BUSAN, 26 October 2026. Lusaka Mayor Chitambala Mwewa has called for global partnerships in smart city solutions, turning waste into valuable products and digital destination marketing to support sustainable tourism in Zambia’s capital.

Delivering his Mayoral Statement at the Mayors’ Roundtable during the second Global City Tourism Summit in Busan, South Korea, Mwewa said Lusaka wants to build its appeal around culture, heritage, local cuisine and community experiences.

He described the capital as a city of an estimated 3.1 million people and pointed to Kabwata Cultural Village, city food tours and township arts as examples of the experiences that could help distinguish Lusaka as a destination.

Cleaner streets are part of the tourism offer

Mwewa said tourism growth depends on reliable infrastructure, effective waste management, environmental protection and public spaces that are properly maintained.

He highlighted the Make Lusaka Clean, Green and Healthy Campaign as part of the city’s efforts to improve its environment, stressing that sustainable tourism begins with cleanliness.

The message connects Lusaka’s tourism ambitions with the everyday services residents use. Clean public spaces and dependable waste collection matter to the visitor experience, while cultural attractions can create opportunities for local guides, artists, food vendors and hospitality businesses.

A shared tourism vision for 2040

The summit is being held under the theme “Local Tourism: Connecting Urban Economies and Tourism Innovation”, bringing together mayors and delegates to exchange approaches to inclusive growth through tourism.

Mwewa urged cities to work towards a Common Vision for Sustainable City Tourism in 2040 that supports vibrant urban economies, innovation and liveable cities.

Mayors and delegates also signed a declaration setting out a shared understanding of that vision.

For Lusaka, the next step will be translating the call for partnerships into practical projects. The announcement did not set out funding commitments, named delivery partners or implementation dates for the proposed smart city and waste innovation initiatives.

LUSAKA, 26 October 2026. President Hakainde Hichilema has asked Parliament to approve a realignment of government ministries, with State House saying the changes are intended to improve how Government operates and delivers public services.

Vice President Mutale Nalumango is expected to move a motion seeking the House’s approval for the proposed establishment, merger and dissolution of ministries.

According to a statement issued by State House Chief Communications Specialist Clayson Hamasaka, the request has been made pursuant to Article 92 of the Constitution of Zambia.

The proposed restructuring is intended to align government operations with the Grow Zambia Agenda and improve service delivery for Zambians.

Hichilema has urged Members of Parliament to support the proposals, saying the changes are in the country’s best interests.

The announcement concerns a request for parliamentary approval. It does not mean that the proposed changes have already been approved or implemented.

The announcement does not name the ministries that would be created, merged or dissolved, or give an implementation timetable. Those details will be important in understanding how the proposed changes would affect ministerial responsibilities and access to public services.

For citizens and businesses, the practical issue will be how any approved restructuring translates into more efficient public administration and better service delivery.

File photo: Hakainde Hichilema in Lusaka in 2023. Credit: TheophilusMaurice / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Unmodified.

The council says the closure will facilitate upgrades to the culvert crossing at Mumana and road expansion works.

Alternative routes

Motorists are advised to use Hybrid Road and Lubwe Road in Kaunda Square to bypass the affected section.

The council has urged drivers to follow traffic signs and directions, exercise caution and allow additional travel time when using the alternative routes.

Plan journeys ahead

For commuters and businesses using the affected stretch, the practical step is to factor the diversion into journeys and delivery schedules during the closure period.

The notice concerns the Chongwe-bound carriageway on the specified section of Great East Road. It does not announce a closure of the entire road.

In the notice, signed by Town Clerk Oliver Muuka and bearing an Office of the Town Clerk stamp dated 23 October 2026, the council regrets the inconvenience and thanks the public for its cooperation.

Source: Lusaka City Council public notice supplied to The Zambian Economist.

Featured photograph: Great East Road, Lusaka, 12 September 2024 (archive image, not the current works). Photo: Chise95 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized for display.

By The Zambian Economist Analyst

President Hakainde Hichilema has called on Zambians to turn independence into opportunity, after honouring independence heroes at the Freedom Statue and recognising distinguished citizens at State House as Zambia marks 62 years of independence.

