. Hichilema

By ANDREW PHIRI –
OPPOSITION United Party for National Development (UPND) president Hakainde Hichilema has promised to build more markets across the country if his party forms Government in January next year.
Mr Hichilema said UPND understood how much suffering people in Zambia were going through and pledged to empower them through the creation of good and decent trading places across the country.
He said vendors would also be allowed to go about their businesses undisturbed if he was elected as Zambia’s President.
He was speaking in Livingstone on Saturday when he toured various markets in Ellaine Britel, Lubuyu, Maramba and Ngwenya.
Mr Hichilema, who arrived at Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula international airport at 14:35 hours in a hired Chopper accompanied by his vice president Richard Kapita, told cadres who had been waiting from 08:00 hours at the airport, that time had come for the UPND to take over Government because it was God’s decision.
He also featured on Musi-oa-tunya Radio where he pledged to lower the cost of living and improve the education system and health care in Zambia.
“I do not want say too much, God has made a decision. We have tried so many times but his time God has decided that I become the president of this country,” Mr Hichilema said.
He said as a farmer himself, he would also ensure that the price of mealie meal was reduced in order to make it more affordable for the poor.
He also said his Government would strike off the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) if it continued to harass motorists especially taxi drivers, saying that the taxi drivers had families to take care of.
Mr Hichilema also re-iterated that his Government would also reinstate nurses who were fired last year.
The UPND leader appealed to his members to be united and take this month’s campaign seriously saying every one of them was a campaign manager.
“Let us be united and take this campaign seriously. We do not to go into Government to look after ourselves, we want to be in Government so that we take care of the people,” Mr Hichilema said.
He said the UPND was going to work with everyone including those in the opposition that were interested in seeing that there was change of Government.
Mr Hichilema also appealed to the Livingstone City Council to give people who applied for plots in the city two years ago their pieces of land.