Zambia needs HH now more than ever – Nevers

FORMER vice-president Nevers Mumba says Zambia now, more than ever, needs President Hakainde Hichilema to build on the successes he has already recorded. Meanwhile, Mumba says the current political trends do not suggest NRPUP presidential candidate Brian Mundubile will win the 2026 general election. Asked on South Africa’s Channel Africa radio station, Thursday, why his […]

FORMER vice-president Nevers Mumba says Zambia now, more than ever, needs President Hakainde Hichilema to build on the successes he has already recorded.

Meanwhile, Mumba says the current political trends do not suggest NRPUP presidential candidate Brian Mundubile will win the 2026 general election.

Asked on South Africa’s Channel Africa radio station, Thursday, why his party had chosen to support President Hichilema in the upcoming election, Mumba said the Head of State’s handling of the economy had been “nothing less than a miracle”.

“First of all, President Hakainde Hichilema, myself and our two parties have worked together at different points from 2016 and we have been partners before. My colleague has done an excellent job in his first term of five years, I think what he has done with the economy is nothing less than a miracle. By all standards, I think he has scored such high levels like we’ve not experienced since independence. Therefore, I think it became unnecessary for me to challenge him in this election. Him and I sat down and agreed that I was going to give him my total support so that he can complete his second term. Therefore, this is something we have done in the past when we were both in the opposition and we are doing it now that he is in government. And we think Zambia needs Hakainde Hichilema now more than ever before in order for him to build upon the successes that he has already recorded,” Mumba said.

“What we had in Zambia was that prior to the UPND and Hakainde Hichilema becoming President, the economy of our country was in a very sorry state. You recall that we were the first and only country that defaulted in terms of our repayment of our debt on the continent and in the world during Covid. Our economy had collapsed, our kwacha had lost its power, the inflation was high to 24 percent and now we are at 6.7 [to] 6.9 inflation. So, we can see that he inherited an economy that was completely denunciated because of the mismanagement of the resources by the previous government. So, now that he is rebuilding the economy, the heavy lifting has been done over the past five years to make sure that the fundamentals of economics and the anchors of the economic situation are firm”.

Responding to opposition claims that Mundubile would win by a landslide of 60 to 70 percent, Mumba argued that the assertion was merely wishful thinking.

“First of all, it’s an election process, it’s a democratic process that Zambians at the end of the day have to decide who becomes President. But the Mundubile side to say that they will win by 60 percent, that’s a wish that every politician would have when they are sleeping and they’ll wake up and think that they can get 60 percent. Zambia has got trends within which it runs and the trends do not suggest that our colleagues are actually ready to win this election. I think they are very far away. They are trying to ride on the crisis they created themselves hoping that Hichilema’s work in recovering the economy does not work as fast, so that they can take advantage of the crisis they created to remove Hakainde Hichilema by blaming him for all the problems they created in the economy,” Mumba said.

“But I do not think that Zambians are buying into that, I think that we are going to see Zambians turn out in their numbers. We are going to see Zambians wanting progress, we are going to see Zambians wanting to move forward and to continue to build on the gains that have already been made by this administration. So, they are free to claim anything, this is a claiming season but between you and me, there is no chance that they can win this election”.

Asked about his feelings on the upcoming elections, Mumba stressed that while there was excitement, he did not expect the polls to be unusual.

“I think there is a lot of excitement that comes with the election but truth of the matter is that I do not expect that this particular election will be unusual. I think the Zambian people are going to go to the polls observing the usual peace that they observed, and I expect that they are going to come out in great numbers as they have always done. And so, in terms of the election itself, we do not expect anything out of ordinary like exaggerated violence. We are having a bit of that but I do not think that is going to overwhelm this coming election,” said Mumba.