In his commemorative message, Hichilema said the investiture ceremony followed wreath-laying on Independence Avenue in Lusaka. He described the awards as recognition of outstanding contributions to nation-building.

What did Hichilema say on Zambia’s Independence Day?

The President connected remembrance of the independence struggle with the work of building the country today. He urged citizens to unite, work hard and smart, and pursue the Grow Zambia agenda together.

“Let us turn our freedom into opportunity and our collective efforts into lasting progress,” he said.

His appeal placed responsibility on the present generation to build a country worthy of the sacrifices of its forebears and the aspirations of its children.

From the Freedom Statue to State House

The two ceremonies served different purposes. Wreath-laying honoured the people whose sacrifices secured Zambia’s independence. The investiture recognised citizens whose service has contributed to the country’s development.

Zambia became independent on 24 October 1964. The 62nd anniversary falls on 24 October 2026. The occasion offers a moment to recognise public service and consider how the freedoms secured at independence can support opportunity for a new generation.

The message supplied for this report did not include an honours list, award categories or individual citations. Those details are therefore not attributed to any recipient here.

What does “freedom into opportunity” mean for the economy?

For a young person seeking work or an entrepreneur trying to grow a business, opportunity has a practical meaning: a chance to earn, gain skills and find customers. The economic question raised by the President’s message is how national ambition translates into those everyday possibilities.

That is an assessment of the message’s implications, rather than a claim that the ceremony introduced new measures. The statement contained no budget allocation, implementation timetable or quantified employment commitment.

For businesses and investors

A call to work harder and smarter sets an aspiration. Investment decisions still depend on the terms under which businesses operate. Entrepreneurs need to examine published rules, financing conditions and actual market demand before committing money.

The investiture statement should not be read as an announcement of a grant, tax concession or investment incentive. Any such measure would require separate official details.

For citizens and public institutions

Recognising service can broaden the discussion about who contributes to Zambia’s progress. The next useful reporting step is to examine the recipients’ citations and the work for which they were honoured, once the official list is available.

For economic policy, the corresponding task is to judge delivery through published evidence. An aspiration to create opportunity becomes easier to assess when programmes specify who can benefit, how they are funded and when results are expected.

A commemoration with a practical question

Hichilema’s message asks Zambians to connect remembrance with effort. The question for the year ahead is what progress citizens should be able to see in their own lives.

Which change would make economic opportunity more real in your community by Zambia’s next Independence Day?

Related coverage

Explore our Leadership & Governance coverage, read Hichilema’s wider Independence Day growth message and see our Zambia at 62 special edition.

Source: commemorative statement by President Hakainde Hichilema supplied to The Zambian Economist. Economic implications are the publication’s analysis.

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By The Zambian Economist Analyst

Introduction

On the eve of Zambia’s 62nd independence anniversary, President Hakainde Hichilema delivered a national address that looked in two directions at once: backwards to the generation that won sovereignty in 1964, and forwards to an economy he wants growing faster than it has in years.

The speech, delivered on 23 October, comes at a moment when the government believes it has earned the right to talk about growth. “The Grow Zambia Agenda moves us from economic stabilisation to accelerated growth,” the President said, in the line that anchors the whole address.

Honouring the Independence Generation

The President opened by naming the men and women who led Zambia to sovereignty on 24 October 1964: Kenneth David Kaunda, Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula, Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe, Alexander Grey Zulu, Humphrey Mulemba, Nalumino Mundia, Mama Julia Chikamoneka and Mama Betty Chilombo Chilunga.

The list is notable for its breadth. It spans ruling-party and opposition tradition alike, from Kaunda to Nkumbula, the nationalist leader Kaunda’s UNIP sidelined for decades. It also gives equal standing to women, naming two of them among the heroes of the struggle.

Sixty-Two Years of What, Exactly?

The President’s summary of the national journey emphasised continuity: schools, hospitals, roads, airports and power stations built, and elections held with smooth transfers of power.

