{"id":4631,"date":"2026-06-11T19:49:01","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T17:49:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zanis.gov.zm\/?p=4631"},"modified":"2026-06-11T20:07:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T18:07:23","slug":"hichilema-launches-manifesto-promises-growth-and-lower-living-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zanis.gov.zm\/?p=4631","title":{"rendered":"HICHILEMA LAUNCHES MANIFESTO, PROMISES GROWTH AND LOWER LIVING COSTS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>President\u00a0<strong>Hakainde Hichilema<\/strong>\u00a0has unveiled the United Party for National Development (UPND) 2026 Manifesto, pledging to further reduce the cost of living while accelerating economic growth and job creation.<\/p>\n<p>Launching the manifesto at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka, President\u00a0<strong>Hichilema<\/strong>\u00a0said the UPND\u2019s next phase of governance will focus on transforming the economy, attracting investment and improving livelihoods.<\/p>\n<p>The President outlined five key pillars of the manifesto: growing the economy, connecting the nation, serving the people, building an effective and delivery-oriented public sector, and financing Zambia\u2019s future.<\/p>\n<p>He said economic growth remains central to the party\u2019s agenda, with plans to promote local content, value addition and infrastructure development.<\/p>\n<p>The government will continue investing in road, rail and air transport networks to improve connectivity and support economic expansion.<\/p>\n<p>President\u00a0<strong>Hichilema<\/strong>\u00a0disclosed that every provincial centre is expected to have an international airport, while efforts are underway to modernise major railway systems, including the Tanzania-Zambia Railway (TAZARA), Zambia Railways Limited (ZRL) and the Lobito Corridor railway project.<\/p>\n<p>On education, he pledged continued support for free education and announced plans to establish a public university in every province to increase access to higher learning.<\/p>\n<p>The President also promised reforms aimed at improving efficiency in the public sector through performance-based contracts and a stronger results-oriented work culture.<\/p>\n<p>He added that the government intends to operationalise a 24-hour economy to stimulate business activity and create employment opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>To finance development, President\u00a0<strong>Hichilema\u00a0<\/strong>said the UPND government will expand public-private partnerships beyond roads to include hospitals, bridges and other strategic infrastructure projects. He added that government will also seek financing from capital markets and place greater emphasis on production and exports.<\/p>\n<p>The manifesto sets ambitious targets, including producing 10 million tonnes of maize, generating 10,000 megawatts of electricity, attracting five million tourists, and increasing copper production to three million metric tonnes.<\/p>\n<p>Other targets include producing three million metric tonnes of soya beans, one million metric tonnes of wheat and achieving one billion United States dollars in beef exports.<\/p>\n<p>Vice President\u00a0<strong>Mutale Nalumango<\/strong>\u00a0said the New Dawn Administration has delivered on many of its promises and remains committed to improving the welfare of citizens.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile UPND National Chairperson\u00a0<strong>Collins Maoma<\/strong>\u00a0described President Hichilema as a visionary leader dedicated to national unity and economic development.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President\u00a0Hakainde Hichilema\u00a0has unveiled the United Party for National Development (UPND) 2026 Manifesto, pledging to further reduce the cost of living while accelerating economic growth and job creation. Launching the manifesto at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka, President\u00a0Hichilema\u00a0said the UPND\u2019s next phase of governance will focus on transforming the economy, attracting investment and improving [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":4632,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,15,12],"tags":[26,63,25],"class_list":["post-4631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latestnewscentre","category-onlyzanis","category-politics","tag-ineverycornerofzambia","tag-presidenthakaindehichilema","tag-zanis","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanis.gov.zm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanis.gov.zm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanis.gov.zm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanis.gov.zm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanis.gov.zm\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4631"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanis.gov.zm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4631\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4634,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanis.gov.zm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4631\/revisions\/4634"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanis.gov.zm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanis.gov.zm\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanis.gov.zm\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanis.gov.zm\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}