AN OPEN LETTER TO HIS EXCELLENCY PRESIDENT HAKAINDE HICHILEMA

AN OPEN LETTER TO HIS EXCELLENCY PRESIDENT HAKAINDE HICHILEMA

Date: 9 January 2026

Mr. President,

I write this letter not out of hatred, tribal animosity, or personal grievance, but out of concern for our country and respect for the office you hold. Zambia deserves honest leadership, sober reflection, and accountability grounded in reality not narratives designed to deflect responsibility.

Mr. President, leadership demands courage: the courage to accept failure, the courage to correct course, and the courage to tell the truth even when it is uncomfortable.

Unfortunately, the growing tendency to associate government failures with alleged tribal hostility particularly claims that certain communities are unloved or targeted does not heal the nation. It divides it.

Zambia is one nation. No tribe is hated. No region is cursed. What citizens are reacting to is not tribe, but performance. Hunger, unemployment, high living costs, debt distress, shrinking civic space, and the failure to pay farmers affect Zambians across all provinces, languages, and ethnic identities.

These are not tribal problems they are governance problems.

The Constitution of Zambia is clear. Under Article 8, national values and principles include democracy, constitutionalism, good governance, transparency, accountability, and national unity. Further, Article 9 obliges those exercising executive authority to be guided by these principles in the formulation and implementation of public policy. Leadership failure, therefore, cannot be excused by political narratives, nor can accountability be replaced with grievance politics no Mr President.

It is deeply troubling to suggest, directly or indirectly, that criticism of leadership amounts to hatred of a tribe. Such a narrative is deceptive and dangerous. It risks misleading well-meaning citizens into believing they are victims when, in truth, they are fellow Zambians equally entitled under the Constitution to demand better governance.

Mr. President, the Tonga people like all Zambians do not need to be shielded by political narratives of hurt or exclusion. They need honest leadership, economic opportunity, national unity, and respect for democratic accountability.

They should not be mobilized emotionally to defend failure. No tribe should ever be used as a political shield.
You cannot run a country on propaganda and expect results. You cannot govern through blame and expect progress. Nations move forward when leaders confront reality, accept responsibility, and adjust policy accordingly.

Lies may delay accountability, but they do not create development.
History has shown that leaders who refuse to acknowledge failure often deepen it.

Zambia is bigger than any individual, party, or tribe. The Presidency is not a platform for grievance politics, it is a constitutional responsibility to serve all citizens equally and truthfully.

Mr. President, the time has come to soberly face the bitter reality the challenges Zambia faces today cannot be solved through narratives of tribal hurt, imagined enemies, or selective truths. They can only be addressed through humility, honesty, and competent governance, as demanded by our Constitution.

Zambians cannot be held hostage in perpetuity by narratives that do not exist, used merely to mask leadership incompetence. Eventually, the truth will remain long after propaganda fades.

May wisdom guide your leadership, and may Zambia always come first, kanabesa.

Yours faithfully,
Simpamba Abraham
Together We Can
Ichalo Bantu!