in the courts. The Traditional Highnesses live in constant fear and their powers to administer customary law and have treasuries in chiefdoms has been denied by the UPND to the extent that the Traditional Authorities remain powerless. We will return the power and authority of traditional authorities to administer customary law instead and enable them to administer treasuries for the benefit of their communities. We will address the concerns of the Barotse Agreement 1964 by devolving governance and adopt a system of inclusive government; We will reform the electoral process to ensure that elections are free, fair and credible. The Electoral Commission under the UPND administration is partisan and its Chairperson, Members and Chief Electoral Officer were appointed by the UPND on partisan ethnic lines and cannot be expected to conduct free, fair and transparent elections. This is a source of electoral conflict in our country where the ECZ has created unlawful rules to disadvantage the opposition. The UPND administration has sabotaged our democracy. They have stifled our democracy by the gagging citizens using legislation like the Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act and the laws on criminal defamation and the abuse of the Public Order Act.We will professionalize the Zambia Police Service and delink it from partisan control.
The Police Service has been weaponized by the UPND and the Zambia Police Service continues to violate with impunity people’s rights of speech and association. The Police has been arresting opposition leaders, torturing them and denying them the due process of the law. We will restructure the Judiciary and guarantee their independence and professionalism. The Judiciary have been compromised and made subject of the UPND tribal cabal. Over twenty Judges were appointed on ethnic lines by the UPND which has compromised the independence of the Judiciary. Judges are subject to intimidation by the tribal Judicial Complaints Commission to be disciplined and have lost their security of tenure.
We will restructure superior courts to end corruption in the justice system and reclaim the Judges security of tenure. We will ensure the legislature is independent and professional.We will professionalize the civil service by re-introducing the merit system in appointments, promotion. We will re-introduce civil service examinations and ensure the neutrality and professionalism of the public service.The UPND has lost the respect and support of the people by its neo-colonial policies and its refusal to heed progressive criticism from Zambians but choosing to be influenced by foreign interests which endanger Zambia’s and African security. The UPND has lost the qualification for leadership of the whole Zambia as was forewarned by our late President Kenneth Kaunda who feared that the UPND and Mr. Hakainde Hichilema were going to divide the people of Zambia on ethnic lines.We will institute a Zero Tolerance policy against Corruption. Gross abuse of power has resulted in the Public service being demoralized by grand corruption, nepotism, tribalism unprecedented in scale and openness.
The UPND administration orchestrated amendment of the law to allow President Hichilema’s company to manage the US$35 million Environment Fund for the mines. The UPND facilitated the award of an inflated US$50 million to their friend’s business Alpha Commodities. The UND enabled the award of Power Purchase Agreements by ZESCO Limited to their friends; The UPND administration has been abusing NAPSA Pension Funds and Workman’s Compensation Funds to advance to their friends for the construction of the Lusaka-Ndola Highway; The UPND allowed the sale of maize from the strategic reserve and hence caused food insecurity in the country; The UPND allows the discriminatory disbursement of CDF and CEEC funds to only UPND co-operatives; The allowed the theft of Sugilite, gold and lithium; The UPND allowed the looting of money aimed to pay West African teachers; The UPND has allowed the corruption as reported by the FIC report for 2023 where it was reported that USD2.8 billion of illicit Zambian money left Zambia for Asian destination and the US Embassy Report where the President has refused or neglected to declare his own assets as required by law or attend to corruption involving the procurement of 75 motor bikes at Ministry of Community Development, the US$100 million procurement for pre fab hospitals, facilitating single sourcing as has been the case of deals to clean TAZAMA pipeline to Afro Fuel, management of Tazama Ndola Fuel Terminal and single sourcing petroleum imports. The bad governance of the UPND extends to a process where President Hichilema in contravention of good corporate practice chairs IDC companies and appoints Chief Executives of the 34 SOEs on ethnic, nepotistic and partisan grounds instead of following the merit system thereby destroying the competence of the Public Service; The UPND practicing naked nepotism by basing all appointments and promotions of the Secretary to the Cabinet and DPSs ,PSs, Commanders and senior officers of the Defence and Security Services, members of cabinet and staff at State House, on ethnicity and partisan bases instead of meritocratic principles, and Compromising the ACC and DEC by making them subject to President Hichilema’s personal control and weaponizing them against his opponents. The UPND administration continue to abuse their power in appointing public officers based on ethnic and partisan basis instead of merit as was the case when President Hichilema appointed twenty Judges.
The abuse has been extended to all institutions of government such as the Legislature where President Hichilema appointed on partisan lines the Speaker and Deputy Speakers, Chairperson and Members of the Electoral Commission, the Chairman and members of the Public Service Commission and all other commissions and statutory institutions.
