Rev Mulenga’s urge for Zambians to register to vote

By Daily Revelation Editor 

Former Ndola Pastor’s Fellowship chairperson Reverend Chilekwa Mulenga has urged electorates in the country to prepare for the 2026 general elections by registering as voters in order to make their voices heard.

The Rev is urging citizens who felt shortchanged by the promises of the UPND administration to begin reflecting now, and make their decisions to register as voters in order to democratically speak out against their misgivings in the 2026 general elections 

He’s calling out for Zambians who thought that the UPND administration lied or have failed to change the government. That those who felt that the cost of living had gone up against the promises of the UPND in 2021, should make up their minds now to vote out what they think is not working.

Equally, Rev Mulenga urged Zambians who felt the UPND had delivered on their campaign promises, and that on account of that the standard of living had improved, that they also had an opportunity to give the ruling party another five-year mandate.

It’s beyond argument that majority of elections that have been held in this country under the umbrella of multipartism have been consequential. In the same vein, the 2026 general elections will also be very consequential in terms of either deciding to proceed with the UPND in government, or having a totally different team in office after the elections.

One would think that by now, most Zambians would have generally made up their minds in terms of their political preferences. Three, or four years in office, which the UPND will be cloaking in government in August this year, is ample time to properly diagnose their performance, including having a fair analysis on their performance going forward, including if they were offered another mandate of continuing to govern the affairs of this country.

We are at a point now where those who feel and are convinced that the UPND has performed and deserve another chance in office have made their decision for them to continue in office. And those who feel they have failed have also made their own decisions. Of course, there remain some undecideds here and there.

However, those in both categories will not be doing this country any favour if they failed to exercise their democratic right to either keep the UPND in power, for those who support them, or remove them from power, for those who are convinced they have not delivered. An election provides the voters the power to affirm their inalienable right as the main deciders, the main bosses in the life cycle of the nation. 

The exercise of participating in elections is very important as it provides citizens the power to affirm of ownership of their democratic process. Of course, it is not guaranteed that the candidates one supports will win. But that should not be the basis to resign oneself from participating in the electoral process. Consider the commendable long suffering of PF and UPND supporters for instance, especially the latter. 

Let’s talk about the PF first. Their initial participation in the 2001 general elections only yielded a few miserable percentages in the total vote count. They went back to the drawing board and mobilised more for the 2006 elections where they lost again but increased vote totals to around 29 percent. They participated again in the 2008 elections, lost but increased totals to around 38 percent. They fought on until they won with over 43 percent in a three horse 2011 election comprising then ruling MMD and UPND.

For the UPND, the long suffering was even longer. After emerging a very close second in the 2001 elections, the fortunes took a nosedive in 2006 when they emerged third, a position they maintained in the 2008 and 2011 elections. They participated again in 2015 and 2016 but lost in very close elections against then ruling PF. However, after their mobilisation had reached maturity stage they were able to reap handsome rewards in 2021 when they won the elections with 59 percent of the total vote count.

There are very good lessons the citizens of this country should draw from these two parties, whose desire to continue exercising their democratic right in elections following several loses, finally yielded them favourable returns at the end of the road. They wouldn’t have achieved what they achieved if they had resigned themselves from participating in electioneering.