By Venus N Msyani
President Hakainde Hichilema started promising free education way back in 2014. He has been promising free education from primary to tertiary ever since.
It has been the most repeated promise by HH and because of that people were expecting the promise to be fulfilled on day one.
It is a reason why less than two months of Hakainde presidency, some people have started saying the president is moving too slow and others are saying he is a liar.
Nevertheless, HH should continue to lobby for patience like he has been doing for the past few weeks. He should not try to use technical language to dodge the promise.
During a live radio program on Phoenix FM on Wednesday, which is part of his interaction with the public, president Hakainde denied having promised free education.
“Let us use a right way, education for all.” President Hakainde corrected after being asked a question when should Zambians expect free education.
The moderator asked a follow-up question, so there is no free education? President Hakainde answered there is a component of free education in there. He used a technical language to explain. Not sure if anyone was able to grasp a point.
If free education promise has been a slip of a tongue, he should be honest and say so. Technical language will make things worse.
Zambians are too smart to confuse them by using a technical language. The president says his campaign didn’t make promises but commitments. On free education promised he says education for all.
The fact is that Zambia has always been education for all country. Under UNIP education was for all. It appeared to be for a few because of lack of schools. Primary schools, secondary schools, colleges, and universities were not enough for everyone.
With the previous government of the Patriotic Front (PF), though much more education institutions were needed, education was for all as well.
It is money or financial limitation that made education for a few and is a reason why Zambians were excited for the change.
Poverty and HIV Aids are leaving many families under single parent or no parent at all. Most children are out of school because no one is there to pay their school fees.
United Party for National Development (UPND) free education promise was resonating well with these families and that is why on August 12 majority of the vote was from the youth.
They voted for president Hakainde and the UPND. Hoping that if president Hakainde, Bally as they call him wins they will have opportunity to go back to school and finish their education.
Changing a statement from free education to education for all implies that the 2.8 million Zambians were cheated.
It has been explained already; you have to expand the labour force first so you can have more taxes to cover social services like education.
Bottom line is that ninety percent of what was promised is wishful thinking and s quick way of getting the vote. They took advantage of the deplorable condition at the time. They didn’t care to take a critical analysis of the causes and work out solutions. How long will it take to create enough industry to absorb our youths and how do we create this industry? Is it by foreigners?
will the foreigners employ our people or as is usual bring their own staff? There are 22 players on the field but there is more than 20thoudand experts in the stands.
The Bible says it is better to keep quiet than to make a promise and thereafter fail to fulfil it.
We are going to witness escalated prices of school fees and income tax instead of free education.
We are yet to see the worst friends.
HH and his team thought it is to run government.
Just start playing Pilato’s song….BUFI BUFI
Hh is liar. Mapyete …puuti…MMW
A very big shameless liar is hh. 2026 is coming.
Pf cadres have still not accepted defeat by a tonga. They are hurting so much. Continue being petty
Slip of a tongue for years…kikikikikiki Zambians you’ve been duped….Bally will fix you….meanwhile Faith Musonda is seating on K65 million…Milingo Lungu enjoying his millions….no free education…load shedding is back….fuel still very expensive
Posture of the two men in the picture with HH is ridiculous to say the least. Such people natu ulemu twaboza are dangerous.
relax he is just two months old
Kikikiki, @Plot you have cracked me.
@watch, relax with change of goal posts within two months of reign? Ulabeja!!!
To implement free education there are alot of thing which must be considered such as funds to sustain our education sector, so if HH were to implement free education from primary to tertiary education who is going to fund our education sector.
there cant be implementation without proper planning .foundations are important. even a man who promises marriage doesn’t just do it after making the promise .there are steps taken in order to reach the the goal.
It’s been in black and white, Bally has always promised free education, even the UPND of Mazoka had done the same. So he can’t run away from that. If he can’t deliver it then Zambians will get it themselves. Most parents have refused to pay user fees, so if he doesn’t increase funding to education he should expect more trouble. You can’t cheat people and expect to have it easy. Bally is in a fix
As usual keyboard warriors criticising without offering solutions.
