{"id":82305,"date":"2026-04-10T21:56:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T21:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/democratic-space-expanded-under-president-hichilema"},"modified":"2026-04-10T22:04:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T22:04:30","slug":"democratic-space-expanded-under-president-hichilema","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/democratic-space-expanded-under-president-hichilema","title":{"rendered":"Democratic Space Expanded Under President Hichilema"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Zambia. <\/strong><\/span>The democratic space under President Hakainde Hichilema\u2019s watch has significantly expanded contrary to assertions by some sections of society alleging that it is shrinking when in fact not.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, during President Hichilema\u2019s five year reign, citizens have enjoyed freedom of expression and the media devoid of intimidation or harassment.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s worth noting that during the period under review no media outlet has been closed down, a situation that demonstrates the Republican President \u2018s strong commitment to promote freedom of expression and the media.<\/p>\n<p>Infact, the Head of State is tolerant to divergent views, including hard hitting criticism from his usual armchair critics.<\/p>\n<p>In view of these facts, we are calling upon citizens to engage in constructive discourse, and refrain from issuing inflammatory and divisive statements that hold the potential to set the country ablaze.<\/p>\n<p>More so, it\u2019s important for citizens to restrain themselves from abusing the freedom of expression and the media, as the country heads towards the general elections slated for August 13.<\/p>\n<p>Issued by:<\/p>\n<p>Spuki Mulemwa<\/p>\n<p>Western Province UPND Presidential Campaign Team Media Coordinator.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Zambia<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Zambia. The democratic space under President Hakainde Hichilema\u2019s watch has significantly expanded contrary to assertions by some sections of society alleging that it is shrinking when in fact not. Indeed, during President Hichilema\u2019s five year reign, citizens have enjoyed freedom of expression and the media devoid of intimidation or harassment. It\u2019s worth noting [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":82304,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,8,10,248],"tags":[233],"class_list":["post-82305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","category-parties","category-to-homepage","tag-zambia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Democratic Space Expanded Under President Hichilema - Zambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The democratic space under President Hakainde Hichilema\u2019s watch has significantly expanded contrary to assertions by som ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/democratic-space-expanded-under-president-hichilema\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Democratic Space Expanded Under President Hichilema\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The democratic space under President Hakainde Hichilema\u2019s watch has significantly expanded contrary to assertions by som ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/democratic-space-expanded-under-president-hichilema\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Zambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-10T21:56:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-10T22:04:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2026\/04\/sm_1775858631.768206.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"615\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/democratic-space-expanded-under-president-hichilema#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/democratic-space-expanded-under-president-hichilema\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Democratic Space Expanded Under President Hichilema\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-10T21:56:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-10T22:04:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/democratic-space-expanded-under-president-hichilema\"},\"wordCount\":197,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/democratic-space-expanded-under-president-hichilema#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2026\/04\/sm_1775858631.768206.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Zambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"homepage-english\",\"parties\",\"to-homepage\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/democratic-space-expanded-under-president-hichilema#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/democratic-space-expanded-under-president-hichilema\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/democratic-space-expanded-under-president-hichilema\",\"name\":\"Democratic Space Expanded Under President Hichilema - 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