By Angela Moonga
President Hakainde Hichilema has urged his supporters to avoid saying that he has already won the August 13, 2026 general elections.
And President Hichilema said he’s also planning for future generations, even those where “boyfriend and girlfriend” have not met to produce children.
Speaking during the UPND election manifesto launch at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre yesterday, President Hichilema urged his party to protect the vote by going out to campaign.
He said they could not relax on their laurels by saying that they had won, but should go out there and create the election fever.
“I hear people saying tawinakale (we have already won). Don’t say that … protect your vote,” he said.
President Hichilema proclaimed his many achievements, including the free education, consecutive bumper harvests in maize production, debt restructuring and the recruitment of thousands of teachers and health workers, among many other achievements.
He said the country needed peace, without which the country could not develop.
President Hichilema said the UPND manifesto was about protecting unity, inclusion, progress and the future of the Zambian people, including the future of those who were not yet born.
President Hichilema said he was also planning for those who were not yet born, even in instances where boyfriends and girlfriends have not yet met to produce children.
He said which Church someone went to and where they were born did not matter. He said it was not even about what language someone spoke and where they were born.
President Hichilema said it was not even about one’s mother or father, nor the circumstances under which they were born, but what they did with their life.
He said he was hearing people say that they would get votes because there were people who spoke their language.
But he said language could not delivere the achievements he said he had delivered.
“You can’t cook language. … Let’s not spoil our children who love each other so much,” he said.
President Hichilema said there would be no return to issues of violence and ethnic division, and there would be no going back to reckless borrowing.
He said some wanted to come back into power in order to borrow more.
“Don’t come back to borrow money recklessly. It’s difficult to restructure debt,” President Hichilema said.
He also addressed those who were planning on splitting the vote by casting in his favor on the presidency and for independents on the down ballot candidates, saying if they did not vote for UPND member of parliament and councillor aspirants, he would not be able to legislate.
President Hichilema thanked Zambians for having started the process of change together, and urged them to finish the process with him.
He said he did not take their support for granted, and used different local languages to express his thanks.
“We have delivered but what we have done is not enough. There is more work to be done,” said President Hichilema.
