I first began and joined the UPND as a 16 year old in Ndola over 15 years. Micheal Sata had just won the 2011 elections and was incredibly popular across our Copperbelt. Then later, i left and went to pursue University education, only to return in 2019 to help play a role in delivering President Hichilema to the Zambian Presidency. Helping secure Hichilema to the State House, remains one of the great political joys of my 30 so years of life. In that period, it was a needed undertaking, to undo the Patriotic Front and usher in Hichilema.

Now, let me be clear, i cannot speak with full knowledge of the Kaunda Presidency. I was not born when he led our country. I wasn’t even born when Chiluba took over in 1991 until years later in the mid 90s, years into the Chiluba Presidency and so my only political knowledge of them is only through the books i have read and the policies they pursued. Prior to that, as a student of politics, i have followed Zambian Politics from as far back as 1968 when the Lusaka Manifesto was crafted by Founding President Kaunda. The Lusaka Manifesto of 1968 contained within it the good of our country, when others refused to accomodate Liberation Movements, Kaunda opened our Zambian doors and let our neighbours in. Its a proud Zambian legacy a new generation of Zambian Politicians like myself and many others must continue to champion.

Then came Chiluba in 1991, he would lead the Lusaka Peace Accord of 1994 that championed the opening of peace talks in Angola. Angola was at war with itself, and when it needed a political mediator, it looked up to Zambia in search of answers, fully aware that Zambia is a regional negotiator of political peace. Thats the Zambia our country has always been, a respected voice at the regional table. But then the pettiness of our Zambian Politics began, Chiluba targeted Kaunda and accused him of being a foreigner in Zambia. The Ndola High Court in 1999 would then proceed to strip Kenneth Kaunda off his Zambian Citizenship, effectively declaring him a political persona non grata in a country he led for 27 years as President. In the years that followed, Levy Mwanawasa, Rupiah Banda, Micheal Sata and Lungu would get their turns to achieve their own political dreams of leading our country.

Then came President Hichilema. Prior to 2021, we fought tooth and out to ensure we delivered him successfully to State House. As Joseph Kalimbwe, its a responsibility i always took serious and for which i remain proud to have done. I hold so many political views of Zambia and the future i think we must secure, those views of mine vary from Mining to Land ownership , Zambia’s domestic and foreign policy. Its issues i have shared extensively as a basis upon which i needed a seat at Parliament in Ndola, understanding we needed to put to an end the politics of insults and hate as Zambians. And so Pre-2021, we spent days talking to campaigners, in the night we retreated to social media to host spaces , explaining line by line, the 7 Point Plans of the UPND and the vision of Hichilema for our country. The 7 point plans are pillars upon which the UPND sought to get elected in 2016, its pillars i have known from the back of my head, pillars i articulated to my fellow young people from the back of my head for years. On Agriculture, the Economy, the Tourism, the direction the party needed to see Zambia partake. Its a vision that must be clearly known and supported by everyone deployed in line Ministries , deployed in Parliament and in State Owned Enterprises. Nobody who doesn’t believe or even know any of the plans can help attain such.

This is the Hichilema i came to know as teenage over 10 years and whom i spent years supporting. He needs no people that will lie to him about issues Zambians care strongly about, on the judiciary, human issues. That in a better and prospectus nation, the Presidency needs a whole host of young minds to help achieve its goals and objectives. Those young minds must understand Zambia’s domestic policy, its foreign policy and the vision of the President at State House and how that vision is to be attained. As a nation, we have done enough politics of insulting each other and calling each other names, now we must put that aside and help rebuild. That’s a Zambia i believed President Hichilema sought and for which, he must be supported by individuals of equal vision as Members of Parliament and Cabinet Ministers and that understand those core responsibilities that can help achieve the ultimate goal of making Zambia a better place and deliver it safely to the next generation of Zambian leaders.

I remain,
Joseph Kalimbwe
Dag Hammaskjold, Copperbelt