By Merlyn Mwanza
Republican President Hakainde Hichilema Hichilema has likened the debt levels he inherited on assuming office to a python that was crippling everything, saying he approached the matter with positivity and not negativity by engaging everybody.
Speaking with Israel’s i24 News who asked him how he has managed to navigate between having relations with countries like China against those in the west, something he has been heavily criticised for here as driving the country further west, President Hichilema said his administration inherited huge debts which were choking the economy.
“It was like a python, crippling our necks, our ribs, our legs and we needed to untangle the country from this and we had to deal with China, we had to deal with America, France, Israel, with everybody. And we were never going to approach this issue from an angle of negativity but one of positivity, looking for a solution,” President Hichilema said.
And the President has condemned the recent military coup in Niger and several other coups that have happened in the western African region.
President Hichilema said instability in one part of the world always affects other regions, saying the world needs states that are stable so that once issues of peace, security and stability have been looked into, the focus can be on economic and social development.
Using himself as an example, President Hichilema said he contested elections several times, and even when his party felt the elections were not handled properly, they never thought of using unorthodox means to assume public office.
The President chose to pivot to this issue after being asked on the damning US Human Rights report which painted negatively on the situation in the country, much the same as it used to be during the administration of former president Edgar Lungu.
Asked on his ongoing trip to Israel at the invitation of that country’s President, the President said the country needs to network with the others and draw upon the positive lessons from Israel in innovation and technology.
He said the country needs to have relations that will deliver value for the Zambians and Isrealies, saying Zambia has a lot of fresh water and good soils but is not producing enough, something Israel’s technical know how could help.
President Hichilema said electric vehicles represented the future, and Zambia has all the critical minerals for the same including copper, cobalt, nickel, lithium and other precoous minerals.
“But we need to work with the others with capital, others with the technology and we bring our resource envelope and deliver value,” he said.
