HH’s Second Term: Planting Is Not Enough

When Hakainde Hichilema first took office in 2021, MakanDay described the aftermath of that election as a political whirlwind that had left behind “a cloud of political dust” for the new president to settle. There would be no honeymoon, we argued.

Zambia faced a high cost of living, youth unemployment, unsustainable debt, governance problems and the difficult task of rebuilding institutions.

Five years later, Hichilema has taken the oath again. The political circumstances are different, but the question is remarkably similar: what happens after the celebration?

In his message following his inauguration, Hichilema offered an answer. His first term, he said, was about “restoring stability and laying the foundation.” His second would focus on growing the economy, creating jobs, strengthening communities and ensuring progress reaches every home.

It is an important distinction. But it also creates the standard against which his second term should be judged.

Perhaps St Paul offers an unexpectedly useful way of looking at it.

Writing to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 3), Paul confronts a community divided into camps: some declaring allegiance to Paul, others to Apollos. He reminds them that leaders are ultimately servants performing different tasks.

His famous agricultural metaphor follows: one plants, another waters, but growth comes from God. More importantly for politics, Paul says those doing the planting and watering share one purpose and each will be judged according to their labour.

Zambia could borrow something from that wisdom.

The danger after elections is that politics remains trapped in the language of who belongs to whom: UPND or opposition NRPUP, winner or loser, our stronghold or theirs. Paul regarded that sort of factionalism as a sign of immaturity. Zambia should too.

Hichilema’s declaration that those who did not vote for him will receive equal treatment is therefore more than conciliatory inauguration language. It should become a measurable principle of government.

A road should not know which party a constituency voted for. Neither should a hospital, a school, a government contract, a police officer or the Constituency Development Fund.

There is another lesson in Paul’s metaphor.

If Hichilema’s first term planted the seed, the second must show us the crop.

“Foundations” cannot become a permanent explanation for hardship.

Economic stability matters, investment matters and restructuring debt matters, but citizens ultimately encounter an economy at the kitchen table. They measure progress through food prices, transport, rent, jobs, wages and whether a small business can survive.

In 2021, MakanDay wrote that the new president faced the immediate challenge of the cost of living, unemployment, debt, governance and reform. Five years later, some circumstances have changed, but the fundamental test of government remains delivery.

There is also humility embedded in Paul’s message that political leaders might find useful. The planter is not the harvest. Neither is the person who waters.

Presidents inherit institutions, investments, failures and achievements from those before them. They add something and eventually hand the country to somebody else.

That makes Hichilema’s description of leadership as “not a prize, but a sacred duty to serve” particularly appropriate.

The election is finished. The speeches have been made. The inauguration is over.’

Now comes the watering.

And by 2031, Zambians will not simply ask what was planted. They will want to see what grew.

The measure of that growth should not only be found in economic statistics, new investments or government programmes, but in how many Zambians are better able to stand on their own feet. Fewer families should need Social Cash Transfer simply to survive. More farmers should be productive enough to graduate from dependence on FISP. More young people should be earning livelihoods from decent jobs and viable businesses rather than waiting for the next government empowerment programme.

Social protection will always have a place for those who genuinely need it. But Hichilema himself has called for “a culture of productivity and self-reliance.” By the end of his second term, the fairest test of that promise may therefore be simple: has government merely supported more Zambians, or has it helped more Zambians reach the point where they no longer need supporting?

St Paul wrote: “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.”

Hichilema says the planting has been done. The next five years must show the harvest.