Ladies and gentlemen, a big hand one more time, a big hand. Everybody shall remain standing, ladies and gentlemen, and while standing, we are going to sing the national anthem. As the requirement, we sing all the stanzas of the national anthem.
I didn't know politicians have nice voices. You can clap for yourselves, ladies and gentlemen. At this point in time, I'd like to invite Honorable Mutambo Elisha, chairperson for Copperbelt province, to come and give us the opening prayer.
Master, we come before your throne of mercy this afternoon. The first thing I want to ask from you, our Lord, is to forgive all of us our sins, so that you may reveal your face to us this afternoon, even as we talk to you. We want to worship you. We want to adore you, because there's no any other God apart from you. You are the creator of earth and universe, and everything that is found in these places. We adore you this afternoon. Lord, 5 years ago, at Freedom House, we gathered in the same manner to try and nominate your servant, President Hakainde Hichilema. And that day, I remember, we prayed for your protection over your man servant. We prayed for the favor over your man servant. You moved in your hearts from that day until the 12th August 2021, until the day when President Hakainde was declared the president, the seventh president of the Republic, and president of this country. In the same fashion, Jehovah God, the creator of earth and universe, we come before your throne this afternoon, bringing your servant, President Hakainde Hichilema, and all of us. You have said in that 'Who finds a wife finds a good thing.' We thank you for our first lady, because the Bible says when he finds a good thing in a wife, he also obtains special favor from you. It's the favor I'm praying for, Jehovah, to accompany President Hakainde Hichilema and all of us, even as we move this day, as we march towards victory on the 13th August 2026, and you have to come with us. Accompany us, Jehovah. Protect President Hakainde Hichilema. The same way you protected him in opposition. He was arrested 18 times, but you always were with him. Assassination attempts were attempted on his life, but you still kept him. The same favor, the same protection, walk with us, Jehovah. March with us, and lest you come with us, we cannot manage. But because you live, we are able to face tomorrow, and all fear is gone. Father, we pray for favor in all the wards of Zambia. We pray for favor in all the constituencies of Zambia. We pray for favor in all the districts of Zambia. We pray for favor in all the provinces of Zambia. We pray for favor from all your voters, Father. We claim victory in the spiritual today, and let it manifest in the physical on the 13th August, Lord Jehovah, even as we declare victory that President Hakainde will be declared the winner, and the entire nation will say amen and hear amen and amen.
Ladies and gentlemen, we may take our seats.
Thank you very much. Again, I thought the singing was surprising. I didn't know that politicians are also powerful preachers. A big hand for that, ladies and gentlemen. The president of the United Party for National Development, His Excellency, Mr. Hakainde Hichilema, we recognize him in the presence of his amazing wife, our mother, Mrs. Mutinta Hichilema. We recognize the vice president, our ever amazing Madam Wina Mutale Nalumango. We all recognize you. Chairperson for the United Party for National Development, Mr. Collins Maoma. Secretary General of the UPND, Madam Gertrude Imenda, former vice president, Dr. Nevers Mumba, our ever amazing alliance partners present, chairpersons we recognize you. We also recognize members of the NMC. Honorable ministers present, provincial chairpersons. Provincial chairpersons of the United Party for National Development and we also singularly recognize our host, Lusaka province. District chairpersons and the party structures therein, all constituency representatives. May I simply say all protocols observed. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. When the president is around, I'm sure it's just right that we respond. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you very much. I'll be hosting the program this afternoon. My name is Gerald Mwale Ngwala. And to start our program this afternoon, I'd like to invite the chairperson for the elections committee, our very own honorable Kalali, to come and give us context as to why we are here. Ladies and gentlemen, let's give a round of applause to our elections chairperson as he comes forward.
