The Editor Zambia
There is a growing sense of unease within the governing United Party for National Development (UPND) structures across Southern, Copperbelt, Central, and parts of North Western Provinces.
What should have been a democratic process of selecting candidates through primary elections has instead degenerated into a disturbing spectacle of manipulation, favouritism and alleged corruption orchestrated by some provincial chairpersons entrusted with safeguarding the integrity of the party. 
The complaints emerging from the grassroots are strikingly similar. Candidates who convincingly lost primary elections are mysteriously resurfacing with adoption certificates.
Strangely, in some constituencies, double adoption certificates have allegedly been issued, creating confusion, bitterness, and factional warfare within party structures. What was supposed to strengthen the party ahead of 2026 is instead planting seeds of rebellion and resentment.
This is not merely administrative incompetence. It is political recklessness.
Political parties are social institutions built on trust, loyalty, sacrifice, and collective participation. They are not corporate entities where positions are auctioned to the highest bidder or handed to the most academically decorated individuals.
A political party survives because ordinary members believe their participation matters. The moment members conclude that internal democratic processes are cosmetic exercises designed to sanitise predetermined outcomes, the moral authority of the leadership begins to collapse.
The danger facing the UPND is not external opposition. It is internal alienation.
Many of the party’s foot soldiers spent years enduring political persecution, humiliation, and financial hardship while defending the party during difficult periods. To now sideline such loyal structures in favour of wealthy newcomers, politically connected opportunists or individuals allegedly backed by money-driven provincial officials is to insult the very foundation upon which the party rose to power.
What is unfolding bears, uncomfortable resemblance to the decay that consumed the Patriotic Front (PF). PF’s downfall did not begin with opposition strength. It began when internal democracy died. Adoption processes became transactional. Loyalty was discarded. Grassroots structures were ignored. Cadres with money and influence overpowered long-serving party members. The result was bitterness, sabotage, parallel campaigns, and eventual electoral collapse.
History is now flashing warning signs before the UPND.
Provincial chairpersons must understand that political authority is not absolute ownership of party structures. Their mandate is administrative stewardship, not political brokerage.
The perception that some officials are monetising adoptions or manipulating outcomes to reward allies is deeply corrosive. Even more dangerous is the growing belief that primary elections are meaningless because decisions are ultimately made in backroom arrangements.
Such conduct destroys enthusiasm at the branch and ward level.
Disillusioned members do not campaign with conviction. They withdraw emotionally long before they physically defect. Some quietly sabotage official candidates. Others simply stay home on polling day.
Political damage rarely begins publicly; it starts silently within wounded structures.
The UPND must, therefore, act decisively before this culture hardens into institutional behaviour.
The party leadership must audit contested adoptions, investigate allegations of corruption, and immediately address cases where duplicate adoption certificates were issued. More importantly, the party must restore confidence that primary elections are binding democratic instruments rather than ceremonial exercises meant to pacify the grassroots.
The 2026 election will not be won through arrogance of incumbency. It will be won through disciplined structures, motivated supporters, and credible internal democracy.
A party that humiliates its own members during adoptions weakens itself before the opposition even begins campaigning.
Political parties collapse from within long before voters remove them from power.
