David T. Zyambo | 1 October 2025
Imagine walking into a supermarket that’s a total disaster. The shelves are empty, the food is old, and the owner is rude. Frustrated, you decide to go to a different store, and many others follow suit. The owner loses so many customers that they are forced to close down.
Some time later, you notice a sign on the door of that same messy store. It says, “Under New Management.” You think, “Great! Maybe the new people have cleaned up the place and brought in fresh food.” That simple sign represents a promise of a Fresh Face and a Fresh Start—a signal that the new owners have learned from the failures of their predecessors and are much more committed to providing better service. It tells you that things are different now.
Four years ago, the Zambian people did what any wise shopper would do—they looked at a political party that had become complacent and out of touch, recognized that their ‘supermarket’ was a mess, and chose to take their business elsewhere. The ballot box became the ultimate aisle of rejection, and the former ruling party was voted out of power. The message was loud and clear: “You have been rejected.”
However, in the time since, something puzzling has happened. The former ruling party leaders have taken a page from the worst kind of business playbook. They haven’t changed a thing; it’s the same old owners, with the same old rude attitude, trying to reopen the same old store. Instead of acknowledging their failures and bringing in “New Management,” they’ve simply dusted off the old sign, re-taped it to the same dirty window, and are insisting that the store is ready for business as usual. The same faces, the same voices, and the same failed strategies that the Zambian people unanimously rejected in the last election are being put forward as the solution for the next one. They act as if they can just put a small sign on the door saying, “We promise we’re different now,” without actually bringing in new managers or cleaning up the mess.
It’s an insult to the intelligence of the electorate. A political party, much like a supermarket, must demonstrate that it has taken the time to soul-search, learn from its mistakes, and genuinely rehabilitate its brand. When a store has failed, the only way to show customers you’re serious about change is to bring in new people—those who haven’t been part of the problem, who offer new ideas and a fresh plan. A change in management is the most visible, tangible way to show that this process has taken place. It’s a sign that the party has acknowledged that the old recipe for success was, in fact, a recipe for disaster. This is what the “Under New Management” sign is really about.
But the old leaders of the party are refusing to step aside. They cling tightly to their positions, even though they were the ones who led the party to a massive loss. This is not merely a tactical error—it’s a fundamental misreading of the public’s mood. They act as if we’ve forgotten why the Zambian people rejected them in the first place. The truth is simple: you can’t just put a new sticker on an old, rotten tomato and expect someone to buy it. The people of Zambia aren’t just looking for a new product; they’re looking for a new ethos. They want a party that has been humbled by its loss and has shown the courage to hold itself accountable. In politics, this means bringing in new leaders with fresh perspectives—leaders who haven’t been tainted by the baggage of the past and who can demonstrate that the party has truly learned its lesson and is ready to do things differently.
The supermarket that the people of Zambia flocked to four years ago turned out to be even worse, and despite their disappointment, they are not foolish. They can see that the old ruling party is trying to deceive them by heading into the next election with the same old team and the same old plan. The analogy is simple—you can’t rebrand a store with a new coat of paint if the same failed manager is still running the place. The “Under New Management” sign is a powerful signal of change, but for this party, it appears to be a promise they are unwilling to fulfill. Just as we would refuse to shop at a store that hasn’t changed, the people of Zambia will refuse to vote for an old party that hasn’t changed its leaders. The real “Under New Management” sign for this party would be new faces and new ideas. Without this change, the old ruling party will simply face rejection once more, no matter how great the public discontent with the current administration may be.