This is the case in all State Enterprises and Statutory Institutions where the Chief Executives and members of Boards of Directors are all appointed on partisan and ethnic grounds by the UPND administration. The same ethnic consideration is practiced in the Defence and security wings and the diplomatic service . This blatant segregation of our people on ground of tribe has caused much anguish and fury among citizens. We will banish and criminalize tribalism, nepotism, provincialism and adopt a policy where merit is celebrated and unite our country. The UPND has wantonly violated the democracy space by suffocating the democracy ideals with draconian laws that have reduced the enjoyment of human and civil liberties by the people. We will empower our middle class to ensure that Zambia’s development is anchored on our own citizens instead of on foreigners as the UPND have done. The government and the indigenous private sector will own and control our banks and financial institutions, the mines and all businesses in manufacturing, agro-processing, and the services. We will enact a law to declare that our Copper, Cobalt, Lithium, precious stones are strategic in which Zambia shall have controlling interest. We will ensure that our development is anchored on our own indigenous middle class instead of being dominated by foreign capital.We will enable Zambians in the diaspora to invest in Zambia and participate in the affairs of Zambia. We will support the creation of strong workers organizations and mass organizations for students and youth. The workers continue to suffer from high inflation and their organizations have been weakened by diminishing their powers as a result of bad laws. By a system of divide and rule, they do not adequately fight for the interest of their members. This must change.We will create jobs to absorb the citizens without jobs in our urban setting and support financially small businesses. The unemployed citizens who live in shanties of our towns face existential challenges and most simply gravitate between suicide and insanity.
We will create productive programs and income generating undertakings for the informal sector.We will give subsidized fertilizer inputs, loans and extension services to our rural farmers. The rural peasants are denied government subsidized fertilizer and seeds and face eminent ruin and starvation. Fertilizers and seeds are beyond the reach of farmers. We will ensure that the FRA food strategic reserve is protected from abuse and professionally managed to ensure food security for our people. We will support the modernization of agriculture by subsiding farming in general to guarantee food security, professionalise the public service, state enterprises and support manufacturers and SMEs as well as providing affordable credit and extension support. We will reclaim our sovereignty. The UPND has lost the respect and support of the people by its neo-colonial policies and its refusal to heed progressive criticism from Zambians but choosing to be influenced by foreign interests which endanger Zambia’s and African security.
The Anglo American Bathurst Foundation and Tony Blair Foundation control of Zambia must end. The UPND has put our country at odds with many of our neighbours such as Zimbabwe and our hard-won reputation as the bastion of African Liberation struggle and leader of Pan Africanism and the Non-Aligned movement has been lost. The Way Forward: As a consequence of the above, we hereto, the Convenors, have resolved to form a People’s Political Consultative Conference (PPCC) whose objective will be to hold a national convention of representatives of major political forces and opinion makers, to unite all patriots that wish to end the one-party dictatorship of the UPND administration and establish a government of national unity or a multi-party coalition government in which various political entities have fair and effective representation so as to achieve a unified and democratic Zambia.
This national conference will be attended by independent and patriotic groups and persons. The invitees to the conference will include all political parties other than the UPND and their partners, the intellectual groups, newspaper interests, students organizations, professional groups, cooperatives, labour and other mass organizations, Traditional leaders, Faith – based organizations, all democratic entities, people’s organizations and socially prominent opinion makers. The purpose of the Peoples Political Consultative Conference will be to discuss and agree at forming a united front – a multi-party coalition to contest the 2026 general elections and agree on how a transitional multi-party government of national unity will be established once the neo-liberal UPND government disaster is voted out of power.
The PPCC shall also adopt the following: a. The name of the entity to be used to contest the elections; b. The Articles or Charter of the entity; c. The common program of the adopted entity; d. The election guidelines and elections of the leadership of the entity and e. The oath of service to ensure the actualization of the adopted program.At the conference of the PPCC to be summoned by the convenors of this call to action, the Executive of the entity will be elected including the election from among the delegates, a Presidential candidate and a running mate to contest the 2026 Presidential elections pursuant to the current requirements of the national constitution.The PPCC will also elect persons from among delegates to be members of the multi-party coalition government to actualize the transitional coalition or government of national unity and these elected persons will act as the shadow cabinet members of the multi-party coalition government or transitional administration. The PPCC will also agree on the process of adoption of candidates to contest the 2026 Parliamentary and Local Government elections.The Time frame of events shall be as follows: Call to Action Publication by Convenors. (March-May 2024) Convenors prepare draft Articles for the entity as well as rules of conduct. (April –June 2024) Convenors prepare draft election manifesto and program of the entity. (June, 2024)Convening of national conference to adopt the program, charter and elect interim leadership of the entity. (July 2024)Putting in place a support structures/ a backbone structure throughout the country, at the level of province, districts and constituency. (August to October 2024)Preparation of an election manifesto and program of action adopted by consensus (April – October 2024)Convening of the National conference of the entity and election of a leadership of the entity in accordance to an agreed upon constitution and rules of conduct. (July 2024)Election of the presidential candidate and the running mate as well as candidates to contest both parliamentary and local government elections (July 2024)Formal registration of the entity in accordance with the Laws of Zambia as a political entity or mass movement which in turn will sponsor all candidates in the 2026 elections. (August 2024)Election Campaign (July 2024-August 2026)
PREPARED BY CONVENORS OF THE PPCC
