From Prison to President

Early Life and Education

Born into a low-income family in a village in Monze district present-day Zambia on 4th June 1962. He is married to Mutinta Hichilema and they have three children. Popularly known as HH. Hichilema cast himself as a self-made businessman who worked hard at school to win a government bursary to attend the University of Zambia where he completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Business Administration. His Master's qualifications include a Business Administration degree in Finance and Business Strategy from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom.

Hakainde Hichilema is a trained negotiator, qualified change management practitioner, a member of the institute of directors, and a Christian who believes that all faith should be accommodated. HH is a passionate community man and over the years has supported many communities such as dip tanks, clinics, schools, etc. Mr. Hichilema has held the position of Chief Executive Officer of both Coopers and Lybrand Zambia (1994-1998) and Grant Thornton Zambia (1998-2006). HH is a large commercial farmer. He owns one of the largest cattle herds in Zambia. He is also an entrepreneur with several private and corporate investments. His business experience has been one of the leading lights in business with wide experience in Zambia, Southern Africa, the United Kingdom, and other countries at operational and executive management levels. He has served for 25 brands of corporate entities including chairman of the board of directors Barclays Bank, Sun International Limited. He was the first chairman of the Board of Directors Africa Trade Insurance, a multilateral pan African organization based in Kenya.

• Chairman - Greenbelt Fertilizers Limited Media Trust Fund & Export Development Programme.
• Director - Zambia Investment Limited, Seedco Zambia Limited, African Life Financial Services, Zambezi Nickel Limited & Westlake Investment Limited in Mauritius.
• Board Member - Zambia Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

He served as non-executive director for Zambia consolidated copper mines Limited among others.

Start of Political Career

Hichilema moved into politics as a member of the opposition United Party for the National Development, a liberal political party. Following the death of Anderson Mazoka in 2006, he was elected as the party's new president and served as leader of other alliance parties. The same year he under the ages of the UDA run for the presidency against Levy Mwanawasa of the movement for multi-party democracy and Patriotic Front candidate Michael Sata. HH took third place with about 25% of the vote. He has since contested in elections in 2008, 2011, 2015, 2016.

Landed into Prison

Hakainde Hichilema was a major opponent of Edgar Lungu, the president of Zambia from 2015 to 2021. On 11th April 2017, Hichilema was arrested and charged with treason, a move that was seen as an illegitimate act by Lungu to silence a political rival. An arrest in charge was widely condemned with protests held in Zambia and abroad demanding Hakainde's release and condemning the increasing authoritarianism of Lungu's regime. Hichilema was then released from prison on 16th August 2017 and the charge of treason was dropped. he became more popular after his release and was awarded the Africa Freedom Award in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Became the President of Zambia

Hichilema then ran for president for the sixth time in the election held on 12th August 2021. The electoral commission declared him the winner of the 2021 presidential election. After defeating his main rival Lungu by more than a million votes, a development that has been widely celebrated by Zambians. President Hakainde has since ruled out his plans to fight corruption and reform the economy to manage public expectations especially from young Zambians who led the vote for his ascension to the presidency.

Hichilema has made history, he lost an election five times still he didn't give up. He is now Zambia's seventh Republican President. He says his time as President will be a time for change.

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