Mr President, you are welcome, but meet the local people

PRESIDENT Hakainde Hichilema is making another working visit to the Copperbelt. He is scheduled to be in the region for seven days (In Hebrew, seven is for perfect time).

So, as Kopala residents, we expect the seven working days to be productive and not time spent on road shows.

I have always wondered why the Presidential planners have the habit of always scheduling meetings between the President and same people or stakeholders.

There is little innovation in the Presidential outreach schedules. Of course emergencies such as floods, accidents are a different matter.

I can assure the readers that the President is likely to meet the Lamba Royal Establishment, attend church service, meet church leaders, and engage the mining unions and hold public rallies. That is about all.

There is no room for ordinary people meeting the President in Insanka or to use the American term, town hall meeting for dialogue. The planners assume, the mass rally is where the President meets the people. Poor strategy .

Mass rallies have their seasons and purposes. That time will come. Bur for now, each district can host a town hall meeting with the President doing more listening and talking so that people have information on where we are with the debt restructuring, the removal of rigidities in accessing CDF, provision of desks in schools and why there is delay in supply of laptops in schools when we are the digital age.

Most of the stakeholders the President is scheduled to meet are the ones with access to him even at State House. Visits of this nature are outreach visitation when the village chief is out to meet people in their own environs and share their joys and worries.

The state operatives are overprotective of the President even where people do not pose any physical or emotional risks. In town hall meeting or Insanka, local people may ask embarrassing or even silly questions, but questions nonetheless and they deserve answers.

Mr President, this is to welcome you to Kopala, the dying province, knowing too well that Mr Elisha Matambo, our provincial minister and his colleagues have been mobilising your party for 2026, yet they are leaving people behind in development.