Hamududu says Zambians were ‘mean’ to Hichilema, should have given him over 75 percent
PNUP leader Highvie Hamududu says Zambians were “mean” to President Hakainde Hichilema in the recently concluded elections and argues that he deserved more than 75 percent of the vote.
Lusaka, 31 August – Speaking on Prime TV’s Matters Arising programme on Saturday, Mr Hamududu said the economic recovery under President Hichilema represented a unique turnaround, arguing that the Government had inherited an economy that was close to collapse.
“I think we Zambians were mean on HH. HH should have won these elections by over 75 percent. The economic miracle that HH has delivered to this country is unique,” he said.
Mr Hamududu said Zambia’s economy was in a precarious position when Mr Hichilema took office, pointing to negative economic growth, high inflation, a weakening currency and declining foreign exchange reserves.
He likened the economy’s recovery to that of a critically ill patient who had moved from an intensive care unit to a normal hospital ward before eventually being discharged.
“I can tell people in the university that you can write a thesis and get your master’s and your PHD. Look at the baseline. He came into power; the economy was sinking at -2.8 percent. Inflation double digit, 22 percent. The currency was collapsing, isn’t it? Reserves were dwindling. This economy was about to implode,” Mr Hamududu said.
“Within four years, this man literally pulled the economy from the ICU. He takes it to a normal ward, it stabilizes and it’s discharged. The economy is like a human body. How do you measure the health of a human being? It’s through the indicators.”
He said economic performance should be assessed through measurable indicators such as the exchange rate, inflation, economic growth and international gross reserves.
According to Mr Hamududu, those indicators showed that Zambia’s economy had substantially stabilised by the time the country went to the polls.
“When you look at these key measurements of the health of the economy, by the time we went for elections, this economy was actually up and running. It was healthy. It was now beginning to run,” he said.
Mr Hamududu, however, acknowledged that the country still faced significant economic challenges, particularly the high cost of living, but argued that these problems predated the current administration.
He described the cost-of-living crisis and unemployment as historical problems resulting from years of economic stagnation occurring alongside rapid population growth.
“The issue of high cost of living, I told you, is a historical issue. In the last 36 years, tell me which years the economy grew at over five percent, yet the population is growing at three percent,” he said.
“Therefore, the growth of the population has far surpassed the provision. So, the gap is so huge. So, this backlog you see now of unemployment, the high cost of living, some of it is as old as 30 years.”
Mr Hamududu argued that the Government was therefore dealing with problems accumulated over several decades rather than creating them.
“HH is not the cause. It’s historical. He is now dealing with the historical problem,” he said.
The PNUP leader also pointed to developments such as free education, school feeding programmes and the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) as evidence of progress under the Hichilema administration.
He said the benefits of Government programmes were being felt beyond Lusaka and were reaching communities across the country.
“If you live in Kalingalinga, there’s free education, there’s a school feeding programme, there’s CDF. There’s no part of the country that will say we are not seeing; we are not touching development. Whether you are in Ikeleng’i, it’s happening,” Mr Hamududu said.
He added that Zambia’s economic progress was being noticed by people outside the country, saying friends he had met while serving in Parliament in other countries had told him that they admired Zambia’s economic direction.
Mr Hamududu also turned his attention to the opposition, saying Brian Mundubile did not win the elections because he and his political allies were not adequately prepared.
He described the opposition’s electoral arrangement as largely makeshift, arguing that the failure to organise early and harmonise parliamentary candidates created structural weaknesses.
“So it was a circumstantial issue on their part and that’s why you are seeing already there are these fights that are still going on. I think they went into this election also in a makeshift arrangement,” he said.
Mr Hamududu said the opposition needed to begin preparing well ahead of future elections and establish a clear political vehicle capable of coordinating candidates and campaign structures.
He cited situations where different parties allegedly had candidates competing in the same polling stations as evidence of the confusion within the opposition alliance.
“Admittedly, our friends went into this election unprepared structurally. Any election must be prepared structurally,” he said.
-Nkanionline 2026 #NewsOnDemand