RECONNECT WITH THE GRASSROOTS, CHARLES CHANDA URGES PRESIDENT HICHILEMA
United Prosperous and Peaceful Zambia (UPPZ) President Charles Chanda has has called on President Hakainde Hichilema, not hide behind State House walls but physically reconnect with the citizens who put him into power.
Speaking in an interview with kumwesu news, Chanda said it has now been four years since President Hichilema entered office, yet the Head of State has “neglected the most basic duty of leadership meeting the people on the ground.”
Mr. Chanda said the people surrounding the President have become “professional praise-singers” who refuse to tell him the truth: that after winning elections, a leader must return to the communities, thank the voters, and listen to their lived realities not just fly over them.
“Yes, it’s good to fly, but sometimes a President must walk, must see the dust roads, must meet the marketeers, must feel the strain ordinary citizens are carrying,” Chanda charged. “There are places President Hichilema has never touched since 2021. People are waiting for him. They want to see the man they voted for.”
Chanda went further, saying the President’s distance from citizens has created a leadership vacuum where government decisions appear disconnected from daily struggles, especially as Zambians battle soaring prices, high electricity tariffs, and endless load-shedding.
“When a President stops visiting the nation, he stops understanding the nation,” Chanda said. “Mr. Hichilema must leave the comfort of speeches and tour Zambia properly, physically, honestly.”
Furthermore, Chanda said “Leadership is not about foreign trips, microphones, or cameras. Leadership is about presence. And right now, Zambia is led by a President the people rarely see.”
Somehow true