Thank you very much, master of ceremony. May I recognize the presence of his Excellency the President Dr. Hakainde Hichilema, President Hakainde Hichilema, and the first lady Mutinta Hichilema. May I also recognize the presence of the Vice President who is with us here. May I also recognize the presence of the chairman of the party. May I recognize the presence of our leaders, alliance partners, who are here. In our midst, we have the former Vice President and also the leader who is an alliance partner of ours. I have also the... Okay. Thank you very much. I was waiting for the name. We have the leader of NMP who happens to be Dr. Nevers Mumba. We have the MDC leader who happens to be honorable Felix Mutati. We have NAREP led by Mr. Fresher Siwale. We have DP led by Mrs. Judith Kabemba. We have the PMUP leader who happens to be honorable Highvie Hamududu. We have the UPND leader led by Charles Milupi. We have the ADD leader who happens to be the chairman of the alliance. At one stage, I'll call you to speak on behalf of the alliance. In this case, we have honorable Charles Milupi. May I recognize the presence of all NMC members, provincial leaders who have just been elected and congratulations to you. Simply saying, may I say all protocols observed. Not forgetting the ward chairmen who are here. Mr. President, today marks a critical milestone in our internal democratic processes of the United Party for National Development. We are witnessing the filing of nomination of our president, a key step towards the upcoming general assembly. Before the general assembly, ladies and gentlemen, you have to do the processes of filing the nomination. We are working through what I've been given. I will just proceed to the nomination. Mr. President, we have the mandate as elections committee led by myself, Kaweche Musawa. That is for you don't know me. Honorable Mwale. Honorable Mwale, where are you, honorable? So, Mr. President, I will immediately say we have done the processes that are required. In this case, we have done the ward elections. Our constitution, the UPND constitution, gives us mandate to start elections from the branch, which we have done. We have done the ward elections. We have done the constituency elections across the country. We have done the district elections. We have done the provincial elections. Provincial chairmen who have just been elected, where are you? We have done all the 10 provincial chairmen. Thank you. Yeah. So, Mr. President, all the 10 provincial chairmen are here, elected by their respective provinces. Prior to that, Mr. President, I want to say we are in the last stage of our democratic processes that we do in the UPND. I have to indicate to you, Mr. President, that UPND is one, if not one of the parties that actually do primary elections, starting from the lowest organ in this case, the branch, all the way to the NMC. You cannot qualify. You cannot run this election because if you have not done the primary elections at the lowest level, which is the branch, you cannot proceed to reach the province. Therefore, Mr. President, the last... Okay. I will speak. Thank you very much. I'm told I have not recognized my minister and MDC leader. In this case, honorable Mutati is with us here. Honorable Mutati is with us here. Thank you very much. I did MDC leader. Yes, I did. I did. Yes, yes. But he's not here. Yeah. Yeah. So, thank you so very much. So, we have done those processes as guided by the constitution, Mr. President. Now, I won't waste much time. I'll go straight to ask you, Mr. President, as you know, we have... it's through these processes that you qualify to be the president. I want to raise one thing out of the guidelines that we have. In UPND, we have guidelines that we use. Based on to Article 78 of our constitution. In that article, it states as follows, I quote. Based on Article 78 of the UPND constitution, a person shall not qualify to be elected in the party president unless they meet the following conditions. He or she is fully paid up member of the party of which as elections committee will check through as you present your credentials. Secondly, he or she has been continuous member of the party for at least 3 years. He or she is a Zambian of 35 years and above. He or she meets the requirement to be a Republican presidential candidate. In this case, you must be a grade 12 and above. He or she must meet all these all the criteria as may be prescribed in the regulations promulgated by the relevant committee of the National Management Committee from time to time. In this case, we put the regulations and the rules and the guidelines together and we requested that if you meet those guidelines, you qualify. Further to that, ladies and gentlemen, Mr. President, the applicant must be nominated by one province and supported by five other provinces through the provincial committee. I think I should end there. Okay, I'm being guided. All applicants must attach academic and political curriculum vitae, including copies of national registration card and voters card to the application form. So, those are the guidelines. That's what is required. And we put a date for closing nominations. I mean, in this case, prescribed the fees I put and you pay. And further to that, the closing date is the final date for the nominations is today, Mr. President. I must emphasize the closing date through the processes, Mr. President, your age and the party... Here is the list of committee that President Edgar Lungu will be filing nominations today on Sunday. 14:30 and end at 16:30. And we will immediately, Mr. President, ask you to give us the application forms so that we can scrutinize them. Relevant to that, ladies and gentlemen, relevant to that, for transparent purposes, we have invited independent NGOs and eminent citizens who are waiting in the room where we will go with the documents for them to look at the documents to see whether the documents, as prescribed in our guidelines, meet the requirements of the party. With that, we are going to... Thank you very much.
