PRESIDENTIAL hopeful Willah Mudolo has declared himself the man to rewire Zambia’s struggling economy, saying the country does not need another politician to polish a broken system but an engineer bold enough to redesign it from the ground up.
Mudolo, a Global Finance Engineer by profession, says Zambia has spent more than 60 years celebrating small economic gains while the majority of citizens remain trapped in poverty, poor housing and limited opportunities.
Like a mechanic staring at a dead engine, Mudolo argues that Zambia’s problems cannot be solved through cosmetic fixes and slogans, but through radical economic re-engineering that confronts long-standing structural failures.
He points to load-shedding, factory closures and struggling industries as clear signs of an economy running on outdated systems, warning that Zambia cannot compete in a modern world using unreliable energy and old economic thinking.
According to Mudolo, incremental growth has failed to transform lives, insisting that the country needs a bold leap rather than baby steps if it is to secure a prosperous future for its children.
“We cannot build a 21st-century economy on 19th-century energy reliability,” Mudolo said.
He believes Zambia should have grown its economy many times over since independence but has instead remained largely stagnant, leaving young people unemployed and frustrated.
Mudolo’s vision centres on what he calls “economic re-engineering”, a complete redesign of how Zambia grows, produces and competes globally.
At the heart of his plan is a push for massive investment, with ambitions to grow the economy five to ten times its current size by attracting tens of billions of dollars into key sectors such as mining, agriculture, energy and technology.
He said young people must be placed at the centre of this transformation, not as job seekers but as skilled drivers of a modern, high-value economy.
He insists the country has wasted decades trying to repair a system that was never designed to serve the majority, adding that Zambia now needs leadership that thinks beyond elections and focuses on long-term national performance.
As the 2026 elections draw closer, Mudolo is positioning himself not as a career politician, but as a problem-solver with a blueprint to build a new economic future.
By George Musonda
Kalemba December 23, 2025
