The Choice We Face - HH

President Hakainde Hichilema has told Zambians that the August general election is a choice between "two Zambias", in a personal article published in this morning's papers ahead of filing his nomination as the UPND presidential candidate.

Writing directly to citizens twelve weeks out from polling day, the President said the choice was "between a nation rising and a nation in retreat. Between a harvest delivered, and a field abandoned."

He recalled that five years ago the new government "planted seeds into hard ground," in a treasury that had been emptied, in classrooms without children and clinics without medicine, and in mines and factories that had fallen silent. "Those seeds are now sprouting," he wrote, with a "harvest ready and waiting for us to deliver."

The President pointed to the headline gains since 2021. There are now 2.6 million more children in school, with the school feeding programme reaching 4.7 million. CDF is up from K1.6 million in 2021 to K40 million in 2026. An additional 282 health facilities have been constructed and 18,000 health workers recruited. 700 MW has been added to the national grid, 109,488 jobs created and $16.4 billion in investments actualised.

He acknowledged the road had not been easy, citing a historic drought and global conflict that destabilised supply chains, but said "the numbers speak for themselves."

The President closed with an appeal for a peaceful, issues-based campaign, calling for "zero tolerance for violence on any side" and urging that the law be applied "firmly, fairly and without favour" regardless of political affiliation. He urged candidates to debate policy and vision rather than resort to personal attacks and slander.

"No farmer walks away at harvest time," he wrote. "No mother forgets the children she has fed. And no nation, having come this far through such storms, turns back now."