RESPONSE TO THE INAUGRATION SPEECH BY MR HAKAINDE HICHILEMA – PART 1

RESPONSE TO THE INAUGRATION SPEECH BY MR HAKAINDE HICHILEMA – PART 1

CHISHALA KATEKA
President – New Heritage Party

2 September 2026

President Hakainde Hichilema’s inauguration speech touched on all the important issues that Zambians needed to hear from their President. The speech, however though polished smooth and saying all the right things, left one thinking – is this speaking to truth? When I read about “honouring the sovereign will of the people”, the “people of Zambia have spoken through the ballot” and “gratitude to God”, I could only but marvel.

I shall, however, not do a complete critique of the speech today but would like to zero in on one aspect of this speech. The section regarding the extending of the hand of unity. This is contained in the pen-ultimate section of the speech.

In my profession, this is what is called ‘Window dressing’ and meant to mollify those that do not know better. We have to ask some questions:

• Which Opposition, exactly, are you extending a hand of unity to Mr President? You have incarcerated your main Opposition, Brian Mundubile, Makebi Zulu and their leadership and some of their supporters.
• You have charged Mundubile, Zulu and others with treason. Your operatives have put out a narrative that these ‘militias’ were being investigated for a number of years and yet, you allowed 2 of the ‘militias’ to be on the ballot paper in 2026? Is that not rather strange?
• Mr. President, you have been referring to these as ‘militias’ and ‘criminals’ painting Brian and Makebi guilty in the eyes of the public. Our laws state that a person is innocent unless proven guilty. Allow the law to take its due process.
• Why was one of the so called ‘militias’ offered a state funeral? When an insurgent is gunned down, the government does not try to placate the family with an offer of a state funeral.
• When you talk about “it should never reach the point where it becomes a matter between life and death, as life is sacred” in your speech, did this include Mutotwe Kafwaya’s life which was snuffed out by your system and which some of your own operatives ridiculed and hid, only to announce to the nation five days after his demise?

We would like to thank you for that extended hand of unity but would like to further ask; if indeed Zambia belongs to all of us,

• why do you ride roughshod over the whole nation?
• Why have you unleashed soldiers upon Zambian civilians, allowing them to deal with civil issues that the police can and should handle?

Mr. President, there is information that only you know, that the rest of us do not. There are things you admit to yourself, because indeed you cannot lie to yourself, whatever those truths are and you have to go to bed with those truths. Having said that, God, whose Bible you were swearing on at the inauguration, knows what you know to be true or otherwise.

You may give a very polished speech to your many supporters and those of the regional leaders that came for your inauguration and they may believe you, but you and God know for a certainty as to what is true and what is not.

I leave you with these words…..remember that there is God in heaven. He loves His people the Zambians. Take heed to how you govern them for you are merely a steward over God’s people.