UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema charmed hundreds of animated party youths, with a message that: “we are close to our destination.”
The youths gathered at the UPND secretariat in Lusaka on Thursday, soon after a march past in commemoration of Youth Day and Hichilema addressed them.
Hichilema said he and other senior leaders in the UPND shared the pain of the youth and the rest of citizens.
Hichilema said the three principles that catapulted the PF into government in 2011 have all collapsed.
“I want you to know that we are close to our destination. We have walked a long distance but we are very close and this is the time you must work even harder. You must not lose hope because help is on the way!” Hichilema said.
“We have a duty to campaign, to register to get NRCs, to get voters’ cards and on the voting day to vote so that we can win big so that bakabwalala bakangiwe kuba ma vote (so that thieves fail to steal the vote). After voting, this time around, I’m giving you instructions ahead; protect your vote at all costs. Wamene azaba ma vote nizake izo (to them who will resort to stealing the vote, will do so at their peril). We must take over Lusaka, we must take over Copperbelt.”
He told today’s youth and the women to be as radical, in thought and action, like Julia Chikamoneka “who was able to demonstrate alone for independence.”
“Nothing should stand in our way so that we can liberate this country. When we cross the River Jordan, and I have seen the banks…we are going to cross the River Jordan. We know where we are going; we can see Canaan there,” Hichilema said to a cheering audience.
“My job, when you have delivered…. Don’t say ‘HH, protect your vote.’ It is you to protect our vote. When we cross the bridge, which is soon, our job as the economic team is to turn around the economy to send every child of Zambia to school, even if that child is an orphan.”
He reminded youths to recruit more members into the UPND and cautioned against intraparty bickering.
“I’m proud of your commitment,” Hichilema said.
“Zambian youths, UPND youths, I know that the country has been destroyed. I know that children are not going to school, I know that you don’t have jobs, I know that mealie-meal is scarce, I know that homes are overwhelmed with hardships. I want you to know that we share your pain. I as HH and the leaders of this party, share the pain of the people of Zambia. We share the pain of the youth because they are the future of this country.”
Hichilema further emphasised that when he is sworn-in, in the morning, as Republican President, “there will be law and order that afternoon.”
“That afternoon the kwacha will appreciate against the dollar, that afternoon any citizen can go to a bus stop and no one will beat them. You can go to a market wearing any party regalia and no one will beat you. My job is to bring law and order, not this confusion we are seeing under PF,” he explained.
“There is confusion, there is disorder because there is a shortage of leadership. You are worried about the shortage of mealie-meal [but] my worry is that there is a shortage of leadership in PF. You do your job; get NRCs, register as voters, turn out to vote, protect your vote until we are sworn-in and then my job will start – to deliver you to Canaan.”
He also reiterated that there could be no argument anymore about the failure of the PF to deliver to Zambians’ satisfaction.
“The three principles the PF campaigned on have all collapsed. They said ‘more money in the pocket’ [but] there is no money in the pocket, they said ‘more jobs’ but there are no jobs and they said that taxes will be lower but taxes are higher,” observed Hichilema.
“As a country we all agree that PF has failed and there is only one party that can take Zambia forward and that’s the UPND – my party, your party, our party, the party for the people of Zambia.”
