On 24 August 2021, Hichilema became Zambia’s seventh president after beating then incumbent president Edgar Lungu with over one million more votes after highly dissatisfied Zambian voters ended the former ruling Patriotic Front’s 10-year reign.
A nearly collapsing economy, wrecked rule of law, reports of grand corruption in government, chaos in the key mining sector and the government’s failure to employ essential public sector workers gave Hichilema and his UPND that much-needed catalyst to record Zambia’s second-biggest ever election victory against an incumbent president.
That was the easy part.
“We have not yet seen the change – there is sanity in markets and bus stops, but there is no money in the economy and no jobs,” says Christopher Ngwira, a 29-year chemistry graduate who is still without a job after graduating from the university four years ago.
Ngwira’s views reflect the
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