So, ladies and gentlemen, let me take our seats.
They are now checking the documents. Are they checking the number of documents now? I see videos on time. They are done with the documents.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Mr. President, according to the guidelines for one to qualify as a presidential candidate in the UPND, according to the constitution, one has to be supported by one province that nominates. In this case, which one is the nominating province? Okay, Copperbelt. The chairman of Copperbelt can come and take his seat. So, the nomination process, the chairman of Copperbelt nominates, meaning Copperbelt province has nominated. Yes. So, the nominated president... The president is now nominated now. The president has been nominated, followed by five other provinces. In the order. That was the order of the provinces. The president is nominated by the province. The second province to nominate, the seconding is Western province. Western province. Western province. Western province will be followed by Lusaka. Lusaka province will nominate the president. This is going to be nominated in Lusaka province by the president, Mr. Bowman Lusambo.
I am Nathan Ilunga who come from Luapula, chairman for Northern province. We endorsed the president years back. Today, we are just reaffirming.
Thank you very much, Mr. President. The process of seconding... There are two provincial chairmen who are trying to intimidate me here. And they are saying they want to come. Please come. They are saying... Why are they doing that? What president is this? Go to the left. You can put your feet, Mr. President.
Thank you very much, Mr. President. Mr. President, you have given a signal to Southern Province. We are just waiting for this time, Mr. President. Since I have appended my signature with my other provincial chairmen, Mr. President, you have given a signal to Zambian people. Zambia! Zambia! Thank you very much, Mr. President. Mr. President, we are with... Honorable members, ladies and gentlemen, we are still within the time of filing nominations. The President came on time and we have started on time. Therefore, we will finish the whole process of nomination and we will come back to make the announcement after the nomination. We will go out with the committee. Where I have the committee members go with me. And inside you have the NGO. Yeah, NGOs are inside to go and verify with us. Yes, may we move the committee members who are within the committee. Kindly move to the conference room. So that we can meet the vice chair. Yeah, I request the vice president. Get back to your seat, sir. We will call you back again.
In the meantime, Hello, Zambia! Zambia! In the meantime, we are moving into the conference room. The director of ceremonies will take charge and he will guide us. You know many years ago, when we used to go out and when we come back, the President used to sing that song. Pano pano Pano layenda pano pano Continue. A big hand. A big hand. A big hand. A big hand. A big hand. A big hand. So, as they go out to do the verification, we are going to have two items of entertainment. The verification will take only 10 minutes. So, beginning the entertainment, we are going to invite the UPND choir. So, we invite the UPND choir. After that, we will have the Pentagon to also come and give us an item. So, the UPND choir can start. After that, we have the Pentagon to give us an item of entertainment. So, I'd like to hand over to the UPND choir as they give us an item of entertainment as we wait for the verification process. A big hand for the UPND choir. A big hand. A big hand. A big hand. Let's invite them. The UPND choir, please.
So we are going to give all of this space. The choir will do their show from the other side. So we are taking the microphone. After which Pentecost will decide who is coming through for the next item. So Pentecost, please decide on who will be coming through immediately after the choir.
A big hand for the different choirs. Big hands, big hands, big hands, big hands. So we are now going to have attendants from Pentecost and the choir family. A big hand for Pentecost and the choir family. Big hands.
Mr. President and the President of Zambia, His Excellency President Hakainde Hichilema. May you kindly, ladies and gentlemen, allow the Independent Commission that has been appointed by the NMC who were witnesses to the election that we see and I will call upon the Independent to speak to what they saw, what they felt. The commission is appointed tonight and we get the Independent Commission to give us what they saw.
