Field Ruwe Endorses HH For President
Author and radio presenter Field Ruwe has endorsed UPND Alliance candidate Hakainde Hichilema as his choice for the presidency of Zambia in August’s upcoming elections.
Writing in the Lusaka Times on Monday, Dr Ruwe said he firmly believes HH has “enough political experience, purpose and vision to unlock Zambia’s potential”.
Ruwe, best known for his work on ZBS radio programmes and as the author of the ‘Hunt for Successor’ series based on Zambian politics, observed that the country had experienced a “desperate and frightening” couple of years and that if voters did not hold a referendum on President Lungu’s leadership, they risked holding the country back from its true potential.
The author emphasised that he had no formal or informal connection to the UPND but that he felt compelled to right the wrongs of the last five years of government. In particular he addressed the claims that HH profited from the privatisation of state assets in the 1990’s, charges for which “no convincing circumstance or documents have been presented to the police or courts to incriminate Hichilema”.
On the contrary, he argued, the failure of former finance minister Edith Nawakwi to substantiate the claims that HH had stolen from the state “serves to indicate the most natural inference that she and the PF are peddling a headwind of misinformation and deceit for political gain.”
Ruwe also called into question President Lungu’s track record while in office, noting that instead of alleviating poverty - as he promised at his inauguration speech in 2015 - the proportion of Zambians living in poverty has gone up in the past six years: from 60 to 62 per cent.
Unemployment has also worsened under Lungu’s presidency, rising from 9.34% in 2015 to 11.43% today. Simultaneously Lungu has saddled the country with insurmountable foreign debts of more than $12 billion.
Dr Ruwe goes on to offer Zambians a different choice in the form of Hakainde Hichilema, asking voters, “why not give him the benefit of the doubt?”
“Hakainde Hichilema may not be the president of your choice, but he has the the skills and experience to provide you with a better life. An economist and a successful businessman, Hichilema is well suited to the challenge,” he argues.
Ruwe notes with approval that HH has a plan to lift Zambia out of its recession by putting an end to reckless borrowing, strengthening the country’s regulatory framework for debt management, and encouraging substantial foreign investment. He also applauds HH’s emphasis on the need for affordable education, likening this philosophy to that of Zambia’s late First President Kenneth Kaunda.
Overall, the author observes that Zambians are presented with a simple choice on election day: to vote for Hichilema, “a conscientious individual who has laid out a comprehensive vision for your wellbeing”, or to vote for Lungu, “who has failed to deliver his promises”. The choice is ours.