I THOUGHT HH WASN’T CUT-OUT to be PRESIDENT, says LAURA MITI, as WISHES HIM a HAPPY BIRTHDAY, adding that HAKAINDE HICHILEMA is actually the BEST EVER PRESIDENT of ZAMBIA.
LAURA MITI wrote:
For years, I was sceptical about HH’s presidential acumen. He came across as uncharismatic, stony really. Have to say, I don’t know where he bought the charisma he now has in buckets😮. All in all, I just could not make out who he was from the noise that enveloped him.
Because his, then, Vice President’s wife was my best friend, I was inside UPND while not being a member or adherent. I got invited to a few UPND connected functions like weddings, where I would sit at the high table with my friends and the Hichilemas. There, we would exchange a formal hello.
I would endlessly tease my friends about their President being so uncomfortable in public – how could he possibly win an election? Then, there was what I saw as terrible political strategies. The election will not be given to HH like he imagines, I would say. He has to win it.
Convinced I could never cast my vote for him, I asked that an appointment be made for me to meet HH, for curiosity really. It took a while of me haranguing my friends to get the appointment.
We met at dusk at his home, when he still lived in Kabulonga. He came out and we sat on the porch at the front of his house. I said to him, simply, that where I sat, I could never vote for him. I was giving him the chance to change my mind. He did not ask me why I was averse to him nor seem disheartened by the fact. He just proceeded to do as I asked.
He spoke quietly. Over an hour later, he had won me over. I was mesmerised by the man’s patent intellect – the first thing I notice about any man. His clear thinking about what ailed Zambia and especially about what he would do practically about each of the issues he raised, if ever he became President, was impressive.
It was years before Zambia was ready to give HH even a cursory look, so I was convinced this was a good President Zambia would probably never have.
I left and voted for H from then. I remained often irritated with some of the things he did, especially the inappropriate, juvenile really, political strategy and messaging of the 2015 presidential bye-election🤦🏾♀️. I railed at my best friend’s husband. What are you guys thinking🤷🏽♀️? This is a bye election, for goodness sake, not a general election. You can’t push free education. How will you achieve that in the under 2 years before the next election?
HH “lost” that election due to some electoral dodginess, I believe. He, however, did not help things with his campaign which, done right, could have made rigging harder.
As HH’s fortunes grew, I had multiple requests from insiders, who thought I was a closet UPND member, to openly join the party. I refused. Laughed, actually. Me, a party member in Zambia🙆🏽♀️. So that you can make me collectively responsibile for nonsense? Yayi!
Anyway, it was HH who had convinced me he was worth support, not his party. That has never changed.
So, here we are. The man is President. On his birthday, I thought I would say I am still convinced Hakainde Hichilema is the best President for this Zambia moment. The best President we could have now, who also happens to lead a party as broken as the one he fought so hard to remove.
I believe his heart is in the right place. I am glad he sits in State House right now – not for him but for us.
Happy Birthday Mr President, Sir!
LAURA MITI