12 things you don’t know about Zambia’s President-elect

By Uko-obong Efiok

Born to a poor family in a village, Monze District in present-day Zambia on
4th June 1962 (age 59).
He received a scholarship to study at the University of Zambia and graduated in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Business Administration. He thereafter pursued an MBA in Finance and Business Strategy at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom.

As a Buisnessman, HAKAINDE HICHILEMA once said to his supporters
“Africa needs businessmen who don’t need to make a living from politics but go into it to help grow African economies. It will be their policies that will help take Africans out of poverty through enterprise”.

Here are things you must know about him
1. He is a farmer and he owns the second largest cattle ranch in Zambia.

2. He is a serial Presidential elections contestant and candidate having contested five(5) times and lost all: contested in 2006, 2008, 2011, 2015 and 2016.

3. Up till he is officially declared the president-elect by the electoral umpire, He is the leader of Zambia main opposition party, United Party for National Development (UPND) he is a consistent grassroot Politician of his era.

4. He is winning his six(6) time in the contest in 2021
5. He is the number one (1) richest man in Zambia acccording to Forbes ranking in 2021 .

As a leader of leading opposition party in Zambia he has been subject of much controversy having been arrested and jailed in 2017

6. As the richest man in Zambia, Hakainde Hichilema net worth is $389 million in 2021.

7. He is married to a single(one) wife , by name Mutinta and has three children.

8. He is a Christian,a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

9. He was once accused of being a member of a Blackman’s occult, Freemanson. In December 2014, he denied being a Freemason and labelled people accusing him as malicious. He also sued Bishop Edward Chomba of the Orthodox Church for defamation after the former called him a Satanist and a Freemason.

10. He served as the chief executive officer of both Coopers and Lybrand Zambia (1994–1998) and Grant Thornton Zambia (1998–2006).

11. On 27, October, 2017 he was honoured with the Africa Freedom Award by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom on at an event held in Johannesburg, South Africa.

12. On political tolerance HAKAINDE HICHILEMA once said , When a person’s opinion or political views differ from yours, they are not your enemy. We must embrace diversity and respect those who oppose us.

On the Economy of Zambia, Hakainde said “The difference between PF(ruling party) and UPND(his party) is what we bring to the table, Knowledge of financial markets,economics, We are buisness people. We understand the economy, this economy is broken”. As the people of Zambia awaits the official announcement from Electoral Commission of Zambia ECZ ,he is the last hope as the people demand emancipation from the Chinese burden and economic slavery done to them by the outgoing regime

–-Uko-obong Efiok is an African Blogger and Publicist, he writes from West Africa.
email:arfsblog@gmail.com

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