Hichilema turns second term to living standards, promising a skills college in every district President Hakainde Hichilema today told Parliament that his second term will be judged by how ordinary people live, not by economic stability alone. Opening the First Session of the 14th…

Hichilema turns second term to living standards, promising a skills college in every district

President Hakainde Hichilema today told Parliament that his second term will be judged by how ordinary people live, not by economic stability alone. Opening the First Session of the 14th National Assembly in Lusaka, he pledged a skills training college in every district and a public university in every province that has none. He also warned that the 2027 Budget will carry financing measures the country has never seen before.

“We will do strange things legally, and we need your support,” he told MPs, appealing to the House to back next year’s spending plan. The line set the tone for a speech of large promises and blunt messages, delivered before a 280-member House that now seats women, young people and persons with disabilities through reserved seats for the first time.

From stability to the dinner table

The Head of State presented his first five years as the work of repairing the economy, and the next five as the work of making that repair felt at home. “In the last five years, we have stabilised our economy. Our focus in this term is to improve living standards,” he said.

He was equally clear that better lives can only come from a bigger economy, and he dismissed any hope of a shortcut. “No matter how good-hearted we are, we cannot share poverty. We have to generate value. Then we can redistribute that value,” Mr Hichilema said. Only through investment and trade, he added, can the country support the weak, the elderly and the less privileged.

Colleges at the doorstep

Education produced the most concrete pledges of the afternoon. The President reminded the House that free education is now law up to secondary school and that exam fees have been scrapped. He said more than 42,000 teachers have been recruited, new classroom blocks built and 2.6 million learners brought back to class, calling the return of so many children “a celebration point” rather than a political issue.

More teachers are coming, along with measures to keep them in their posts, since teachers, in his words, have become “too mobile.” The competence-based curriculum will be fully rolled out to give pupils practical, lifelong skills.

For the new term, he promised that all 116 districts will have a skills training college, sparing young people journeys of hundreds of kilometres to learn a trade. Apprenticeship and internship programmes will follow, and training centres will finally get the equipment trainees need to practise. He made a personal case for vocational education, telling MPs that a child who struggles with mathematics can still build a future in plumbing, carpentry or bricklaying.

Provinces without a public university will also get one, so that a young person in a remote area such as Kashikishi or Shangombo no longer has to travel to Lusaka for a degree. Private developers are being invited to build student hostels and staff housing on long-term leases with the institutions. Mr Hichilema described this as a business opportunity for many inside and outside the chamber.

Student loans and meal allowances will continue for eligible students at public universities. The President noted, to laughter in the House, that several MPs, himself included, owe their own education to such support.

A healthcare city, and a hint on medicines

Turning to health, the President said more than 18,000 health workers have been recruited and maternal and child health services improved. A cancer hospital built with local investment of more than US$30 million is now operating, and he claimed that only Egypt and South Africa on the continent have comparable facilities.

He then announced plans for a healthcare city in Lusaka. Anchored by a state-of-the-art hospital, it will be surrounded by specialist facilities, clinics, accommodation and a shopping complex, with the aim of making the country a destination for patients from across the region.

His remarks on the supply of medicines were brief but pointed. “We know what is going on there. I think we are getting a handle of it,” he said. He added that the new Health Minister has already started work with his full support, and that Government will return to Parliament to correct problems that have persisted “for years and years.”

Water, housing and a cleaner country

Water, Mr Hichilema said, is both a human right and an engine of development. Public investment will continue in dams, treatment plants, distribution networks, sewerage and rural water schemes, alongside private capital. He singled out wastewater treatment as a long-neglected area.

He lamented how much of the country’s water flows out unused. “A lot of our water goes to the Indian Ocean, goes to the Atlantic Ocean, and we just watch it,” he said, signalling plans to move water to where it is needed for homes, irrigation and power generation.

On sanitation, he commended the Lusaka Mayor’s clean-up of the capital and told other councils to follow suit. “It should not be a Lusaka matter. This must be a national priority,” he said, adding that cholera can be contained simply by keeping surroundings clean.

Housing will rely on partnerships with the private sector, with home-ownership schemes aimed at young families and a push for well-planned, safer towns. Social cash transfers are to be expanded. The President also pointed to NAPSA’s drive to bring informal workers into the pension net, promising better benefits and timely payment for retirees.

More women at the table

The new Parliament itself featured in the speech. “This House now has more female members than ever before. Numbers don’t lie,” the President said, thanking those who supported the constitutional changes that became Act No. 13 and calling the result “history worth celebrating, not confrontation.”

He told the House that mixed-member proportional representation is not confined to Parliament. It now applies in all 116 local authorities, bringing more women, youths and persons with disabilities into council chambers across the country.

Borders, broadband and artificial intelligence

Trade routes came next. Mr Hichilema dismissed the one-stop border post as an outdated goal and called for non-stop crossings instead. “You can stop once, but you’ll be there for three, four, five days,” he said, promising digitised processes and a fight against corruption at entry points.