The claim about peaceful transitions carries weight. Since 1991 Zambia has changed governing parties three times, each time through the ballot and each time without the unrest that has accompanied comparable moments elsewhere on the continent. Few states founded in the 1960s can say the same.

He also credited the people rather than the state: farmers for their resilience, miners for their labour, youth for their creativity, the armed forces for their courage, women for their resourcefulness and entrepreneurs for their persistence.

The Grow Zambia Agenda: What It Means in Practice

The economic core of the speech is a short list of sectors where the government wants measurable gains: more maize, more wheat and more copper; more electricity generated; more tourists visiting; more exports leaving.

Each target speaks to a known pressure point in the economy. Maize output determines the cost of mealie meal, the single most politically sensitive price in Zambia. Copper still supplies the majority of export earnings. Electricity generation has been stretched in recent drought years, when low Kariba water levels forced load management that cut into mining and manufacturing output. Tourism and non-copper exports are the diversification story every administration since the copper price collapse of the 1970s has tried to write.

The President coupled the growth message with two safeguards: protecting the vulnerable and building strong institutions. He gave no new figures, timelines or budget allocations in the address, which was framed as a reflection rather than a policy speech.

A Message to the Youth

The President devoted a passage to young Zambians, calling them the backbone of the economy, its innovators and its leaders. He reminded the country that young people fought for independence and for democracy, and framed the anniversary as a moment for the young generation to take ownership of what comes next.

With a median age around 17, Zambia is one of the youngest countries in the world. Any growth agenda that works will be carried by that demographic, a fact the speech acknowledged even without naming the number.

What This Means

For business: A government that says it has moved from stabilisation to growth will be judged on whether doing business gets easier: cheaper and more reliable power, faster customs clearance for exporters and predictable policy in agriculture and mining. Firms in milling, agribusiness, tourism and mining supply chains are the direct beneficiaries if the sector targets are backed by execution.

For investors: The named sectors, maize, wheat, copper, electricity, tourism and exports, map closely to where policy attention and likely spending will concentrate. The absence of numbers in this speech means the real signals will come in the 2027 budget and in the performance of the harvest and copper output over the next two quarters.

For policy: The stabilisation-to-growth framing echoes the language of the International Monetary Fund-supported programme period, in which the priority was debt restructuring and fiscal control. The test of the Grow Zambia Agenda will be whether growth spending can accelerate without reopening the fiscal wounds that made stabilisation necessary.

Conclusion

Eve-of-independence speeches are usually exercises in unity. This one was that, but it also put a name to the government’s next economic chapter. The theme says it plainly: our journey, our growth, our future. From tomorrow, the Grow Zambia Agenda will be measured not in speeches but in maize yields, megawatts, tourist arrivals and the copper price realised on LME contracts.

Happy 62nd Independence Anniversary, Zambia.

WARNING! All rights reserved. This material and all other digital content on this website may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed, in whole or in part, without the prior express permission of The Zambian Economist. Where permission is granted, the content must be clearly credited to “The Zambian Economist,” with “www.zambianeconomist.com” prominently displayed.

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By The Zambian Economist Analyst

Zambia turns 62 today. On 24 October 1964, Northern Rhodesia became the independent Republic of Zambia. Today we honour the people who made that freedom possible and the generations who have built their lives under the Zambian flag.

A day to remember the people behind our freedom

The flag belongs to every Zambian. Independence is part of the family stories told by grandparents, the lessons children learn at school and the work people do each day to make a home here.

We remember Kenneth Kaunda and his fellow independence leaders. We also honour the women and men whose names are less widely known: those who organised meetings, sustained families during detention and kept the movement alive in towns and villages.

Our special edition includes profiles of Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula, Mainza Chona, Reuben Kamanga, Simon Kapwepwe, Julia Chikamoneka and Betty Kaunda. Their stories remind us how much collective effort sits behind a single date on the calendar.

What is inside today’s special edition?

• The road to independence: the struggle that brought a colony to the birth of a republic.
• Economic freedom: a discussion of ownership, livelihoods and the share of Zambia’s wealth that stays in Zambian hands.
• Heroes of the struggle: six profiles honouring the independence generation.
• Zambia’s presidents: a journey through the country’s leadership and economic choices since 1964.
• Numbers and milestones: a dated reference section for readers exploring Zambia’s development.
• Independence greetings: messages from the publication’s partners.

