HH chal­lenges ICTAZMarch 19, 2026

Urges asso­ci­ation to revolu­tion­ise coun­try’s pro­duc­tion sys­tems

By CHISHALA MUSONDA – 19 Mar 2026 – Zambia Daily Mail

PRESIDENT Hakainde Hichilema has chal­lenged the Inform­a­tion and Com­mu­nic­a­tions Tech­no­logy Asso­ci­ation of Zam­bia (ICTAZ) to take a lead­ing role in trans­form­ing the coun­try’s pro­duc­tion sys­tems through innov­a­tion and digital solu­tions to accel­er­ate eco­nomic growth.

Mr Hichilema said tech­no­logy must move from being a sup­port ser­vice to becom­ing a cent­ral driver of pro­ductiv­ity across key sec­tors like agri­cul­ture, min­ing, energy and man­u­fac­tur­ing.

“We want ICTAZ to help us revolu­tion­ise pro­duc­tion in this coun­try. Whether it is in farm­ing, min­ing or man­u­fac­tur­ing, tech­no­logy must enable us to pro­duce more effi­ciently and com­pet­it­ively,” he said.

Pres­id­ent Hichilema was speak­ing yes­ter­day when he opened the ICTAZ tech con­fer­ence, train­ing, expos­i­tion and 17th annual gen­eral meet­ing on the theme ‘Zam­bia’s US$60 bil­lion by 2031: Powered by tech­no­logy and arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence’.

The Pres­id­ent said Zam­bia’s agenda to grow and even­tu­ally double the eco­nomy hinges on effi­cient util­isa­tion of scarce resources, as tech­no­logy offers prac­tical solu­tions to enhance pro­ductiv­ity and reduce waste.

Mr Hichilema said Gov­ern­ment is pri­or­it­ising invest­ment expendit­ure over con­sump­tion, adding that embra­cing digital sys­tems will help cut unne­ces­sary costs asso­ci­ated with tra­di­tional oper­a­tions such as excess­ive travel, work­shops and paper­work.

He said shift­ing to vir­tual plat­forms for meet­ings and adopt­ing digital com­mu­nic­a­tion tools will not only improve effi­ciency but also free up resources that can be redir­ec­ted towards improv­ing con­di­tions of ser­vice for pub­lic ser­vice work­ers.

“We must reduce wastage. Tech­no­logy allows us to do the same work more effi­ciently. Vir­tual meet­ings, digital pro­cesses and auto­ma­tion will help us save resources and invest more in devel­op­ment,” he said.

The head of State also urged ICT pro­fes­sion­als to sup­port Gov­ern­ment in enhan­cing rev­enue col­lec­tion sys­tems, par­tic­u­larly at local author­ity level, where inef­fi­cien­cies con­tinue to res­ult in low col­lec­tions des­pite high rates.

Mr Hichilema fur­ther called for ICT-driven solu­tions to improve pro­ductiv­ity in agri­cul­ture, where yields remain below poten­tial.

“With the right tech­no­logy such as pre­ci­sion farm­ing and irrig­a­tion sys­tems, farm­ers can sig­ni­fic­antly increase out­put without expand­ing farm­land,” he said.

Pres­id­ent Hichilema said tech­no­logy has already demon­strated its value in sec­tors like min­ing, where the use of advanced sys­tems has led to the dis­cov­ery of sig­ni­fic­ant min­eral depos­its.

The Pres­id­ent called on ICTAZ mem­bers to develop loc­ally rel­ev­ant digital products rather than rely­ing solely on impor­ted tech­no­lo­gies, say­ing innov­a­tion tailored to Zam­bia’s needs will have greater eco­nomic impact.

He said the digital trans­form­a­tion agenda must be inclus­ive, ensur­ing that rural com­munit­ies bene­fit through improved access to ser­vices such as e-health and e-edu­ca­tion.

He urged ICTAZ to work closely with Gov­ern­ment through pub­licprivate part­ner­ships to accel­er­ate imple­ment­a­tion of digital solu­tions and drive Zam­bia’s eco­nomic trans­form­a­tion.

And ICTAZ pres­id­ent Clem­ent Sinyangwe assured Pres­id­ent Hichilema of the asso­ci­ation’s sup­port to help Gov­ern­ment grow the coun­try’s eco­nomy.

“ICT is the driver. It has the poten­tial to drive the eco­nomy like any other coun­try,” Dr Sinyangwe said. – Zambia Daily Mail