HH has not been perfect, but it’s in Zambia’s interest to retain him- News Diggers

HH has not been perfect, but it’s in Zambia’s interest to retain him: Part 2

By Diggers Editor

IN Friday’s editorial comment, we argued that President Hakainde Hichilema and the UPND must not be presented as a perfect government. Their shortcomings are real, and the pain experienced by citizens through the high cost of living, load-shedding, unemployment and the slow pace of certain infrastructure projects cannot be dismissed.

What this means is that, if citizens are looking for a perfect leader with flawless performance, then they don’t have a candidate in President Hichilema, and neither do they have one in Mr Brian Mundubile or anyone else for that matter. But if we are getting into an election where citizens are being asked to compare records, assess the alternatives available and weigh the risks of change, then we can speak with confidence that Zambia has made important gains under this current leadership which cannot be ignored.

The first achievement is economic stabilisation. When the UPND assumed office, Zambia was a debt-defaulting nation whose economic credibility had collapsed. Today, most of the external debt restructuring perimeter has been covered by agreements, inflation has returned to the Bank of Zambia’s target range and gross international reserves have risen to US$6.4 billion. The IMF has acknowledged that the country has significantly reduced macroeconomic imbalances, although it correctly warns that Zambia remains at high risk of debt distress and must preserve fiscal discipline. We can underline FISCAL DISCIPLINE and think about this economic noun phrase as we answer the question of who guarantees this discipline between the current government and the strongest opposition.

This conversation around fiscal discipline is an important election issue because Zambia is not yet a rich country. Its debt difficulties have not completely disappeared. But because of the discipline shown by President Hichilema’s UPND, the country is no longer the country that stood helplessly before its creditors without a credible recovery programme. The economy has moved from emergency treatment to rehabilitation. Interrupting that recovery carelessly could return the country to the intensive-care unit.

The second major achievement is the transformation of the Constituency Development Fund. In our view, this is the UPND’s trump card for the rural vote, coupled with free education and the school feeding programme. The annual allocation has increased from K1.6 million per constituency in 2021 to K40 million in 2026. That represents a fundamental shift in the manner in which public resources are distributed.

Through CDF, communities are constructing classroom blocks, clinics, markets, police posts, maternity annexes, water facilities and small bridges. Young people are accessing skills-development bursaries, while cooperatives and small businesses can apply for grants and loans. What we have heard from the NRPUP is that CDF has been a sham. They argue that it has not brought any tangible benefits to the poor people. This means if they win, they may reduce CDF to where it was in 2021 or perhaps even remove and replace it with something else. This would not be good for Zambia.

Of course the programme is not without weaknesses. Procurement delays, inadequate technical capacity in councils, poor project supervision and political interference remain serious concerns. But these are arguments for improving CDF, not abandoning it. For the first time in many communities, citizens can point to a project and say that public money has reached their ward.

The UPND also deserves credit for public-service recruitment. In 2022 alone, the government recruited and deployed 30,496 teachers and 11,276 health workers. Over 45,000 in total for the two sectors. These recruitments reduced longstanding staffing gaps and supported the free-education policy, which had caused a sharp rise in school enrolment.

Additional personnel have been recruited in the defence and security services and other government departments. This does not mean that the unemployment crisis has been resolved. Thousands of trained teachers, nurses, doctors and graduates remain without jobs. But recruiting tens of thousands of public workers at once was a significant intervention that no fair assessment should minimise.

The NRPUP has not given a clear plan on public service jobs. They have promised to clean up the system so that they can get rid of civil servants whom they describe as cadres, but we don’t know of any better plans which they may have than what the UPND has done already.

To be continued…  https://diggers.news/opinion/2026/08/10/hh-has-not-been-perfect-but-its-in-zambias-interest-to-retain-him-part-2/ read more @Diggers.news