Building opportunity worthy of the flag

For an economic publication, Independence Day also invites a practical question: what should freedom make possible for the next generation?

For a farmer, that might mean a dependable buyer and the ability to invest in the next season. For a small manufacturer, it means reliable power and a fair chance to win orders. For a young person leaving school, it means a route into work that pays enough to build a life.

These are ambitions worth carrying beyond today’s celebrations. Businesses can help through training and opportunities for local suppliers. Public institutions can help through dependable services and careful use of public money. Citizens can take pride in the everyday work of caring for their communities and holding leaders to account.

Our recent feature, Our Independence, Our Shared Responsibility: Zambia at 62, explores that responsibility in daily life. Continue following our Business & Economy coverage for reporting on the decisions that shape livelihoods.

Read, keep and share the Independence Day edition

Today’s special publication is an invitation to remember where Zambia came from and discuss where we want it to go. Read it with your family, send the download link to a friend or keep a copy for later.

Read and download the ZE Independence Special Edition, 24 October 2026

To our readers in Zambia and across the diaspora: Happy 62nd Independence Day.

One Zambia, One Nation.

Historical reference: Office of the Historian: Zambia’s independence on 24 October 1964. Featured photograph: Independence Monument, Ndola, by Nkanduchabala / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0; cropped to 16:9 and converted to WebP. This is an archive photograph. The photograph retains its Creative Commons licence.

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By The Zambian Economist Analyst

Zambia’s 62nd Independence anniversary falls on 24 October 2026. On the eve of the commemoration, the call to take shared responsibility for the country’s future brings the national conversation into everyday places: the street outside a shop, a school compound and a neighbourhood’s shared spaces.

The commemorative message supplied to The Zambian Economist points to community cleaning, donations to vulnerable groups and tree planting by citizens and public institutions. Its appeal is for participation in national development, with the Grow Zambia Agenda presented as the wider framework for inclusive growth.

How is Zambia marking Independence through service?

One documented example comes from the National Assembly, which reports that it held a tree-planting exercise at Northmead Secondary School in Lusaka on 22 October 2026. Its account places the exercise within Cabinet-approved Independence Week activities.

Such activities give people a way to contribute directly to their surroundings. A trader can help organise a clean-up around a trading area. A business can support an agreed local need. A school can assign responsibility for watering and protecting newly planted trees.

Why does community care matter for the economy?

Public spaces form part of the working environment for Zambia’s small businesses. Customers and traders use the same pavements, drains and market surroundings. Keeping those spaces usable is a practical concern for people earning a living there.

A clean-up can remove accumulated waste, but its benefit depends on where that waste goes and whether collection continues. Moving rubbish from one corner to another simply transfers the problem. Councils, businesses and residents need arrangements that make routine upkeep possible.

Tree planting has a similar test. A sapling needs a suitable site and someone responsible for its care. The useful measure is how many trees remain healthy after planting, rather than the number photographed on the day.

Donations can address immediate needs among vulnerable households. Their value is greatest when organisers establish what recipients need and distribute support with dignity. The supplied message gives no totals for donations, participants or trees, so it does not establish the scale of these activities or their economic impact.

What does shared responsibility require of public institutions?

Citizens can contribute time and resources. Public institutions remain responsible for delivering the services within their mandates and accounting for the resources they use. Volunteer effort works best alongside dependable public services.

For councils and other participating bodies, a useful follow-up would identify who will maintain each site, how waste will be collected and who will care for planted trees. Businesses considering support can ask for a specific task and a named local partner, making the contribution easier to follow through.

How does this connect to the Grow Zambia Agenda?

The commemorative message links community service to the Grow Zambia Agenda’s ambition for inclusive growth and wider opportunity. At neighbourhood level, that connection rests on follow-through: public spaces that remain usable and local institutions that respond to people’s needs.