Thank you, honorable chairperson. Your Excellency, Mr. President, Hakainde Hichilema, all honorable ministers present, let me ride on the fast protocols that have been observed. My names are Isaac Mwanza. I speak on behalf of the Independent Commission that have been appointed under the constitution of the United Party for National Development to verify the requirements of presidential candidates who have filed their nominations. On behalf of this Independent Commission, we first want to thank you as a UPND for allowing independent voices to come and verify the process and monitor it. This is how it must be for all the political parties. So, congratulations for that. My duty is simple, Mr. Chairman. We are here to announce that we have received the application of Mr. Hakainde Hichilema, party president of the United Party for National Development, and Republican president of this great country. And we want to announce the following. That we have certified from the records that have been given to us, this one here, that under Article 78 of the UPND Constitution, Mr. Hakainde Hichilema is a fully paid up member of the United Party for National Development. We have also verified from the application that he has been a continuous member of the party since 1998 when it was founded. We also certify that he meets the qualification of being above the age of 35 years old. We have further certified that President Hakainde Hichilema meets the requirement to be elected as president of the Republic of Zambia under the Constitution of Zambia. We have also verified with the records that he has been in good standing of the party since 1998. Based on this criteria, we want to declare our position that his nomination has been certified as meeting all the requirements. Thank you very much, Mr. President.
Pamukwando! Thank you. Thank you. Pamukwando! United Pamukwando! Pamukwando! Thank you. Zambia! Zambia! Mr. President of Zambia, just to introduce the commissioners that we have. I think they will introduce themselves one by one.
So, I am the chairperson of the Consortium of Civil Society Organizations. My name is Isaac Mwanza. My assistant is Mr. Arthur Mwanza, who is also the executive director of Ustaco. Then we have Mr. Lackson Lungu, who is the chairperson of GEARS Initiative. Then we have Mr. Clinton Mayawa Chikuwe, who is the executive director of the Center for Peace Research and Advocacy. And finally, Mr. President, we have Madam Violet Mukuba-Chikwanda, who is the FOMWAG board. So, this is the commission, Mr. President. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. President.
Zambia! Zambia! We move to the next stage of our speeches. I want to indicate that the chairman of elections, together with my committee, that we have come to the close of the nomination, and we have only and since we opened the nominations to today, when we are closing this nomination, we have only received one candidate for the position. Qualified by the Constitution of UPND, the president has qualified. He must be qualified. Indicating being qualified. Our president, Mr. Hakainde Hichilema, has qualified now. We talk about the national nomination here. We follow the law. And we are very proud of the president of the Republic of Zambia. That the national chairman has put the ball to our great president, Hakainde. He is the sole candidate for UPND. The winner will be announced. We just allow them. The winner is for Zambia. Zambia is in... Mr. President, we thank you for that you came to grace this occasion, and that you filed your nomination this evening. We are very grateful, Mr. President. Like it is done in any other jurisdiction, on an occasion like this one, we have people that come. Unions come. Political party alliances come. Citizens come. Those who believe in the leadership of President Hakainde Hichilema.
Mr. President, thank you very much. The Republican President of Zambia Mr. Hakainde Hichilema, the First Lady, Madam Vice President, all official members and invited and President. Mr. President, I will not say much. All I will say is thank you for restoring the hope for Zambia to move in the right trajectory. Zambia is indeed going to its greater heights. We are moving forward. Thank you. Viva Viva
Mr. President, I would like to put on record that not only the University of Zambia is here with us. We have Levy Mwanawasa University. We have NIPA. We have Evelyn Hone. We have CBU. We have the National Resources Development Centre. We have Copperbelt University. We have Eden University. Mr. President my word to you is that the country the youth and students have seen your efforts. And they have traveled across the country across Zambia. Come and witness this great day. It is for that reason I would like to call upon this fellow youth leaders to come forward and pass their heartfelt gratitude to pass that to the President of the Republic of Zambia Mr. Hakainde Hichilema. Thank you.
Mr. President, this is Evelyn Hone College Students Union Secretary General and handsome boy. Good evening Mr. President. This is the President of ZCAS University. Madam Vice President and the Honorable First Lady Madam Mutinta. We want to thank you for everything that you have done Mr. President. And everything that you have done for all the institutions in Zambia. We continue supporting you as you are going to foster the development and infrastructure that you are doing in our institutions. So, thank you so very much. Viva
Mr. President, riding on the footsteps of the leaders as already been mentioned, my name is Mubita Clinton. Also known as Shaka the President General of Evelyn Hone College. Sir, I want to speak for our students. Just wanted to say that this leadership is working and there is no need of change. We have seen your works in just 4 and 1/2 years. I say Mr. President, we are behind you. Thank you.
