Don’t make false land promises to voters, Chief Chiwala tells candidates

SENIOR Chief Chiwala of the Lamba people in Masaiti District has cautioned political candidates against making false promises to voters, particularly over land, saying such campaigns undermine traditional leadership. Chief Chiwala says candidates should focus their campaigns on issues affecting communities instead of promising to reverse land decisions over which they have no authority. In […]

SENIOR Chief Chiwala of the Lamba people in Masaiti District has cautioned political candidates against making false promises to voters, particularly over land, saying such campaigns undermine traditional leadership.

Chief Chiwala says candidates should focus their campaigns on issues affecting communities instead of promising to reverse land decisions over which they have no authority.

In an interview, Chief Chiwala said traditional leaders are responsible for customary land matters and warned candidates against taking advantage of voters’ lack of knowledge about land laws.

“They’ve got no right on land [so] they should base their campaigns on issues affecting the people, not on issues that you know are out of place. One candidate again has gone around telling people to say in this chiefdom land has been distributed dubiously on false titles, let me say fraudulently on falsified documentation, which I have been fighting since I ascended to the throne. So they are taking advantage of that to tell people that they will go to Parliament, vote for me, I will go to Parliament and change the law so that whichever land you are occupying illegally, I will change the law and I will give you back the land and give you titles. That is insanity because it means you are taking advantage of the ignorance of the people over the law,” he said.

“I know people have got minimum education, but you should [not take advantage of that]. That is an insult to them. So, for those people who don’t know, they would rather go for that. But meanwhile, at the end of the day, that person will not even be seen and will not even talk about it. And that is demeaning chieftains. So, in other words, they are demeaning chieftains. So all in all, let them campaign on issues that are affecting them. Let them tell the people what they will do once voted for, not on personality”.

He also called on political parties to explain their manifestos to voters instead of making promises he said could not be sustained.

“Just like even at national level, each party should have its own manifesto. They have got their manifesto and the direction as to how they should give that manifesto to people to understand. They should explain themselves, not necessarily talking about things that are out of place, which cannot be sustained. Don’t promise people falsehood, otherwise it will backfire. I know we are used to handouts. We are used to handouts starting from the First Republic. Subsidy has made a lot of people lazy. We should run away from subsidy. People have to work hard,” Chief Chiwala said.

On the conduct of the 2026 election campaigns, Chief Chiwala said Zambia had generally experienced peaceful campaigns, despite a few incidents of violence.

“To begin with, I think in the past, in the last successive governments, I think we have had a lot of violence when it came to elections. And you know, violence can divide a country. It can divide people in one way or another. But as far as I’m concerned, this year’s elections, although it’s there in some places, I think overall there have been peaceful campaigns. You can’t even imagine or think there are campaigns in here, but only a few instances. And I think I give credit to the Electoral Commission of Zambia for the timetables that they’ve enshrined, which has minimised this,” he said.

He said the ECZ campaign timetable had helped minimise clashes that could arise if political parties held campaigns at the same time in one locality.

“Because if these political parties or other people have to meet at the same time in one constituency or in one locality, I think we’re going to experience the same as we have experienced before. But like what is happening somewhere, we are reading about the violence that we are seeing somewhere else. But as far as I’m concerned, in this chiefdom, there was only one instance which I think was uncalled for and therefore I think overall, we are doing fine. There haven’t been many instances of that nature,” he said.

Chief Chiwala urged political candidates and their supporters to allow people to exercise their rights freely and vote without intimidation.

“Like I’ve said, we have to be mindful of this current government, of the issues that have been put in place to curb lawlessness. As a result, people are able to exercise their rights freely and ensure that they campaign freely, and I hope at the time of voting there won’t be any intimidation so that people can go and vote freely and vote for a person of their choice,” said Chief Chiwala.