First of all the concept of free education from kindergarten to phD university education is not realistic even the wealthiest of nations. 2nd man has literally been in power for less than 2 months and so even if he were to break his promises, it is too soon to judge him.
I will respect a man who will offer the best way to realise free education; where the money will come from.
The best way would be to have a combination of a means tested scheme and loans for higher education. Those who can afford it like Lungu and PF sycophants’ children can pay but those who can’t can be assisted.
Even better create jobs for everyone so people can afford education and other basic needs. Please stop this f00lish criticism based on…
… based on fantasy.
With the huge mountain of debt left behind by etgar visionless lungu that program for now could be stalled… that should be the explanation ,, it did not roll out as lie it was possible achievable but the huge debt will inhibit implementation …
HEHH has explained that free education for our vaunrable citizens is what will happen first……….
HH is a liar…HH Over promising…HH is now eating with PF Bandits….2026 VOTE HARRY KALABA
#11 You can relax If you want. Others don’t have the time and luxury like you.
If you look at the debt levels back in 2014 when bally promised free education they were manageable,,,, though pf kept on borrowing despite a timely warning from HH… pf recklessness is what is going to cause certain programs to jam so pf vuvuzelaz stop crying for free education atleast not now..
#23 Come on man all countries have debts and here we knew there was debt as we campaigned to be elected. We should have mentioned this fact. By the way everything is functioning without a problem so please remove your excuses from the national freezer.
#24 all i’m trying to say man is – if only we did not have these levels of debt that are stressing maybe somehow this could have worked… it was going to be achieved gradually
I want to stress that my point is not just debt but high debt.
Thanks to PF administration they put us in these mess. We didn’t public approval or support the way the PF administration used the power of the government to mistreat HH especially based on his tribe.
We all been mistreated in different ways by our Government, as a child going to the market to sell vegetables or chickens, on police check points i used to get shaken down, scared and frightened and i wish they knew what was in my mind; is to sell and buy baking flour mix with sugar, and deep-fried in oil we used to call them vitumbuwa. But to them I was Enemy of the State.
What am I trying to say is discrimination, Bully And Harassment in any type or form is bad because brings incompetent leadership.
What more do you want the man to say? He has indicated his desire and stated that the economy has to be rejuvenated (grown) first for it to accommodate his promise of free education to the vulnerable (not his children or children of a person like you who has a lot of internet bundles to waste writing such a baseless article).
1. The people of Zambia did not ask HH that he should provide “Free Education For Everyone”. HH is the one that started singing this lullaby and lilt – that when if you elect me, I will provide Free Education For All. Most Zambians know that the country cannot afford to provide free Education, since from the time copper prices went down in the late 80’s and the mines which was our bread & butter got sold in the 90’s
You cannot spin it around and throw the ball back to the people that they are just being keyboard critics. What a president says and does has an impact on people.
2. Zambians did not bring up this fantasy story. A great man is a person who says, I made a mistake. HH simply has to say that – I GOT IT WRONG.
The early he accepts it, the sooner the people will pardon him and move on, because Zambians are forgiving people. And he will be judged on something else in 5yrs time. If he does not correct this free education issue , time will come when people will rise up and stop paying fees.
What will HH say when people stop paying fees? Will the government send children back home for not paying fees?
3. It cannot happen, even if you make Future-Economic-Projections and Economic-Forecast based on the blackhole we have now, and HH stayed in power for 12yrs. We are finding it hard to pay pensioners. Some people have died of depression without getting their pensions. Civil Servants at times go 2 months without pay. And the population of youths will keep rising, so are retirees.
We still have a bloated government, that can be reduced if we were serious about cutting costs. And now we have to abide to the terms by IMF, the very people who forced us to sell our mines – which were our Bread & Butter and Life-Support-Systems. There is no way IMF will agree to offer us terms which can make us provide free education because they know our weaknesses.
