By Dr Mwelwa
Five years into this administration, one thing remains constant — the story that everything wrong with Zambia today is PF’s fault. The 2026 Budget Speech reads less like an economic plan and more like a charge sheet against the previous government. We are told that Zambia defaulted on its debt in 2020 because PF borrowed excessively. We are reminded that the K52 billion we will spend on domestic debt interest next year is the price of reckless bond issuance between 2015 and 2021. Every kwacha that fails to reach our roads, schools or hospitals is blamed on that past.
We are told that the power crisis is not of today but of yesterday — the result of decades of underinvestment and PF’s failure to build the Tanzania interconnector. Had PF done its job, we are told, we would not be in darkness today. Even on education, the budget paints a picture of children condemned to illiteracy before 2021 and redeemed only by free education under the New Dawn.
The budget celebrates debt restructuring but only as proof that PF left a mess. It highlights arrears to suppliers and blames PF for leaving K84 billion worth of unpaid bills. Hunger is blamed on past mismanagement. Poverty is portrayed as an inheritance that this government is nobly trying to cure through social cash transfers, bursaries and school feeding. Every reform is presented as a rescue mission from PF’s ruin — from mining tax stability to corruption control to state-owned enterprise oversight.
But five years is a long time to govern by complaint. People voted for solutions, not for history lessons. Today they sit in darkness because of load-shedding, they queue for expensive mealie meal, they are crushed by the high cost of living. They cannot eat the excuses of 2021. They want light in their homes, jobs that pay, and food that is affordable.
It is easy to blame PF for the past, but it is harder to explain why things are still so hard after five years of UPND in power. When we spend nearly a third of the budget on debt service and still borrow K34 billion more, it is no longer just PF’s debt — it is ours. When hunger still stalks our villages, when fuel is still expensive, when youth unemployment is still rising, the people will ask: what did you do with the power you were given?
This budget feels more like a 2026 campaign manifesto than a plan to change lives. It is filled with promises, projects, and handouts designed to win votes. But votes cannot be bought forever with bursaries and cash transfers. The ballot is coming, and the people will judge not who to blame, but who to hold accountable. When the lights are off, when the nshima is too expensive, when jobs are few — the blame game will not save you.
5 years is not long enough to clear the kaloba PF contracted in our name. Kaloba that PF put in their pockets instead of using it for the stated purpose. As long as there is still a balance owing on that kaloba that PF defaulted on TWICE, Zambians from all walks of life will continue paying back in the form of high cost of living.
Doc, UPND is not yet 5 years in office, do your Mathematics properly.
The destruction caused by PF in every area was extensive and it is unrealistic to expect that it can be repaired in four years. PF had 10 years to destroy the country. It will take at least 2 generations to repair the damage.
It doesn’t take much to destroy, rebuilding makes time. A four storey building can be reduced to rubble in three days. Constructing the same building will take months at the earliest. So it is with the reconstruction after the 10 years of PF misrule.
By the way, we must keep reminding PF and even ourselves about their destruction lest we forget and history repeats itself. PF ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MESS OUR COUNTRY IS IN.
Ba Doc Mwelwa, just thank UPND for fulfilling the promises within short space of four years.The other promises you think have not been fulfilled can be attended to in the fifth year and second term coming.Zambia is gona be heaven on earth with Hakainde Hichilema.Take time to read the budget speech by the honourable Minister of Finance and you will appreciate and have hope for better days coming.Zambia is honestly getting better.
Truth be told. For Zambia to develop you don’t need HH do some magic. Citizens must first change their mindset, their mentality. For now Zambia is not ready for development. People urinate in public, they litter all over, they use cardboards to wipe their shit holes. You give them money, they spend it buying alcohol from Rwandanes. You give them work, they steal from you, very barbaric mindset. Just look around and see how people behave. Are such Hans ready to for development?