OPERATION Young Vote (OYV) Executive Director Guess Nyirenda says the United Party for National Development (UPND) must prove their critics campaigning that they have failed wrong by ensuring that they normalise the cost of living.
Mr. Nyirenda advised the ruling party to quickly find solutions to the prevailing high cost of living even if it meant borrowing money from their friends outside the country.
Speaking in an interview, Mr. Nyirenda said the UPND-led Government must not wait for next year to come up with solutions to the hunger situation as the catastrophe may have a ripple effect on their stay in office.
“If they don’t do something quickly.. and it only remains for this year for them to do something. If they don’t do anything now to make people believe that they are able to handle issues of governance and make the cost of living bearable and good enough, it will affect them negatively in the 2026 general elections.
“If they do it next year, who is going to believe that they are doing it genuinely and they have capacity? They must do it now because if they do it next year, people will think that it is for political expediency and because they want to win votes that is why probably they are panicking,” Mr. Nyirenda said.
“They must do everything, even reaching an extent of borrowing resources from their friends outside the country and get whatever they can bring on the table for the cost of living to be seen to normalise. They must do it because the other people are campaigning that they have failed and if they have not failed, they must show it to the Zambians by doing what is correct. Otherwise, it will negatively affect them,” he said.
He said the cost of living was unbearable and the people feeling the pinch were voters who could make a decision that would affect the party in power as they may assume that the ruling party had failed to deliver on their promises.