These activities do not, by themselves, demonstrate higher national output or new employment. They can, however, give citizens a direct role in caring for the places where daily economic life happens. Read our Grow Zambia Agenda explainer for the wider policy context.

The anniversary’s supplied message, “Zambia@62: Our Journey, Our Growth, Our Future”, invites reflection on the country’s progress since 1964. Its practical challenge is to carry the spirit of service into the weeks that follow 24 October. A cared-for tree or a regularly maintained public space would be a lasting contribution.

Related: Zambia’s 62nd Independence anniversary and the economics of Independence Week.

Explore our Leadership & Governance hub and Business & Economy coverage.

Sources: commemorative message supplied to The Zambian Economist; National Assembly report on its Independence Week tree-planting exercise; State House background on Independence Day. Analysis of follow-up requirements is by The Zambian Economist.

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By The Zambian Economist Analyst

President Hakainde Hichilema has returned to Lusaka from Harare after the 25th Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Heads of State and Government Summit, where Zambia took up the role of Vice-Chairperson and formally committed land for a new headquarters for the bloc.

In a statement after the summit, the President said he had called on all 21 member states “to trade more with each other before looking elsewhere,” arguing that this would create more jobs and business opportunities across the region. He said the Grow Zambia Agenda had also featured in his discussions.

A new seat for the Secretariat

During the summit, Zambia handed over a certificate of title deed for the member states to build a new COMESA headquarters in Lusaka. The Secretariat has been based in Lusaka since the bloc was established, so the title deed secures that position for the long term rather than creating it.

A purpose-built headquarters brings practical benefits for the host city: construction work, regional staff based in Lusaka, and a steady flow of meetings, delegations and technical missions. Those gains will depend on member states agreeing the financing and getting the building done, which the summit did not settle publicly.

Vice-Chair to Zimbabwe’s chairmanship

President Ruto of Kenya handed the COMESA chairmanship to President Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe, the summit host. Zambia, which chaired the bloc after hosting the 22nd Summit in Lusaka in 2023, now sits as Vice-Chairperson. The role keeps Lusaka at the centre of the bloc’s leadership over the coming year.

The trade gap behind the call

The President’s appeal reflects a long-standing weakness. Member states still trade far more with markets outside the bloc than with each other. A ZimTrade brief published in October estimates that intra-COMESA exports peaked at about US$18 billion in 2023 before falling to about US$13 billion in 2025, and that goods from other members make up only around 4 percent of imports.

For Zambian producers, the regional market is close and large. Copper dominates exports to the rest of the world, but processed foods, cement, fertiliser, sugar and manufactured goods are the kinds of products that tend to find buyers in neighbouring markets first. Selling more of them into the region is one of the more realistic ways to widen the export base that the Grow Zambia Agenda is targeting.

Words at a summit do not remove the obstacles. Slow border clearance, non-tariff barriers, poor rail and road links, and payment and currency frictions keep regional trade expensive. Progress on those points will show whether the call to trade with each other first turns into more trucks, trains and invoices crossing COMESA borders.

Related: Hichilema Takes Grow Zambia Agenda to 25th COMESA Summit in Harare.

Related: Hichilema Heads to Harare for 25th COMESA Summit as Zimbabwe Takes the Chair.

Related: Zambia’s manufacturing vision: turning local production into jobs and exports.

WARNING! All rights reserved. This material and all other digital content on this website may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed, in whole or in part, without the prior express permission of The Zambian Economist. Where permission is granted, the content must be clearly credited to “The Zambian Economist,” with “www.zambianeconomist.com” prominently displayed.

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By Dr. Krisztián Galánthai Fekete, Contributor

Zambia is trying to give its landowners written, registered proof of what they own, and it is doing so door to door. The effort is worth backing. Its success will rest less on the technology behind it than on the families, enumerators, officials and chiefs who make each boundary true.

Start with a simple question

Ask a family in Lusaka a simple question. If someone said tomorrow that your plot is not yours, what could you show them? For many households the honest answer is very little. Maybe an old letter. Maybe the word of a neighbour.

