Africa-Press – Zambia. CHINGOLA Mayor Johnson Kang’ombe says President Hakainde Hichilema is one of the best-performing leaders the country has had, stressing that the nation cannot risk putting an amateur in leadership.
Kang’ombe adds that he is not backing off from his intentions to run as a member of parliament in the 2026 general elections.
In an interview, Tuesday, Kang’ombe addressed the narrative that the UPND might be losing popularity on the ground, saying the party remained firmly supported due to its achievements.
“…. but we are popular, we’ve done a lot from the time that we formed government. Just starting with me as Mayor, we’ve done a lot of things at the council; we have procured a lot of things, we have built a lot of things using locally generated resources. So, there is a lot that we’ve done and that’s why I’m saying it is not something that they can say we have lost popularity, no.
So, that’s why I’m saying in a nutshell we are standing on firm ground, we are not losing popularity because the issue is that in Zambia, HH is one of the best-performing presidents who has done extremely well.
President HH has done extremely well and that’s the reason we cannot even risk putting an amateur as a president, no, we can’t risk that. We need stability in this country,” he said.
“Like the last general election, we got nine members of parliament and the PF got nine and four independents. And this time we are going to have 29 because the Copperbelt will be given seven extra constituencies, so we are going to have 29. So, all I’m saying is that the Copperbelt has urban and peri-urban constituencies, same as Lusaka, so we shall also move in the same direction.
On the mayoral level, we got eight and they (PF) got two, they got Kitwe and Ndola but we got the rest. So, the narrative on the Copperbelt is 50-50 with Lusaka, and that does not mean that they can win the general election, no. We are winning with a very big margin. But just on the Copperbelt and Lusaka, we shall get 50-50, or we can get 60, they can get 40, or they can get 60, we get 40, or vice versa.”
Asked about his intention to stand as an MP, Kang’ombe said he was not backing off.
“So far so good, we’re not backing off and our intentions are just like that and we know that we are the right candidate. Because given the experience that we’ve gained from being a councillor and now being a national leader in the latest election at a national level, and also on top of that to manage a constituency. With what I’ve just performed in Chingola, I think there are not even doubts in the minds of the people of Chingola right now.
My party is UPND and I’ve never been PF, but just the way I work, I work with everyone on the ground, that’s why I even got the majority of votes in the just-ended general election. I got the 7,000 votes because of the way I relate with everybody and I’m confident,” said Kang’ombe.
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