Hakainde Hichilema

From Chalo Chatu, Zambia online encyclopedia
Hakainde Hichilema
Hakainde Hichilema 2014.jpg
President of the United Party
for National Development
Script error: No such module "String".
2006
Preceded byAnderson Mazoka
Personal details
Born (1962-06-04) 4 June 1962 (age 61)
Monze, Northern Rhodesia
NationalityZambian
Political partyUPND
Spouse(s)Mutinta
Children
Alma materUniversity of Zambia (BA)
University of Birmingham (MBA)
OccupationBusinessman
ProfessionEconomist
WebsiteOfficial website
Nickname(s)HH

Hakainde Hichilema (born 4 June 1962) is a Zambian businessman and politician serving as President of the opposition United Party for National Development. He is a perennial presidential candidate having contested five times in 2006, 2008, 2011, 2015 and 2016.

Early life and career

Hichilema was born in a village in Monze District in present day Zambia. He received a scholarship to study at the University of Zambia and graduated in 1986 with a BA in Economics and Business Administration. He thereafter pursued an MBA in Finance and Business Strategy at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom.[1]

He served as the Chief Executive Officer of both Coopers and Lybrand Zambia (1994-1998) and Grant Thornton Zambia (1998-2006).[2]

Political career

He is a member of the opposition United Party for National Development, a liberal political party. Following the death of Anderson Mazoka in 2006, he was elected as the party's new President. He also served as the leader of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), an alliance of three opposition political parties.

In the 2006 election, Hichilema was the candidate of the UDA and ran against incumbent president Levy Mwanawasa of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy and Patriotic Front candidate Michael Sata. He received the endorsement of former President Kenneth Kaunda. The election was held on 28 September 2006 and Hichilema took third place with about 25% of the vote.

Hichilema ran as the UPND candidate in the 2008 election, which was called following the death of President Levy Mwanawasa.[3] He came 3rd with 19.7% of the vote. In June 2009, Hichilema's party, the UPND, formed a pact with Michael Sata's Patriotic Front (PF) to contest the 2011 election together. However, indecision on the pact candidate, deep mistrust and accusations of tribalism from both sides resulted in the collapse of the pact in March 2011.[4]

He was one of the two main candidates in the 2015 election, which he lost by a narrow margin of just 27,757 votes (1.66%) against the ruling party's candidate. Hichilema denounced the election as a sham and urged his supporters to remain calm.[5][6]

Interviews

Hichilema was featured on the popular BBC television program HARDtalk on 1st November 2017.[7] He is the first Zambian opposition political leader to be hosted on HARDtalk and the second Zambian Politician featured after former President Levy Mwanawasa.

Sunday Interview

On 17th December, 2017 Hichilema featured on ZNBC's Sunday Interview making him the first opposition political leader to be hosted on the Sunday Interview.[8] This was after Management at ZNBC had granted a request by the UPND through its Spokesman Charles Kakoma who had written to ZNBC Director General Richard Mwanza requesting that Mr. Hichilema is featured on the Sunday Interview on December 17.[9][10] The programme will be prerecored on Thursday at 10:30hrs and was aired on Sunday evening.[11][9]

Personal life

Hichilema is married to Mutinta and has three children.[2] He is a faithful member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.[12] Hichilema is a millionaire and the second-largest cattle rancher in Zambia.[13]

In December 2014, he denied being a Freemason and labelled people accusing him as malicious.[14] He also sued Bishop Edward Chomba of the Orthodox Church for defamation after the former called him a Satanist and a Freemason.[15]

References

<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />

  1. Lua error in ...ribunto/includes/engines/LuaCommon/lualib/mwInit.lua at line 23: bad argument #1 to 'old_ipairs' (table expected, got nil).
  2. 2.0 2.1 Lua error in ...ribunto/includes/engines/LuaCommon/lualib/mwInit.lua at line 23: bad argument #1 to 'old_ipairs' (table expected, got nil).
  3. "Zambia to hold presidential by-election on Oct.30", Xinhua, September 10, 2008.
  4. "Opposition alliance in Zambia collapse as UPND pulls out", Newstime Africa, March 11, 2011.
  5. Lua error in ...ribunto/includes/engines/LuaCommon/lualib/mwInit.lua at line 23: bad argument #1 to 'old_ipairs' (table expected, got nil).
  6. Lua error in ...ribunto/includes/engines/LuaCommon/lualib/mwInit.lua at line 23: bad argument #1 to 'old_ipairs' (table expected, got nil).
  7. Lua error in ...ribunto/includes/engines/LuaCommon/lualib/mwInit.lua at line 23: bad argument #1 to 'old_ipairs' (table expected, got nil).
  8. Lua error in ...ribunto/includes/engines/LuaCommon/lualib/mwInit.lua at line 23: bad argument #1 to 'old_ipairs' (table expected, got nil).
  9. 9.0 9.1 Lua error in ...ribunto/includes/engines/LuaCommon/lualib/mwInit.lua at line 23: bad argument #1 to 'old_ipairs' (table expected, got nil).
  10. Lua error in ...ribunto/includes/engines/LuaCommon/lualib/mwInit.lua at line 23: bad argument #1 to 'old_ipairs' (table expected, got nil).
  11. Lua error in ...ribunto/includes/engines/LuaCommon/lualib/mwInit.lua at line 23: bad argument #1 to 'old_ipairs' (table expected, got nil).
  12. Lua error in ...ribunto/includes/engines/LuaCommon/lualib/mwInit.lua at line 23: bad argument #1 to 'old_ipairs' (table expected, got nil).
  13. Lua error in ...ribunto/includes/engines/LuaCommon/lualib/mwInit.lua at line 23: bad argument #1 to 'old_ipairs' (table expected, got nil).
  14. Lua error in ...ribunto/includes/engines/LuaCommon/lualib/mwInit.lua at line 23: bad argument #1 to 'old_ipairs' (table expected, got nil).
  15. Lua error in ...ribunto/includes/engines/LuaCommon/lualib/mwInit.lua at line 23: bad argument #1 to 'old_ipairs' (table expected, got nil).

External links