That is not a small worry. Sylvia Masebo, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, put numbers on it in January 2026. Zambia has about 1.2 million numbered properties, she said, and only about 450,000 of them carry a registered title deed. In her words, more than half of the country’s properties lack full legal protection.

So the question at the kitchen table is also a national one. The government has decided to answer it at scale.

How is Zambia’s land titling programme carried out?

Answering it at scale means going house by house. Under the National Land Titling Programme, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources works with Medici Land Governance, which signed its first agreement with the ministry in August 2018. At the time the company was the blockchain land registry subsidiary of the American online retailer Overstock.

The method is practical. Locally hired enumerators carry tablets and knock on doors. They record who owns the plot, who shares it and where its edges run. Aerial images help draw the map. By January 2026, the minister said, the programme had issued more than 232,000 offer letters. Medici describes the national aim, set with the ministry, as 4 million certificates of title.

The credit here is shared. The ministry set the goal and carries the responsibility. The company brings tools and teams. Families open their doors. Without all of them, nothing moves.

Why does a title deed matter to a family?

Once the enumerator leaves, what has the family actually gained? More than a document. A title deed settles arguments before they start. It can be passed on to children without a fight. And it can support a loan for a shop or a roof, which matters in a country where small businesses still struggle to borrow because lenders want collateral they can verify.

There is a bigger idea behind this. The Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto set it out in The Mystery of Capital in 2000. He noticed that poor families often already own a great deal: houses, plots, small farms. Without papers, that wealth is stuck. You cannot borrow against it or sell it safely, and a bank will not take it as security. De Soto called this dead capital.

A title changes that. The same plot, with the same house on it, becomes something the whole economy can see and trust. Dead capital becomes live capital, which is why titling is more than paperwork for Zambia. It is one of the quiet foundations of growth.

In the best case, I believe this could help lift many Zambian families out of poverty. I am honestly not sure how far it will reach, and nobody can promise a number. A title is not a loan, and a loan is not a business. But it opens a door that was closed before.

The same need in Lundazi

That door matters just as much outside the city. In September 2025, Chief Mphamba of Lundazi District in Eastern Province issued 259 customary land certificates to women. The project was run by the Lundazi District Women Association, with technical support from Zambia Land Alliance and Women for Change and Swedish funding through We Effect. The chief reminded the women that the certificates do not allow them to sell the land, and urged them to put it to good use.

Lundazi and Lusaka are very different places, and a customary certificate is not a state title deed. Yet the need is the same. People want to know the ground under them is theirs.

Where machines help, and where they stop

That need is old. The tools serving it are new, and they improve every year. Some of the mapping uses machine learning to find buildings in aerial images. Records can be stored so they are hard to change in secret.

Soon we will add SI, superintelligence, the technology we used to call AI. It will check records, spot errors and speed up approvals. I believe robots will also meet us in homes, in offices and in dangerous work underground, taking on the heavy and risky jobs so people can do more of what they love.

Still, no machine can stand at a fence line and get two neighbours to agree. That takes patience, a familiar face and sometimes an elder. The tablet records the answer. People find it.

What can families do before the enumerators arrive?

If the work is coming to your area, a few steps help:

• Keep any papers you already have in one safe place.
• Talk with your neighbours about where your boundaries are before the survey team comes.
• If a plot is shared with a spouse or a sibling, make sure every name is given.
• If you already hold an offer letter, ask your local lands office what the next step is.

Small actions like these make the big programme work faster for everyone.

A promise worth keeping

Four million certificates is a large promise. It will take years, and there will be delays. That is normal for work this big.

But each certificate is a small promise kept to one family. Machines will help count them. Neighbours, officials and chiefs will make them true.

About the author

Dr. Krisztián Galánthai Fekete is an investor, computer scientist and philosopher. He is the author of Find Your Meaning in 60 Days, In the Age of AI and Robotics, which offers sixty short daily principles for keeping work and life human as machines grow more capable. The book is available on Amazon.

