WHO REALLY SOLD ZAMBIA? THE TRUTH THEY DON’T WANT YOU TO HEAR
The same people who drove this country into the ditch are now shouting the loudest that President Hakainde Hichilema has “sold Zambia.” The opposite is true. They sold Zambia. President Hichilema is the one retrieving it and returning it to Zambians.
THE NUMBERS DON’T LIE
Under the PF government (2011 to 2021), Zambia’s total public debt, external and domestic combined, exploded from a modest base in 2011 to US$30.93 billion by the end of 2021 (US$31.74 billion including interest arrears). This is not an opposition estimate. This is the figure recorded in the Ministry of Finance’s own official debt summary, covering the very government that contracted it.
✅ External debt alone ballooned from around US$1.9 billion in 2011 to over US$14.7 billion by the end of 2021.
✅ Domestic debt exploded from a few billion kwacha to nearly K198 billion by pp the end of 2021.
✅ Chinese loan commitments alone reached over US$10.3 billion by 2020, with 67% of that, nearly US$7 billion, contracted after 2015 under Edgar Lungu.
✅ Independent researchers (China Africa Research Initiative) put outstanding Chinese public and publicly guaranteed debt at approximately US$6.6 billion by August 2021, nearly double the figure the PF publicly admitted.
✅ Three expensive Eurobonds totalling US$3 billion were issued between 2012 and 2015 at high interest rates.
✅ Debt to GDP soared past 100%. Zambia defaulted in 2020.
Transparency collapsed. When President Hichilema took office, even his own government admitted the true debt numbers were far worse than what PF had officially disclosed.
THE ASSET THREAT WAS REAL
Africa Confidential and others reported the reality at the time. State assets were under real threat. Kenneth Kaunda International Airport, ZNBC’s digital migration partnership, ZESCO related projects, and other infrastructure financed by Chinese concessional and commercial loans were discussed in the context of creditors stepping in when repayments stalled. That was the state capture moment. The country was being mortgaged.
THEN CAME 2021
President Hichilema inherited a nation in default, with creditors circling and ordinary Zambians paying the price in collapsed services, load shedding, and lost opportunity. What has this government done?
✅ Negotiated hard under the G20 Common Framework.
✅ Restructured billions with official creditors (including the bulk of Chinese bilateral debt) and commercial creditors.
✅ Cut annual debt service dramatically. President Hichilema has publicly stated savings in the order of US$1.4 billion every year.
✅ Redirected those savings into free education, health, social protection, and infrastructure.
AND NOW THE LATEST CHAPTER
The successful buyback of the remaining large Eurobond (the 2053 notes). Zambia has secured the support needed to retire that debt early, using a mix of African Development Bank financing and domestic resources. This is not selling the country. This is buying the country back.
The people who contracted the reckless loans, hid the true size of the Chinese exposure, and left Zambia vulnerable to asset pressure are the same voices now claiming to be the defenders of sovereignty. They rebranded into new parties and splinter groups, but the record remains.
Zambia was sold under the previous regime. This government is reclaiming it, piece by piece, negotiation by negotiation, buyback by buyback.
The facts are public. The debt numbers are documented by the IMF, World Bank, CARI, and Zambia’s own Ministry of Finance. The Eurobond buyback is happening in real time. No amount of noise can erase the record.
The agenda of hatred and the kano nibo (unless it’s them) mentality is sickening. This country belongs to all tribes and races, equally. We expect a public apology from those who once had a chance and they must give way to new ideas.
Patriotic Zambians must bury such a divisive agenda and protect the progress that this nation has recorded in 4 years 11 months.
Zambia Forward, Together in Unity.
Saviour Chishimba
President
United Progressive People (UPP)
UPND Alliance Partner