4. Moving forward, from the whole private sector, we have to work *SMART* to create *WEALTH*, and work with HH to help play our parts to enhance the economy. But he has to address the youth and parents who believed him, at some point about the reality, which is too far from Free-Education-For-All.
Mutu wamu zako nichalo chinango…
Chimutwe chamu nobe chalo chimbi..
This great nation is trully ” one Zambia one Nation” we are one people, we have grown up together in the same environment and have had similar fights for life. We have conmen from every corner of our great nation; North , South, West East and Central. So let us not label people by region. Conmen do not only come from the North, they also come from the South. This fact is there for all to see. Incidentally time has caught up for some of inexperienced conmen, the people are ahaead they are no longer the 1964 material they are the Twiter age. This is a timely warning for Hakainde own up or tell the truth. You will fall by the same sword you used to depose your colleagues from the political power. People are not asking you to turn ” water into wine,” they want to see some indication or…
Slips of the tongue are associated with Mwanawasa. HH has had a slip of the mind
Slips of the tongue are associated with Levy Mwanawasa. HH has had a slip of the mind
quote on the radio interview the other day-some people call commitments as promises, hence ‘to deliver bare minimum to the Zambian people’, shocking.
All we asking is GRZ system need introspect. Many lives have been destroyed in the name of GRZ. Us, “Your comment is awaiting moderation” why Because you think our comments is going to inflicting harm that’s going to destabilize the system. But look what harm the promises politicians makes doing to our country, They do cause destabilization.
HH is a trickster, a liar who ascended on a platform of lies.Do not expect anything from liars. He is just a comedian. Zambia needs leaders like Mwanawasa. Otherwise, liars need not to be trusted.
Foolish Zambians….How can you have free education when this man has been in office barely a year.Free education has to be sustained and a foundation has to be laid down.You don`t just wake up like a bitter pf cadre asking for free education ,yet you are the same people who embezzled government funds buying useless fire trucks at a million each…Hatred…5yrs is a long tim…chikukole…pf you lost
HH is like a man who promises a woman the night of her life, but after one round at the lodge he starts making excuses!!
As reported on 8 April 2021:
We repeat. Education from primary to Colleges and Universities will be free! Those students who the PF have entangled into bursary loans will have their loan repayments suspended.
Education is the best equaliser and the UPND will leave no one behind, this is our solemn promise to the youth of Zambia.
HH aka Bally
#time4change
#vote4hh
He has been trying to seduce Zambians for over 20 years and now that we are in the mood he realises that he has no Viagra
BMW at work
Keyboard critics forget that they never raised questions about “For lower taxes and more money in your pocket” promise of their party that got clobbered. The man has not even clocked 2 months in government and you want all his promises fulfilled. Did any of you fulfill your marriage promises 2 months muchikwati! ? Mupaseni thawi HH; he will deliver.
Dear danda heads, please note that HH has a five year mandate and he can even implement free education in his fifth year, so stop displaying your ignorance here please
So when they assume Government, it dawns that all promises were mere talk. So s+up!d were the youths to listen to a liar like h².
Free education mean free literally. Education for all my foot. He said and we hear free.
It’s amazing how the upndead leadership keep promises even in their present positions.
Kaleza h² will have to walk the talk. When he promised free education, we asked how he is gonna achieve it; or is the IMF preventing him from giving youths free kusukulu? Seka uponoke!
He should just swallow his pride and admit that he lied instead of using technical jargon to concoct his lies. We asked HOW you were going to fulfil your promises, the answer didn’t come and now you want to backtrack! The president must now start using the language which people understand eg.unga price will be K35 and not there will be economic stability!
What about ‘more money in our pockets that we been promised for donkey years? Get off your high pabwato horses n realize that the new administration is barely 11 weeks in office n to add to that , your late regime plundered all the money meant for the people. Ikaleni panshi n help fatty galvanize supporters so you can at least remain in opposition otherwise you’ll disappear like hot air .
Commitment? You cant commit to free education if you arent promising it