President Hakainde Hichilema says his recent tour of the country has confirmed that the entire nation now stands as a stronghold for the United Party for National Development, and he is confident of returning to power after next month’s general election. Speaking during a…

President Hakainde Hichilema says his recent tour of the country has confirmed that the entire nation now stands as a stronghold for the United Party for National Development, and he is confident of returning to power after next month’s general election.

Speaking during a community engagement in Chisamba yesterday, the Head of State thanked residents for ensuring that six of the district’s 12 UPND aspiring councillors went through unopposed ahead of the August 13 polls. He said every district in the nine provinces he had already visited had settled on backing him and UPND candidates, with his Southern Province leg due to begin today, the tenth and final province on his tour.

“We don’t want anybody to be cheated by people moving around. I have gone around the country, nine provinces, and people have made one decision,” Mr Hichilema told the gathering. “Everywhere, Luapula, they have made a decision; Northern, they have made a decision; Muchinga has made a decision.”

He rejected the notion that any region belongs naturally to the opposition. “There is nothing like a stronghold for the opposition; all the provinces are HH strongholds,” he said, listing Eastern, North-Western, Western and Lusaka among the provinces he said had already decided.

The President said the pattern held in Central Province too, where he had visited Chitambo, Serenje, Mkushi, Luano and Kabwe districts. He tied the projected support to his administration’s record since taking office in 2021, citing the restoration of freedom of worship, a reduction in political violence and cadreism, the reintroduction of free education, and the School Feeding Programme.

He also pointed to debt restructuring, rising foreign reserves, expanded employment, increased allocations under the Constituency Development Fund, the Cash for Work initiative, and growing enrolment under the Social Cash Transfer programme as evidence voters had reason to stay with the ruling party.

Mr Hichilema said he was hopeful Chisamba District would help push the party toward its national vote target, and urged residents not to be swayed by rival candidates he described as “copycats” promising programmes the UPND had already delivered but that were never implemented during the Patriotic Front’s decade in power.

Addressing the six councillors who ran unopposed, the President cautioned them against complacency, urging them to campaign actively for his own re-election and for other UPND candidates rather than assume the contest was already settled.

He promised that, if returned to office, his government would build the Chisamba District Hospital and upgrade the Chisamba-Chamuka-Chikonkomene Road, the Chisamba-Kasavasa Road and the Chipembi-Mwapula Road. He also pledged to address persistent mobile network problems affecting the district.

The President singled out National Reconciliation Party for Unity and Prosperity presidential candidate Brian Mundubile and his running mate Makebi Zulu, telling residents not to be misled by promises of new markets, arguing the pair had failed to deliver similar commitments while their party held power. He said a re-elected New Dawn administration would issue more trading licences and give traders access to organised, safer market facilities.

Mr Hichilema’s Southern Province leg, beginning today, will complete a campaign swing that has taken him through all ten provinces ahead of polling day.