They were clad in decent clothes. They spoke very well, in tongues I could readily understand. They were the kind of people that inspired trust. And trust them I did. They followed me. They came to my compound, a slum. Just like my fellow community members, I lived in a shack made of cardboard and...

Despite his lack of significant domestic achievements and rising discontentment with his leadership in Zambia, President Hakainde Hichilema has a remarkably positive image abroad. There are two major reasons for this. The first is that Hichilema, who came to power in August 2021, is benefiting from a favourable comparison to what came before him and...

After coming to power via a democratic election, President Hakainde Hichilema and the ruling UPND have manipulated the Electoral Commission of Zambia and the judicial process to exclude key opposition candidates from the ballots taking place today. At the heart of these manoeuvres is the fear of defeat to the excluded candidates and the desire...

Many Africans’ largely unsympathetic reaction to the death of British monarch Queen Elizabeth II has come as a surprise to the average British person. This is hardly surprising. Given the passage of time and the Queen’s old age, most British people either do not associate her with the British Empire, do not know much about...

Nothing demonstrates Zambia’s political polarisation quite as much as the responses to the basic question: how much has President Hakainde Hichilema accomplished in his first year in office? Where his supporters see total economic transformation and democratic renewal since his inauguration a year ago today, his critics see sustained decline and an abject failure of...

Summary: It is impossible to talk about Kenneth Kaunda without timelines. He defies a general or linear description. He was, at different times, many things good or many things bad about people. In the end, he was, like the rest of us, simply human. Kaunda’s place in Zambia’s political history is guaranteed by the fact...

Despite the security of tenure provided to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), nearly every new president of Zambia ousts the DPP they find in office and installs their own to help them deal with their political opponents and cover their own crimes. This is the main motivation behind the latest campaign...

Throughout the year 2021, Zambia experienced no shortage of disappointments and set backs in the political landscape. Yet there are some individuals and institutions whose actions, courage and principles offered hope and inspiration in a year that was dominated by a historic vote that saw the defeat of incumbent president Edgar Lungu and the election...

Today marks exactly 100 days since Hakainde Hichilema was inaugurated as president of Zambia. After a decade and half in opposition, the leader of the United Party for National Development (UPND) defeated the incumbent Edgar Lungu in elections on 12 August 2021. He took office 12 days later. Hichilema’s successful election campaign was aided by...

On 21 October 2021, Zambia’s main opposition Patriotic Front (PF) scooped the Kaumbwe parliamentary election in Petauke district, Eastern Province, defeating four other political parties – namely, the governing United Party for National Development (UPND), the Socialist Party (SP), the Democratic Party (DP) and the Party for National Unity and Progress (PNUP) – and two...