Vote To Solve Zambia’s Economic Woes - HH

UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema has told his supporters that the only way to alleviate Zambia’s economic predicament is for them to vote out the Patriotic Front government at next year’s elections.

Speaking to a crowd of thousands in Kabwata on Sunday, Mr Hichilema urged listeners to register to vote so that Zambia could set itself on a path out of poverty. 

The opposition leader said his party was well aware of the delays and deliberate inconveniences to the voter registration process and assured supporters that the UPND would force the ECZ to increase the number of officials at polling stations and extend the registration process indefinitely. 

“This is it! We will fight for more registration machines and competent officers at all the polling stations because that’s what ECZ is supposed to do! Voters registration is supposed to be a continuous exercise because that is what the law states, ” he said. 

HH urged Zambians to register to vote, even if it required them to queue for several days.

“Even if it takes you to sleep on the queue for several days, better do that! And, if you do that, it will make you live a better life for the next ten, twenty or 30 years; you and your children and posterity,” he said

The message comes after Zambia officially defaulted on its foreign debts last Friday, missing a payment of more than $40m to its creditors. 

Stephan Chan, an expert on African politics at the University of London, said the default was due to a “reckless splurge in terms of debt accumulation” over the last five years.