By Revelation Editor
President Hakainde Hichilema will be inaugurated for his second and last term of office on September 01, 2026. Notwithstanding the many grievances his election has brought about, we congratulate him for another term of office.
The second term of office should allow him to address some pressing grievances that led to 1.8 million people to vote for his first time competitor Brian Mundubile, while giving a few thousand other votes to the distant participants.
The President will need to prioritise between enhancing or maintaining the demands of the millions who also voted for him, while also addressing the demands of those who revolted against him. We are sure that those who voted for him found his policies of free education, restored student meal allowances, enhanced CDF, Cash for work and the social cash transfer more appealing. They also appreciated the employment of medical personnel and teachers, with his promises to employ more.
Those who voted against him were probably grieving against the high cost of living, the tribalism – whether real or imaginary, the high electricity tariffs and connection fees. They probably were also protesting that there was very little benefit accruing to the communities from the mining resource, despite efforts to bring back operations at KCM and Mopani on the Copperbelt. They feel the mines have been given tax holidays because of their close ties with the powerful in government.
These are just about some, and not all the issues that made many to either vote for the President, against him or completely stay away from the process.
But there were also troubling occurences that followed the voting on August 13, 2026. If President Hichilema is genuine and honest with himself he should not even waste time to make amends and work on remedying some very sad developments that followed the elections, including the move by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) to suspend the counting and announcements of results, and the unprecedented impunity to close the courts of law on the very final day when a petition to his election was supposed to be filed. These are things President Hichilema would not want to be associated with at all, given the sorry circumstances under which he himself assumed office. The man really went through it, and one would have hoped that those sad chapters would not see a repeat under his administration. Actually, that is one of the reasons that people actually removed Edgar Lungu and PF in favour of him and UPND. But what is change if you are going to be committing the same wrongs you suffered from?
The President will also need to quickly address the high cost of living, because truly speaking many people, including the well to do, are complaining.
The issue of tribalism is something the President would also need to seriously look into. He will need to be very sensitive especially with the appointments in his administration, not only at ministerial level, but also in government parastatals, government agencies and state institutions. If there is one thing he should draw from this election, it is that he has built up support in almost all the areas of the country. There is no province in Zambia where President Hichilema did not win and where the UPND doesn’t have parliamentary and local government representation. It’s everywhere; Luapula, Northern, Muchinga, Eastern, Central, Lusaka, North-Western, Western, Southern and Lusaka. Everywhere!
Connected to that, it may benefit the President and the ruling party today and they therefore, might not have the appetite to discuss the very lopsided voting patterns in Southern, Western and North-Western provinces. The manner of voting should worry every Zambian actually because honestly, they did not vote in the same manner as the rest of the country. And it is not only in this election actually. This is not to say that the other regions in the east and north are immune to this kind of voting. They too have voted lopsidedly in previous elections, and to a lesser degree also in the 2026 general elections. But it is clear to every reasonable Zambian to easily make inferences in terms of how the country voted in the just ended elections.
These and many other issues are what the President should focus on as he begins his second term of office. And it should be the prayer of every well-meaning Zambian for President Hichilema and his administration to succeed. If Hichilema succeeds then Zambia also succeeds. We wish President Hichilema and the UPND administration all the best on his second term of office, of course notwithstanding the many wrongs that characterised his re-election.
Related
By Revelation Editor
President Hakainde Hichilema will be inaugurated for his second and last term of office on September 01, 2026. Notwithstanding the many grievances his election has brought about, we congratulate him for another term of office.
The second term of office should allow him to address some pressing grievances that led to 1.8 million people to vote for his first time competitor Brian Mundubile, while giving a few thousand other votes to the distant participants.
The President will need to prioritise between enhancing or maintaining the demands of the millions who also voted for him, while also addressing the demands of those who revolted against him. We are sure that those who voted for him found his policies of free education, restored student meal allowances, enhanced CDF, Cash for work and the social cash transfer more appealing. They also appreciated the employment of medical personnel and teachers, with his promises to employ more.
Those who voted against him were probably grieving against the high cost of living, the tribalism – whether real or imaginary, the high electricity tariffs and connection fees. They probably were also protesting that there was very little benefit accruing to the communities from the mining resource, despite efforts to bring back operations at KCM and Mopani on the Copperbelt. They feel the mines have been given tax holidays because of their close ties with the powerful in government.
These are just about some, and not all the issues that made many to either vote for the President, against him or completely stay away from the process.
But there were also troubling occurences that followed the voting on August 13, 2026. If President Hichilema is genuine and honest with himself he should not even waste time to make amends and work on remedying some very sad developments that followed the elections, including the move by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) to suspend the counting and announcements of results, and the unprecedented impunity to close the courts of law on the very final day when a petition to his election was supposed to be filed. These are things President Hichilema would not want to be associated with at all, given the sorry circumstances under which he himself assumed office. The man really went through it, and one would have hoped that those sad chapters would not see a repeat under his administration. Actually, that is one of the reasons that people actually removed Edgar Lungu and PF in favour of him and UPND. But what is change if you are going to be committing the same wrongs you suffered from?
The President will also need to quickly address the high cost of living, because truly speaking many people, including the well to do, are complaining.
The issue of tribalism is something the President would also need to seriously look into. He will need to be very sensitive especially with the appointments in his administration, not only at ministerial level, but also in government parastatals, government agencies and state institutions. If there is one thing he should draw from this election, it is that he has built up support in almost all the areas of the country. There is no province in Zambia where President Hichilema did not win and where the UPND doesn’t have parliamentary and local government representation. It’s everywhere; Luapula, Northern, Muchinga, Eastern, Central, Lusaka, North-Western, Western, Southern and Lusaka. Everywhere!
Connected to that, it may benefit the President and the ruling party today and they therefore, might not have the appetite to discuss the very lopsided voting patterns in Southern, Western and North-Western provinces. The manner of voting should worry every Zambian actually because honestly, they did not vote in the same manner as the rest of the country. And it is not only in this election actually. This is not to say that the other regions in the east and north are immune to this kind of voting. They too have voted lopsidedly in previous elections, and to a lesser degree also in the 2026 general elections. But it is clear to every reasonable Zambian to easily make inferences in terms of how the country voted in the just ended elections.
These and many other issues are what the President should focus on as he begins his second term of office. And it should be the prayer of every well-meaning Zambian for President Hichilema and his administration to succeed. If Hichilema succeeds then Zambia also succeeds. We wish President Hichilema and the UPND administration all the best on his second term of office, of course notwithstanding the many wrongs that characterised his re-election.
Related
You can share this post!
Police detain Mundubile, Makebi over alleged treason
SA businessman says Ramaphosa must learn from HH on investor friendliness
Related Articles
Zambia needs level heads to calm the political…
Cry our beloved country!
Critical issues have emerged from the 2026 elections!