It may seem like laughter and memes in the comments section, but beneath the surface lies a well-crafted psychological and political operation. While UPND continues to operate with the assumption that facts alone will win public confidence, the PF and its sympathisers are playing a very different, emotionally-driven game—one that is dangerously effective.

Let’s start with the obvious. The optics surrounding the delayed national address by President Hakainde Hichilema, coming after the passing of former President Edgar Lungu, were politically disastrous. Contrast that with how quickly the President sent a condolence message to after a tragic plane crash—. This wasn’t missed by the people. Public perception doesn’t reward diplomatic correctness; it responds to emotional presence. Right now, PF has captured that space—and the UPND is not even in the frame.

What we are witnessing is not a coincidence. It’s a deliberate build-up toward a 2026 comeback. The PF understands the power of martyrdom—even without a literal body. They’re using Edgar Lungu’s death as a rallying point to invoke collective emotion, to portray him as a persecuted statesman, and to cast the UPND as cold, vindictive, and politically insecure.

The narrative is now so well-packaged that even is paying attention. International outlets like the are carrying the same undercurrent: that the UPND is mishandling a delicate moment and, worse, persecuting its predecessor in death. Whether this is true or not is immaterial. , not footnotes in a legal textbook.

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Let’s talk about the elephant in the comments section. From a casual glance, it may all seem like cheap Facebook humour, but the mockery reveals a deeper national mood, , and with how the ruling party is managing this moment.

Here’s what what comes fro are actually saying:

What looks like internet banter is actually in the electorate. PF understands this. They’re stoking it. And they’ve built a script around it. UPND? Still reciting policy briefs and hoping social media jokes don’t count at the ballot box. But they do. Ask anyone who’s lost an election in the age of memes and hashtags.

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Let us not forget how the —with dignity, nationwide mourning, and across the country. His remains were paraded across provinces, giving Zambians a chance to grieve, honour, and unite.

That gesture alone transformed public mood and sympathy. to reclaim legitimacy and the presidency. PF has learned from this. They’re trying to do it again—but this time without the body. They are simulating the grief, echoing the dignity, and magnifying every government mistake to frame UPND as tone-deaf and arrogant.

And guess what?

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This is a wake-up call. The PF is not just mourning Edgar Lungu—they are weaponizing that mourning. And they’re doing it masterfully. Every delayed speech, every social media misstep, every failed PR moment is being fed into a narrative: .

To those in government: if you think your silence speaks statesmanship, the people hear . If you think global diplomacy is more important than local mourning, the people feel . If you think political correctness is more powerful than emotional connection, .

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Condemn this write-up if you wish. Call it biased. Dismiss it as noise. But as a citizen, this is —not gospel. It may be wrong, or it may be the warning you look back on when it’s too late. The battle is no longer about logic. It’s about who can move the hearts of the masses. And those hearts are currently being stirred by a campaign masked as grief.

While you’re busy calling it useless, someone else is reading it with intent—and taking action.
That’s how power slips. It blinds. You feel safe in your comfort today, unaware that the opposition is digging trenches beneath your feet. They are planting spears and covering them with leaves—just waiting for you to fall the Shaka Zulu way: through the belly, pierced by what you never saw coming.