The Voice Opinion: Kinako, The Time Has Come for HH to Be the President of Zambia.
*The failure by the PF to attain their campaign promises and proclamation and the terrible economic performance of Zambia from 2016 to 2021 has provided HH with boom conditions under which to portray the ruling party as an unreliable lot who cannot and should not be trusted with another vote yet again this year and fortunately for HH, the people can feel the pain of the dead economy without any doubt.*
*By Daimone Siulapwa*
If there was a time that HH could clearly and without any doubt become the president of Zambia, now is the time. The mode is right and the fruits are ripe for harvest. The 2021 elections have without any doubt presented the best ever opportunity for HH to become Zambia’s president if he can push a little further.
Bally, as UPND president Hakainde Hichilema is currently being called, is offering campaign messages that show how he will solve most of the people’s grievances and hardships inflicted by past governments and how he will bring a new world of opportunity and prosperity in Zambia.
To the young, to the homeless, to the farmers, HH has become an idol, a political magician whose performances and oratory skills have generated a sense of excitement, of hope, of expectation among many citizens.
HH’s far-reaching appeal has spread to trade unionists, intellectuals, serving and ex-servicemen, clerks, petty traders, civil servants alike and now students. Simply put, HH’s message has stretched to a new generation, frustrated and impatient, seeking a better way of life.
To those without money, without employment, without position, without property, HH’s call of economic emancipation is an offer of salvation. HH has in the past been diplomatic to a point where some people might have regarded him as being weak but this is a trait that is now gaining him immeasurable support countrywide.
The failure by the PF to attain their campaign promises and proclamation and the terrible economic performance of Zambia from 2016 to 2021 has provided HH with boom conditions under which to portray the ruling party as an unreliable lot who cannot and should not be trusted with another vote yet again this year and fortunately for HH, the people can feel the pain of the economy without any doubt.
And because of the PF’s empty promises, people have welcomed HH rapturously and the UPND leader has now come to the political fray with renewed vitality and great enthusiasm. The highly disputed marginal loss to Lungu in the 2015 and 2016 presidential by-elections and general elections respectively also opened up possibilities of UPND forming government and the memory is still fresh.
HH has realized that people voted the PF into office because their expectations were raised; there was a sense of euphoria in 2011 because the PF had pledged, among others, to reduce taxes, fuel pump prices, the cost of mealie-meal and all. The people also voted Lungu into office to continue the legacy of Michael Sata, all this has been white washed with PF’s failures and now HH’s message now pinpoints these failures.
Furthermore, HH is in his campaign messages, capitalizing on the PF government’s failure to provide better education, medical care, employment and a people-driven constitution, the current constitutional amendment that was signed by Lungu is a half cast constitution HH claims and it does not offer Zambian what they need.
He is also highlighting how the cost of living has become so high in the short time the PF has been in power underscoring soaring prices of mealie-meal, fuel, basic commodities among others.
Evidently, HH and his party have the mass of people behind them and there is no other opposition political party with appreciable public support to which one can turn to.
As the poll date nears, there is every indication that HH will win more votes in areas where he never used to obtain as much support from the electorate, it is also prudent to assume that he will get about 80% votes of all the new registration in many if not all provinces. In this year’s election, HH’s participation will certainly raise the level of popular excitement even higher.
Inarguably, such popular political excitement was last experienced during the 2001 general elections when there was great wave of enthusiasm spreading through the country.
Then, the main contenders were MMD’s Levy Mwanawasa and Anderson Mazoka of the UPND.
Through his campaign messages, the UPND leader and his team avows that it is now apparent that without HH, the economic growth will become moribund, and prosperity will just be a pipedream for Zambia.
HH’s campaign has shown small-scale farmers and government suppliers that there is nothing to hope for in PF, their aspirations and dreams are lost and they will be plunged into disorder and abject poverty if they do not vote for the UPND leader. It is, therefore, not surprising that HH has been received to a tumultuous welcome from disgruntled farmers and business people across the country who now perceive the PF with mistrust and suspicion.
HH has without doubt established some respectable measure of trust among the Zambian electorate and international community alike. He has evidently sent a shockwave across country, causing anxiety in some quarters, inspiring awe in others.
*This year’s election provides yet another momentous opportunity for the UPND to sail to State House if their campaigns continue to be well-coordinated. HH’s campaign messages are equally unparalleled but this prospect could be the last for the UPND if they do not form government after the August 12 poll.