Connectivity, he said, now reaches more than 92 percent of the population through mobile networks, and Starlink is working “even in areas where it was not expected to work.” He urged operators to guarantee reliable service around the clock, because mobile money and much of daily commerce now depend on it. He also pledged to roll out the national digital identity system and to expand digital government aggressively, citing pilots that he said already show gains in efficiency and revenue.

Artificial intelligence received a section of its own. The plan includes local data centres, stronger cybersecurity policy, AI and digital skills in schools and colleges, and literacy programmes in communities, so that Zambians become builders of the technology and not just consumers of it. Collaboration with the United Arab Emirates on digitalising public services has also begun. “We didn’t go to hospital there, we went to work,” the President remarked of his recent visit.

He did not spare the darker side of the online world, condemning false news and attacks on innocent people. His test for the digital drive was a simple one: whether a young woman in Mongu or a business owner in Kitwe finds new opportunities because of the internet.

A message to the House on allowances

Some of the sharpest lines were aimed at the civil service and at the lawmakers themselves. Clocking in at eight and leaving at five, the President said, “does not constitute work. It does not constitute delivery.” The Presidential Delivery Unit, the Public-Private Dialogue Forum and parastatals will now face stronger accountability. More government services will move onto Zamportal.

He then turned to the benches in front of him. “When we put pressure on the Speaker for more allowances, remember we could use those allowances to keep more kids in school,” Mr Hichilema said. MPs, he reminded them, are public officers funded by the people.

On the Constituency Development Fund, he said allocations had risen from K1.6 million to K40 million per constituency each year, a change he called revolutionary. He conceded, however, that the House can do better at spending it, and promised attention to its use during this term.

No sacred cows

On corruption, his tone hardened. “There will be no sacred cows in the fight against corruption. None at all,” the President declared, adding that technology is now helping to detect abuse of public resources early.

He also rejected what he described as cries of discrimination from those facing prosecution. “When people get prosecuted, they cry isms. Public resources belong to the public. Full stop,” he said.

Addressing the rule of law, he said markets and bus stations once controlled by party cadres are now run by councils. He warned that no lawlessness will be tolerated “regardless of political or other affiliation.” Legal aid, alternative dispute resolution and services closer to communities, he added, will make justice more affordable and timely.

A foreign policy built on two pillars

Foreign policy, the President said, rests on just two pillars: peace, security and stability on one side, and economic diplomacy on the other. He said the country’s international respectability has been restored and must now be used to draw investment. He urged everyone to act responsibly so as not to destroy what he called an asset built over five years.

El Niño and a new approach to permits

Scientists, the President told the House, are predicting a super El Niño that could bring floods and drought to different parts of the country at the same time. He called for inter-ministerial teams to prepare a response, and said every citizen has a part to play.

To cut red tape, he floated presumptive approval for licences, so that applications are not left to die in government offices. Carbon markets and forestry, he said, must now produce jobs and Treasury revenue, and the minister responsible has been given his marching orders.

Sport, the arts and the 2027 Budget

Sport and the creative economy got their moment too. “There is no minor sport in this country,” Mr Hichilema said, promising better facilities in every province and a push to commercialise sport. For musicians, filmmakers, designers and content creators, he pledged formal talent identification beyond Lusaka and the Copperbelt, along with support to earn money from their work, including on digital platforms.

On financing, he struck a self-reliant note. “We are not waiting for donations,” he said, adding that Government will bring laws to loosen restrictions on capital formation and investment inflows. He pointed to countries without natural resources that have attracted capital, and said the 2027 Budget will set out measures that “some will appear unusual.”

The targets, defended

Mr Hichilema closed the economic section by defending the Grow Zambia targets against sceptics. He said maize output rose from 2.1 million tonnes last year to 5.1 million tonnes this year, which makes the 10-million-tonne goal feasible. He called 10,000 megawatts of power, five million tourists and three million tonnes of copper within reach. Wheat is within closer reach, sugar is “already on the cards,” and a US$1 billion beef export industry is “absolutely achievable.”

“These are not political targets. They are national targets,” he said, before putting a question directly to the chamber: “What are you going to contribute to these targets? Starting with you who are seated in this House.”

Unity, and what was left unsaid

The address ended on patriotism and peace. “Without patriotism, there can be no national development. Without peace, there can be no sustained progress. And without unity, there can be no shared future,” the President said, acknowledging what he called “the toxicity around here.” He called on the private sector, civil society, traditional and church leaders, and every citizen to take part in the work ahead.

Before the speech, the Council of Churches in Zambia and opposition leaders had called for a concrete reconciliation process, citing the continued detention of NRPUP’s Brian Mundubile, Makebi Zulu and 16 others on treason charges. The address made no reference to the detainees and announced no dialogue process.

MPs will now consider the President’s policy pronouncements in the House. The bigger test will come with the 2027 Budget, when the “strange” but legal financing measures he promised are finally put before Parliament.