Sources

• News Diggers, 4 January 2026: Masebo on title deeds and offer letters
• Medici Land Governance: Systematic Land Titling (4 million certificates, with the Ministry)
• Lusaka Times, 2 August 2018: Ministry of Lands agreement with Medici Land Governance
• Overstock news release, 1 November 2018: Medici Land Governance as an Overstock subsidiary
• CoinDesk, 30 April 2021: enumerators with tablets going door to door
• Coordinates, April 2021: machine learning on drone imagery at Medici Land Governance
• Lusaka Times, 14 September 2025: 259 Lundazi women get customary land certificates
• IMF Finance & Development, March 2001: Hernando de Soto, The Mystery of Capital
• Lincoln Institute of Land Policy: The Influence of de Soto’s The Mystery of Capital

Related coverage

• The SME Credit Gap: Why Zambian Small Businesses Still Can’t Borrow Affordably
• Extreme Poverty Fell to 48%. Is Zambia’s Growth Reaching Ordinary Households?
• Musokotwane’s Day-One Message: Zambia Moves From Stabilisation to Growth

The views expressed are the author’s own. Have an analysis to share? Submit an article to The Zambian Economist.

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By The Zambian Economist Analyst

President Hakainde Hichilema has arrived in Harare, Zimbabwe, for the 25th COMESA Heads of State and Government Summit, taking the Grow Zambia Agenda into discussions on regional trade and investment.

In his official communication on 22 October 2026, the President said the agenda would remain central to his discussions and his calls for greater trade and investment within Africa and beyond. The summit also marks Zimbabwe’s assumption of the COMESA chairmanship.

Why does COMESA matter for Zambia?

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa brings together 21 member states. Its Secretariat is based in Lusaka, giving Zambia an established role in the organisation’s work on regional economic integration.

For a Zambian producer, regional integration matters when goods cross a border. Customs procedures, permits, transport links and the recognition of product standards can determine how long a consignment takes to reach a customer and what the journey costs.

A summit can agree priorities and direct further work. The benefit to a business depends on what national authorities and border agencies implement afterwards. A communiqué alone does not shorten a delivery time.

The investment figure needs context

The COMESA Investment Report 2025, published by UN Trade and Development, records US$65 billion in foreign direct investment inflows to member states in 2024, an increase of 154 per cent.

The year matters: 2025 is the report’s title, while 2024 is the period covered by that figure. These inflows describe investment already recorded across the bloc. They are not a grant, a summit pledge or a fund from which Zambia can claim a share.

UNCTAD says the increase was driven largely by Egypt’s Ras El-Hekma project. Five recipients accounted for 90 per cent of the bloc’s inflows. The headline total therefore gives an incomplete picture of the investment reaching individual economies.

For Zambia, attracting future investment will require viable projects, credible contracts and the infrastructure needed to operate them. Membership of a large regional market can support that case, but does not guarantee an investment decision.

What does Grow Zambia need from regional trade?

The Grow Zambia Agenda sets out the government’s ambitions to expand production and economic activity. Regional markets could provide customers for additional output and routes to markets further afield.

That opportunity depends on supply as well as demand. Farms and factories need reliable electricity, working capital and affordable transport. Exporters also need predictable rules and payment arrangements. A larger potential market does not establish that every additional tonne produced will find a buyer.

For small businesses, the most useful changes may be practical ones: clearer documentation, fewer avoidable delays and consistent charges. For larger investors, the questions include power supply, freight capacity and the enforceability of agreements.

What should readers watch after Harare?

The President’s message establishes Zambia’s priorities for the discussions. Whether the summit advances those priorities will be clearer when decisions, agreements and implementation details are published.

Related coverage: Zambia’s objectives ahead of the Harare summit and the reappointed presidential advisory team. Follow our Business & Economy coverage.

Correction, 22 October 2026: An earlier version dated COMESA’s US$65 billion FDI figure to 2025. It relates to 2024. This article also removes an incorrect population comparison and clarifies that historical FDI inflows are not an available investment fund.

Sources: President Hakainde Hichilema’s official communication on arrival in Harare, 22 October 2026; State House’s summit announcement; UNCTAD, COMESA Investment Report 2025. Featured photograph: Office of the President.

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Related: Hichilema Returns From COMESA Summit as Vice-Chair, Hands Over Title for New Headquarters in Lusaka.