I WANTED POLITICAL POWER TO CHANGE LIVES. PERHAPS THERE IS ANOTHER WAY.
After participating in the 2021 and 2026 elections and failing to secure adoption on the UPND ticket, I have taken time to reflect on my political journey and the reasons I wanted to serve.
I have asked myself one difficult question: Can we genuinely change society through politics when the process of becoming a leader is already so expensive?
In our communities, aspiring politicians are expected to spend money on funerals, school fees, food, transport, community activities and many other needs. Some of these are genuine struggles caused by poverty.
But what happens when a politician spends everything trying to win an election?
Some enter office under pressure to recover what they spent. Meanwhile, the same communities continue demanding financial assistance. When the politician fails to deliver, people become disappointed and begin looking for another candidate to support financially, or rather, to finance them.
And the cycle continues. The politician spends, the people expect, and development suffers.
Who must change first? The voter or the politician?
I entered politics with a different dream.
With my background in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Business Administration, agribusiness and rural development, I believed political office would give me a stronger platform to influence policies and public investment.
My dream was, and remains,
RURAL INDUSTRIALIZATION.
I wanted to see rural communities move beyond producing raw agricultural commodities to processing, manufacturing and creating employment.
Why should our farmers produce tomatoes without tomato-processing industries? Why should agricultural waste go unused when it can become fertilizer, energy and other valuable products? Why should rural youths leave their communities when industries can be built around the resources they already have?
I wanted to help build communities where people earn their own money instead of depending on politicians for handouts.
But I have also asked myself: If I must spend so much money trying to become a leader, how different will I be from those I hope to replace?
Perhaps I was looking at the right destination but taking the wrong road.
Maybe I don’t need political office to begin transforming rural communities. Perhaps I must first build the agricultural businesses, demonstrate the technologies, create employment and show that rural industrialization is possible.
I respect the political process and those entrusted with leadership. I also believe that many politicians and voters genuinely want a better Zambia. But we must change a political culture that sometimes rewards financial handouts more than ideas, competence and long-term solutions.
My political ambitions may have suffered setbacks, but my vision for rural industrialization has not.
Through Engineer Farmer, I will continue sharing knowledge, promoting productive agriculture, encouraging value addition and advocating for rural industries.
I still believe in a Zambia where rural communities are centres of production, manufacturing and prosperity.
I sought political office because I had a development vision. I will not abandon that vision simply because I did not obtain political office.
Perhaps the real question is not how to gain political power, but how to create meaningful change with or without it.
What do you think? Can we transform our rural communities without depending entirely on political leadership?
Derrick Mwiinga Hachiwele
Engineer Farmer | Chemical Engineer | Agribusiness Professional | Rural Industrialization Advocate