UPND president Hakainde Hichilema says he is so ready to govern that his party has already crafted a 2022 budget in order to avoid being clueless.

And Hichilema says while those in PF naturally hate him, he loves them and his mission will be to unite the country once he assumes office.

Speaking on Byta FM, Tuesday, Hichilema said the kwacha would stabilise immediately he was voted into office.

He said his team already had a 2022 budget in place.

“Bally does not need the gulf stream super jet. [When] we get into office, we will sell that gulf stream and put the money into agriculture. Then we will bring in investors and manage investment. You can’t bring in investors in the current state Zambia is in. The Kwacha will stabilise the very first time you will vote me into office because people will have confidence in me. Reputation [means] a lot to me and that’s what we will bring when we are voted in. We are so ready to take over government such that we have a budget for 2022. We don’t want to be clueless of what we are supposed to be doing,” Hichilema said.

And Hichilema observed that there was a natural hatred for him in PF.

“What are the people of Zambia looking for, they want change. That is why the people of Zambia should bring in the UPND because it is a party that has the vision. We are the only party that has leadership and capacity for now to manage this country, this economy. The chances of UPND forming government are intertwined with the aspirations of Zambians for a new government and to improve their lifestyles. It’s the UPND that fits in the glove and has the capacity to deal with debt. The process to lead us into voting is falling us. Don’t continue on what you planning to do. I hear you plan on stopping giving people their national registration cards, don’t do that,” he said.

“That’s the people’s rights. And our message to the ECZ is that do not disenfranchise Zambia, extend the voter registration period, let it go to another three or four months. Increase the number of personnel and machines must not break down. Bally loves the people of Zambia. There is just a natural hate especially in PF for Hakainde Hichilema but Bally loves PF. And by the way, when we form government, we will ensure that all the people in 10 provinces are represented. We will rebuild unity across Zambia. We will re-fix the economy. We will fix the Kwacha by re-constructing the economy. The health system will be fixed. We will re-structure the debt and get the necessary moratorium on other debts.”

He said it did not matter the number of times he contested for office because his primary goal was to ensure that Zambians had a good living standard.

“The chances of UPND forming government must be seen from the context of what do people need. In your opening remarks, you talked about the economy, it’s the worse ever. This is the worst period to be in Zambia since 1991. And the people know that therefore, they need a leadership that will redeem them through all this. They need a new government to reconstruct the economy because it is on its knees. And it’s important for Zambians to know that the economy was already gone before this coronavirus came. Before the coronavirus came in this country, we already had a virus called ‘Dununa reverse virus’ that’s why the economy before December 2019 it had already collapsed,” said Hichilema.

“The number of years I have tried to be president mean nothing. What matters is whether or not our people are living well. We look at what we seek public office for. In a one-party state, UNIP was winning against a frog for 27 years. Where did the economy go? It collapsed so those numbers do not matter. So put that number issue aside. I have heard this thing [of me spending more years in opposition] from PF and you can see that there is absolutely nonsense. So, we seek to better the lives of the people. The lesson is [to] continue seeking what is good for the people of Zambia. Vote in large number so that’s why the PF want to steal votes, they fail because there will be so many people.”