🇿🇲 EXCLUSIVE | Hichilema Turns Free Education into Law, Deflates PF Comeback
President Hakainde Hichilema on Thursday transformed one of the most consequential policies of his presidency into permanent law; and used the moment to launch a blistering attack on the political forces seeking to return to power.
Before an audience of government officials, teachers, labour representatives and lawmakers, Hichilema signed five major reform bills into law, including legislation that entrenches free education, expands pension access and reshapes retirement benefits for millions of Zambians.
But it was his political message that electrified the room.
“And now some colleagues want to come back. To do what? You can change the nameplate and claim you are a different creature, but you are the same. You can change the name. You can change the colour of the T-shirt. You are still the same,” Hichilema declared.
The remarks were an unmistakable jab at opposition formations largely populated by former Patriotic Front officials now contesting under new banners and alliances ahead of the August 13 election.
The President spoke with the confidence of an incumbent seeking re-election on a record rather than rhetoric.
“This is not a joke. I am serious. My heart bleeds. I hope your heart bleeds too. It is frightening to think that we could bring back the damage that was done to our country,” he said.
For Hichilema, the signing ceremony was more than a legislative exercise. It was a political contrast.
The Education Amendment Act now places free education into law, safeguarding a policy that government says has returned more than 2.6 million children to classrooms since 2022. Alongside it came sweeping pension reforms that will allow eligible NAPSA contributors access to part of their savings before retirement while increasing support for pensioners.
Taken together, the reforms touch schoolchildren, workers and retirees: three of the country’s largest voting blocs.
Hichilema argued that much of his first term had been consumed by repairing an economy battered by debt distress, fiscal instability and institutional decline.
“If we had come into office after the balance sheet was cleaned up in 2011, this country would have been a totally different place today,” he said.
The comment struck at the heart of the 2026 campaign narrative now emerging across Zambia.
The opposition is campaigning on change. The President is campaigning on memory.
One side is asking voters to focus on current frustrations. The other is asking them not to forget how those frustrations were created.
Vice President Mutale Nalumango described the free education law as a deliberate attempt to remove one of Zambia’s most popular social policies from the whims of future politics.
“The President decided that free education should not merely depend on policy or the goodwill of individuals,” she said.
For the ruling UPND, Wednesday delivered something every incumbent seeks during an election year: a tangible achievement that citizens can see, measure and feel.
And for Hichilema, the message was clear. The campaign has entered a new phase.
It is no longer simply about who wants power.
It is about who deserves it.
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